July 22, 2015 Have you ever read Humanae Vitae (Of Human Life)? Few papal documents have stirred greater controversy. Few have crafted more insightful and inspiring words describing the beauty of married love. In this Encyclical, issued back in 1968, Blessed Pope Paul VI wrote about God’s design for married love and the gift of life. As we mark National Natural Family Planning Awareness Week, July 19-July 25, we note that, in this document, Blessed Paul VI helps us to understand the decision making process that spouses should engage in when considering the number of children to bring into the world. This Church teaching met fierce opposition from outside and considerable consternation from inside the Church. It seemed that contemporary conditions, particularly economic, were making it “burdensome to support a large family adequately” (HV, #2), so contraception became the routine method of regulating the birth of children into a family. It was, after all, the 1960’s. This was a time of liberation – freedom to do what one wanted. Today, contraception is generally regarded by the medical community as the ordinary standard of care for women, even though fertility is not a disease requiring medical treatment. On the other hand, the Church’s teaching is often depicted as being opposed to the health and well-being of women, although natural methods actually empower women to live in harmony with their fertility without risks of any kind. The Holy Father cautioned us that the widespread use of contraception would lead to “conjugal infidelity and the general lowering of morality.” Can we deny that the rates of abortion, divorce, family breakdown, child and spousal abuse, and out of wedlock births have skyrocketed? What is Natural Family Planning or NFP? It is the general title for the scientific, natural and moral methods of family planning that can help married couples either achieve or postpone pregnancies. With NFP, no drugs, devices, or surgical procedures are used to avoid pregnancy; entirely natural and free of side effects, NFP is 98-99% effective. In this way, the married couple cooperates with God in planning to have or not have children, rather than leaving God out of the picture by using artificial barriers in their becoming one flesh. Every child is a miraculous gift that forever changes the life of a mom and dad. Too often our “throwaway” culture teaches us that children are more a burden than a gift. Yes, being open to children requires real sacrifice. But such generosity of heart guarantees a rich adventure for which the human person was made. Tragically, we live in a world where large families are often objects of derision and ridicule. The conception of children shouldn’t be prevented, but embraced as A SIGN of hope for the future. I encourage you to set aside time to learn more about our Catholic beliefs about human sexuality, conjugal love and responsible parenthood. Humanae Vitae is a good place to begin. Copies of this document can be obtained by contacting the NFP Office at 518-483-0459 or via email to apietropaoli@rcdony.org. As Catholics, we owe it to ourselves to understand Church teachings. This is one concrete way in which you can meet one of our diocesan goals: Strengthening Faith Formation in Family Life. Visit our NFP office at our diocesan website: www.rcdony.org. We are so blessed to have Angelo and Suzanne Pietropaoli as our diocesan directors as well as all those who help with NFP instruction in our marriage preparation classes. Natural Family Planning: Good for the Body--It’s all natural. Great for the soul! |
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