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GEORGIA BULLETIN, THURSDAY, JUNE 13, 1968 5
The Question Box
We Have Nine Children And...
MSGR. RAY-T. BOSLER
Q. We have nine children. We are
both Catholic and have every desire to
remain so. We have been practicing birth
control for about three years. We feel
that we have “done our part,” so to
speak, and cannot afford more children.
During this three year period we have
been unable to reconcile the practice of
birth control with our faith and have
had to deny ourselves Holy
Communion. Catholic clergymen have
advised sexual abstinence, but we both
still have a strong physical attraction for
the other, and we both need this union
with the other. We both, therefore, feel
in danger of losing our faith.
A. Every week I receive letters like
yours some of them even more
heart-rendering - from all parts of the
U‘nited States and Canada.
Conscientious couples ~ seek clear,
precise, unequivocal answers to the
problem of birth control. They are
confused by conflicting answers from
different priests. They call me cowardly
for ducking the only question that
matters today. Would that I could give a
clear answer.
Pope Paul VI has stated there is no
doubt about the Church’s teaching on
the problem of birth control. The
rhythm method of periodic abstinence
is still the only officially approved
method of family planning for
Catholics. The directive is clear.
Conscientious Catholics will obey it if
they can.
But what is not clear any longer is
that other methods of birth control are
necessarily contrary to the natural law
and therefore more' artificial~fhan "the
rhythm method. The very fact that the
pope set up a special papal commission
to study this question and intimates
that sometime he will have -something
further to say about the problem of
birth control indicates that at this
moment, at least, the Church is not sure
that other methods are more artificial
and unnatural than the rythm method.
Because of this situation, because it is
no longer sure that other methods are
contrary to nature, there is much
discussion among theologians and even
some bishops over when it might be
possible to disobey the teaching of the
Church in good conscience to avoid
greater evils. There are respected
theologians and bishops who teach that
this can be done.
Admitting that contraception is
forbidden by the Church, these teachers
hold that there are times when the
moral obligations to obey the Church’s
teaching in this matter can conflict with
other moral obligations more serious
and binding. The duty, for example, to
preserve a stable and happy home and
to provide for the upbringing of
children already conceived could be in
conflict with the church’s teaching for
those couples who find that the rhythm
method brings on tensions, fears and
discord that threaten the very existence
of the marriage. Couples in such
circumstances, reputable teachers, say,
may have to choose the use of
contraceptives as the lesser of two evils.
Catholics who keep up with
theological writings know about this
solution and have used it to help them
face their own moral problems. Why
should this be limited to those who are
more sophisticated and have-the leisure
and ability to read professional
magazines and theology books?
Whether 1, or your bishop, or your -
Catholic editor agree with these
theologians or not, we have an
obligation to let you know about their
opinions. It is ah old directive of moral
theology that a confessor must not
impose his own opinions upon penitents
but is obliged to inform them of a solid
probable' opinion that might be more
suitable for the penitent. 1 shall,
accordingly, give you first the opinion
of Father Bernard Haering, the highly
respected Redemptorist theologian. In
his recent book, “Shalom: Peace,” the
author gives this directive to confessors
and advisors faced with the problem of
birth control:
“...in desperate situations, where we
cannot offer a clean solution, couples
should be assured that if they, in their
own good conscience, feel that the
course they wish to follow is the right
course for their proper service to God in
their vocation of marriage and
parenthood, then their upright
conscience is the court of last resort and
they do not sin when they follow it in
observing the method which seems to
them the most respectful as to the
dignity of the conjugal act and the less
dangerous in a total evolution of their
particular situation.”
Add to this the advice of Cardinal
Doepfner of Munich to his priests:
“When such partners, who try to build
up their marriage in Christian
responsibility for each other and for the
serious good of the child, believe that in
such a distressing situation they cannot
forego contraceptive intercourse, they
cannot simply be accused of abuse of
marriage. In view, however, of factual
questions currently being intensely
debated by moral theologians, and
ecclesiastical statements made up to the
present time, neither can the doctrinal
and pastoral authorities of the Church
simply give general approval to such
practice. Responsible partners who see
themselves obliged to contraceptive
marital intercourse, not lightly and
habitually, but rather as a regrettable
emergency solution, may take it that by
doing so they do not exclude themselves
from communion at the eucharistic
table.”
This directive of the pro-president of
the papal commission on birth control
has become the foundation of other
episcopal directives in Germany and,
most recently, of the Bishop of
Cuernavaca in Mexico.
What all this boils down to is that
here you have conservative opinions
from persons of recognized authority
'that constitute a solid probable opinion
which you may safely use to form your
own conscience. I cannot give you
permission to make use of the opinion.
No priest can. I can’t tell you how
serious your situation must be. You
alone can make that decision.
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