A Question of Rights
Conscience & Contraception
By James E. Biechler
Why didn't somebody tell
me that birth control is no longer a sin? My husband and I were told that
if we did not wish to have more children we were to use either the rhythm
method or to live as brother and sister. Now my nieces and nephews tell
me that birth control is not really a problem. They simply follow their
own judgment. How could I have missed the announcement of such a monumental
change in the church's teaching?"
A. H., Towaco, NJ--
You didn't miss the announcement
and I don't think you should keep waiting. Your nieces and nephews who
follow their own judgment are really doing just what their aunt has been
doing all these years. You were following your judgment but you judged
that you had to conform your judgment to Vatican authority. Your nieces
and nephews apparently judge either that Vatican authority should not be
followed on this question because it is not a reliable guide or they judge
that Vatican authority does not apply to them in this matter. (We are assuming,
of course, that they are actually making rational moral judgments, though
it is possible that like many young Christians today, they regard sexual
conduct as completely personal and resent any suggestion that it should
conform to standards other than their own.)
Your letter suggests that
you feel somehow cheated and that you envy your nieces and nephews their
independence and marital freedom. Many Catholics probably feel as you do
and there is good reason for those feelings. After all, the commission
appointed by Pope John XXIII to study the question did recommend a change
in Vatican teaching on birth control but Pope Paul VI was not able to follow
that recommendation and in his encyclical Humanae vitae issued July 25,
1968 he reaffirmed and underlined a position which asserted that each and
every act of marital intercourse must remain physically open to the possibility
of conception. Many Catholic moral theologians could not find solid theological
and rational grounds to support so unqualified a position. After all, papal
teaching had already affirmed the acceptability of a married couple's contraceptive
intention given the right motives. Papal teaching had also affirmed the
licitness of using anovulants (birth control pills) to regulate the menstrual
cycle so that conception might be avoided more successfully by couples
practicing the rhythm method of contraception. Furthermore, the Second
Vatican Council had already made basic changes in the church's teaching
regarding the primary purpose of marriage, substantially enlarging it to
underline the notion of mutual covenant or interpersonal communion of the
spouses, their mutual affection and support of one another. The procreation
of children is an obvious end of marriage but is not of the essence. The
right to procreation may not be excluded but two people can marry mutually
agreeing not to have children.
Sexual intimacy between husband
and wife may fulfill its serious purpose exclusive of a procreative intention
or possibility. Mutual love and affection is an indispensable goal of marriage
and it is the responsibility of the couple to foster that love and affection
by whatever means available to them. Normally a couple will welcome the
children their love begets but a couple must make their own decision about
having children.
No announcements on this
matter are expected from the Vatican, other than those which are meant
to reaffirm the position of Humanae vitae, a document, by the way, which
should be read by every literate Catholic because of its beautiful articulation
of Christian marital idealism. How to put that idealism into actual practice
in their lives is the responsibility of the married couple and no authority
can absolve them from that responsibility nor force them into moral positions
that are not rationally convincing even for celibate Catholic theologians.
Article 28 of the Charter
of Rights of Catholics in the Church, published by ARCC, states that "All
married Catholics have the right to determine in conscience the size of
their families and the appropriate methods of family planning." Chapter
28 of A Catholic Bill of Rights (Sheed & Ward, 1988) enlarges upon
and explains Article 28. It includes a brief bibliography for additional
reading.
Dr. Biechler, an emeritus
professor of religion, is a member of ARCC's board of directors. He also
holds a licentiate in canon law and is a longtime member of the Canon Law
Society of America.
E-mail
Comments to Dr. Biechler |
