See Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 of my Series "On the Intrinsic Evil of Contraception."
I present Part 4 of the Series in this posting. Entitled “In Obedience To Christ: A Pastoral Letter To Catholic Couples And Physicians On The Issue Of Contraception,” this instruction was composed by Bishop Glennon P. Flavin of the Diocese of Lincoln, Nebraska. This article originally appeared in "The Southern Nebraska Register," 11 October 1991.
A letter of this nature from a Canadian or
American Bishop to his flock on the subject of Church teaching on contraception
is unfortunately rare indeed. However, Bishops who choose to ignore this
subject and, by default, allow their flocks to be overtaken by the evils of
contraception, risk the eternal
salvation of not only their own souls, but those of the faithful as well.
-------------------------------------------------
IN
OBEDIENCE TO CHRIST: A Pastoral Letter To Catholic Couples and Physicians on
the Issue of Contraception
By
Bishop Glennon P. Flavin
As
a bishop of the Catholic Church and as a successor to the Apostles, my first
duty is to teach "the Catholic faith that comes to us from the
Apostles." As bishop of the diocese of Lincoln, my responsibility to you
and to God is, in the words of St. Paul to Timothy,
"To
preach the word, to stay with this task whether convenient or inconvenient;
correcting, reproving, appealing; constantly teaching and never losing
patience" (2 Tim. 4:2).
Today
we live in what could be accurately called "a contraceptive culture."
The use of contraception is widely practiced. Even some Catholic couples use
this method to prevent conception and some Catholic physicians do not hesitate
to recommend the use of this means of birth control and even to prescribe
contraceptives. That I may not fail in my duty to God and to you, I am
compelled to write this pastoral letter to you, the Catholic couples and
Catholic physicians of the diocese of Lincoln, and to remind you that birth
prevention by any artificial means is gravely contrary to the teaching of God
and His Church, of which you are members.
To
have certitude of faith in regard to use of marriage, and indeed in regard to
all teachings of the Catholic Church, we must understand the nature of the
Church. Our Blessed Lord, the Incarnate Second Person of the Blessed Trinity,
came to earth almost twenty centuries ago not only to redeem us by His passion,
death and resurrection, but also to teach us how we must live our lives in
order to spend eternity with Him in Heaven.
Before He ascended into Heaven, he founded His Church as the means through which he would remain with us until the end of time, and through which He would continue to teach and guide and sanctify mankind until the end of the world. He chose Peter as the visible head of His Church. To Peter He said, "You are 'Rock' and on this rock I will build My Church" (Mt. 16:18). To Peter He, the Good Shepherd, entrusted His flock: "Feed My sheep" (Jn. 21:17). To Peter and the other Apostles He gave the mandate:
Before He ascended into Heaven, he founded His Church as the means through which he would remain with us until the end of time, and through which He would continue to teach and guide and sanctify mankind until the end of the world. He chose Peter as the visible head of His Church. To Peter He said, "You are 'Rock' and on this rock I will build My Church" (Mt. 16:18). To Peter He, the Good Shepherd, entrusted His flock: "Feed My sheep" (Jn. 21:17). To Peter and the other Apostles He gave the mandate:
"Go
therefore and make disciples of all nations... and teach them to observe all
the commands I gave you. And know that I am with you always to the end of
time" (Mt. 28:8-20).
Christ,
Who cannot be deceived and cannot deceive us because He is God, is still in the
world today as He promised, teaching us through His Church what we must believe
and how we must live; and the voice of His Church is the successor of Peter,
now Pope John Paul II. This is our Catholic faith: We believe that when Pope
John Paul II teaches in matters of faith and morals, the Church teaches; and
when the Church teaches, Christ the God-man teaches.
Therefore,
we who have been blessed by God with the gift of the Catholic faith can have no
doubt about the immorality of contraception. The Catholic Church clearly
teaches that the use of 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. This is and always has been the uninterrupted
teaching of the Catholic Church from the beginning.
