The Catholic Church And Birth Control Essay

, Research Paper

On June 28, 1966, the Papal Commission on Birth Control submitted a study to the Vatican after they had prayed together, listened to presentations from experts, reviewed studies taken from over 3,000 dedicated Catholic twosomes from 18 states, and argued among themselves about legion affairs refering to human gender. This study stated that the Church & # 8217 ; s learning on the intrinsic immorality of unreal contraceptive method was in a province of uncertainty. It besides recommended that the generative facet of sex should non be tied to every sexual act, but belong to marriage as a whole and that twosomes should be free to take the non-abortive method of household planning that would work best for them.

However, On July 29, 1968, Pope Paul VI published Humanae Vitae ( On Human Life ) , which fundamentally denied the recommendations of the commission. His grounds for this papers were that the ballot for the committee & # 8217 ; s study was non consentaneous and that his predecessor had established apostolic instructions based on natural jurisprudence that he chose to continue. Although there was no consentaneous harmony, but a 30-5 ballot is a reasonably strong consensus! He chose to asseverate the power and authorization of his office over the collegially discerned recommendations of the Commission, which had acted in the spirit of Vatican Council II. He chose to state that he knew what was better for the good of married twosomes than the 3,000 or so twosomes consulted by the Commission, and he understood divinity and the moral jurisprudence more clearly than the bishops, cardinals and theologists functioning on the Commission. The effect of this has been a loss of regard for the teaching office of the Church, and the marginalizing of infinite 1000s of Catholics.

& # 8220 ; The prohibition on unreal birth control is entire and absolute. & # 8221 ; Fr. Peter M. J. Stravinskas, The Catholic Answer.

who do non accept the thesis that every preventive act is morally incorrect. I can vouch for the fact that really many bishops portion the same & # 8220 ; . . . ( Fr. Richard McCormick maintains that ) there are many Jesuits strong belief. However, unhappily plenty, fewer and fewer are willing to state this publicly. & # 8221 ;

Thomas J. Gumbleton, Auxilliary Bishop of Detroit, in America, November 20, 1993.

These two quotation marks reflect something of the tenseness and diverseness of sentiment among Catholics sing the Church & # 8217 ; s instructions on birth control. Some, like Fr. Stravinskas, seem to see unreal contraceptive method as mor

ally incorrect in all fortunes. Others, like Bishop Gumbleton ( and the many bishops and Jesuits to whom he alludes ) , question the really footing for sing unreal contraceptive method to be immoral. The attitudes of priests and other curates who are entrusted with supplying moral counsel at the parish degree besides reflect this diverseness. When these priests are asked about the morality of unreal birth control, some say that it is a mortal wickedness regardless of the fortunes of the twosome. Others tell twosomes that they are to larn the Church’s instructions and do up their ain heads about what to make.

The response of the temporalty, particularly in the Western universe, has been mixed. The Natural Family Planning motion is stronger than of all time, with salaried instructors in many bishoprics. However, over 80 % of Catholic twosomes within their childbirth old ages use some signifier of unreal contraceptive method at some clip to modulate the births of their kids. These twosomes are frequently on a regular basis go toing church yet they do non look particularly concerned about life in mortal wickedness. What is interesting is that even though they have disregarded the Church & # 8217 ; s instructions on birth control, a bulk of these same people support Pope John Paul II and value his leading ( Associated Press Poll, 6/5/96 ) . This split between Catholics & # 8217 ; love of the Pope and their blazing neglect for his instructions on human gender is one of the most important marks of the battles within the church.

I feel that every individual is distinguishable and has a dramatically different narrative to state. It is, therefor, impossible to do one general statement sing a controversial issue and anticipate it to work, or be true, for everyone. There will ever be & # 8220 ; what if & # 8230 ; & # 8221 ; inquiries that need to be looked at on a instance by instance footing. When the Catholic Pope published Humanae Vitae he wholly disregarded the sentiments of the people he is supposed to be taking. I feel that because the church says that every sexual act should hold the possibility of making life it is hypocritical to back up natural household planning but non preventives such as rubbers and the pill. Each of these takes off the possibility of holding a kid and is used with the same purpose. I feel that this issue should be decided on each twosome based on their state of affairs and should non be decided by person as removed from the state of affairs as the Catholic Pope is.

Bibliography

Catholic Catechism

Humanae Vitae, Pope Paul VI