Contraception: Is it's Use Permissible?
In 1930, in his encyclical, Casti Connubi (56), Pope Pius XI declared,
"...any use whatsoever of matrimony exercised in such a way that
the act is deliberately frustrated in its natural power to generate life
is an offense
against the law of God and of nature, and those who indulge in such are
branded with the guilt of a grave sin."
Pope Paul VI in his landmark encyclical, Humanae vitae, 1968 (14) proclaimed, "Similarly excluded is every action that, either in anticipation of the conjugal act or in its accomplishment or in the development of its natural consequences, would have as an end or as a means, to render procreation impossible."
"By describing the contraceptive act as intrinsically illicit, Paul VI meant to teach that the moral norm is such that it does not admit exceptions. No personal or social circumstances could ever, can now, or will ever, render such an act lawful in itself" - Pope John Paul II, Moral Theology Congress, Rome, 1988.
"The Catholic Church clearly teaches that the use of artificial contraception in all its forms, including direct sterilization, is gravely immoral, is intrinsically evil, is contrary to the law of nature and nature's God...It should be obvious that Catholics who practice artificial birth control may not receive Holy Communion without committing sacrilege" - Bishop G.P. Flavin, Bishop of Lincoln Nebraska, 1991.
"After all, the human marital act is ordered to the procreation of human life. Therefore it is not simply subject to man's sovereignty" - Msgr. T. Schmitz, 1995.
"The primal evil of contraception is that it puts up a barrier against God's creative will, a horrendous crime when seen in all its implications in time and eternity" - Msgr. V. Foy, P.H., 1994.
"How could I, for example, ask my wife, whom I dearly loved, to take oral contraceptives or have an IUD put into place or become sterilized? How could I say to her that I loved her for all of who she is except one major area of her person?" - Thomas W. Hilgers, M.D., July 25, 1993.
"To love is simply to will...the ultimate real good for another...the supreme happiness of the other...which is to say, eternal life with God" - D.Q. McInery, Ph.D., Jan. 2001.
"Contraception compromises
the intimacy between husband and wife because it negates part of their
being; in particular, that which is ordered to procreation...the unselfishness
of their spousal love is diluted by the
presence of self-interest" - Dr. Donald DeMarco, St. Jerome's College,
Waterloo Ontario.
"Married people should
realize that in their behavior they may not simply follow their own fancy
but must be ruled by conscience, and conscience ought to be conformed
to the law of God in light of the teaching
authority of the Church, which is the authentic interpreter of Divine
Law" - Gaudium et Spes, 50.
"The teaching of the Church on birth regulation, which is the promulgation of the divine law...would not be livable without the help of God, who upholds and strengthens the good will of men" - Pope Paul VI, Humanae vitae, 20.
"Mortal sin is sin whose object is grave matter and which is also committed with full knowledge and deliberate consent" - Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1857; "But no one is deemed to be ignorant of the principles of the moral law, which are written in the conscience of every man - Catechism, 1860. Mortal sin...results in...the privation of sanctifying grace, that is, of the state of grace. If it is not redeemed by repentance and God's forgiveness, it causes exclusion from Christ's kingdom and the eternal death of hell - Catechism, 1861. "As soon as each soul leaves the body at death it undergoes the Particular Judgment, at which its eternal destiny is decided...the judgment is passed, and the soul gone to his reward or punishment" - My Catholic Faith, 1954, p.154.
Objectively speaking, a contraceptive act is a mortal or grave sin - "He (Onan) when he went into his (deceased) brother's wife, spilled his seed upon the ground, lest children should be born in his brother's name. And therefore the Lord slew him, because he did a detestable thing" Genesis 38:8-10. Contraception is not permissible; IT IS AGAINST GOD'S LAW. Those who willingly resort to such means of preventing conception run the risk of spending eternity in hell.
Finally, our Holy Father advised us on February 14, 2001 that, "The promotion of the culture of life should be the highest priority in our societies."
CATHOLICS AGAINST CONTRACEPTION (CAC)
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