The
ban on contraception is not a disciplinary law of the Church, like abstinence
of Friday, which the Church can enact and which the Church can dispense for
good reasons. Rather, it is a divine law which the Church cannot change any
more than it can change the law of God forbidding murder. Contraception is
wrong, not because the Church says it is wrong (it was wrong before Christ
established the Church); it is wrong because God Himself, through the
revelation of His Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, has declared it to be wrong.
Because contraception is intrinsically evil, it may never be practiced for any
reason, no matter how good and urgent. A good end never justifies the use of an
evil means.
Catholic
physicians and others who prescribe contraceptives or recommend their use are
cooperators with those who use them. Such cooperation is gravely sinful. The
same is true for physicians who advise contraceptive sterilization, or perform
this procedure or refer a person to another physician for this purpose. In
doing so they, too, commit grave sin.
It
should be obvious that Catholics who practice birth control and those who
cooperate with them in their immoral actions may not receive Holy Communion
without committing sacrilege. Only the worthy reception of the Sacrament of
Penance, which requires genuine sorrow for sin and the sincere intention to
discontinue the sinful practice, will bring God's forgiveness, restore grace to
the soul and make one worthy to receive Our Lord in Holy Communion.
Four
years ago, Pope John Paul II, in his address to the bishops of the United
States gathered in Los Angeles, very pointedly declared:
"It
has also been noted that there is a tendency on the part of some Catholics to be
selective in their adherence to the Church's moral teachings. It is sometimes
claimed that dissent from the Magisterium is totally compatible with being a
'good Catholic' and poses no obstacle to the reception of the Sacraments. This
is a grave error...."
While
contraception is always immoral, there is a morally acceptable way by which
married couples may space the births of their children. For good and sufficient
reasons, spouses may regulate births by abstaining from the marital act during
the wife's easily identified fertile periods. This practice is known as Natural
Family Planning. Recent scientific research has so refined the methods of
Natural Family Planning that today, couples may space their children in ways
that are altogether reliable, medically safe, and morally acceptable.
Across
our diocese, eight Natural Family Planning centers for teaching our Catholic
couples have been established; and plans are underway for establishing
additional centers. Trained teachers staff each of these centers. Our diocesan
newspaper, The Southern Nebraska Register, regularly carries a list of the NFP
in our diocese together with telephone numbers and time schedules.
Dear
Catholic spouses, there can be no true happiness in your lives unless God is
very much a part of your marriage covenant. To expect to find happiness in sin
is to look for good in evil. Sin is a bane to married life, as it is to all
life. Like a cancer, it destroys everything that is good and joyful in your
marriage relationship. On the other hand, to keep God in Your married life, to
trust in His and love and to obey His laws in the use of the marriage privilege
will merit His special graces for you during the difficult times in married
life, will deepen your love for each other and will bring to you that inner
peace of mind and heart which is the reward of a good conscience. You will find
the desire and the strength to follow God's law through the frequent and worthy
reception of Holy Communion, the regular reception of the Sacrament of Penance
and daily prayer.
Dear
Catholic physicians, by reason of your baptism and confirmation you are called
by God to witness to the Catholic faith which you profess. As members of a
noble profession, you are in a position to be God's instruments in manifesting
His truth and His love. This you can do by dissuading your patients from the
practice of sinful contraception and by introducing to them the moral methods
of Natural Family Planning. Then you will be the object of God's promise:
"The
person who brings a sinner back from his way will save his soul from death and
cancel a multitude of sins" (Jas. 5:20).
Thus,
you will contribute to the spiritual welfare of your patients; and, like the
Divine Physician, you will care for the whole person, body and soul.
It
is my fervent prayer that Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, the patroness
of the diocese of Lincoln, through Her powerful intercession obtain for all
God's people in our diocese, especially our Catholic spouses and our Catholic
physicians, the grace to accept all the doctrines which God teaches us through
His Church and to live them. For it is only in obedience to the divine will
that a human heart may experience the peace of union with God, both in this
life and in eternity.
…………………………………
Two similar statements from Cardinal Raymond
Burke are highly recommended:
Remarks delivered at InsideCatholic's 14th
Annual Partnership Dinner, September 2009.
Pastoral Letter written while Bishop of La
Crosse, Wisconsin Jan 2004
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