Marriage Preparation

The prevention of conception by unnatural means takes many forms. Strictly speaking, contraception refers to the attempt to keep sperm from fertilizing eggs, or ova. Spermicides, barrier methods (condoms & diaphragms), cervical sponges and caps, and withdrawal are, strictly speaking, true contraceptives. They are unnatural by definition in that the sexual act is inherently procreative, or at least should not be altered in such a way as to thwart its natural consequences.

The intrauterine device (IUD) can act contraceptively by impeding the transport of sperm to the fallopian tubes. The IUD also prevents a conceived baby from implanting in the uterus, which would be a very early abortion. This is called an abortifacient mechanism.

The Pill may act contraceptively, but one of the mechanisms of the Pill is to prevent implantation from taking place, which is most definitely abortifacient.

Sterilization is contraceptive in that it severs the passages through which sperm or egg would travel to each other. However, both vasectomy and tubal ligation violate the natural integrity of the body. When a healthy system is intentionally damaged for no proportionately serious medical reason, it is nothing less than self-mutilation.

1. There will be no return to civilization as long as we permit legalized abortion. Civilization protects its most vulnerable members. Mother Teresa said it well: "If we accept that the mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another" (Address to the National Prayer Breakfast, Washington, D.C., Feb. 3, 1994).

2. There will be no stopping abortion without a rebirth of chastity. An adulterous and unchaste people demand abortion to eliminate their "mistakes."

3. There will be no breaking of the cycle of poverty without a rebirth of chastity. The greatest source of new poverty is the household headed by a single woman with children. It's called the "feminization of poverty."

4. There will be no widespread return to non-marital chastity without a rebirth of marital chastity. It is easier to be chaste when married; married couple need to lead the way.

5. There will be no return to marital chastity without a rejection of marital contraception. The sexual revolution started with the acceptance of marital contraception, the idea that husband and wife can take apart what God has joined together in the marital embrace.

6. There will be no widespread rejection of marital contraception without the equally widespread acceptance of chaste Natural Family Planning. "The way to plan the family is Natural Family Planning. In destroying the power of giving life through contraception a husband or wife is doing something to self. This turns the attention to self and so destroys the gift of love in him or her. In loving, the husband and wife must turn the attention to each other, as happens in Natural Family Planning, and not self, as happens in contraception. Once that living love is destroyed by contraception, abortion follows very easily" (Mother Teresa, National Prayer Breakfast).

7. There can be no widespread acceptance of chaste Natural Family Planning without the widespread availability, promotion, and teaching of Natural Family Planning. How can married couple practice NFP unless they learn it? And how can they learn it unless instruction is readily available, promoted, and regularly taught?

8. Therefore, pastor must make every effort to persuade married couple to use only Natural Family Planning when they have sufficiently serious reasons to postpone or avoid pregnancy. This makes most reasonable the strong recommendation of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee for Pastoral Research and Practices:

We urge that premarriage programs require a full course of instruction in Natural Family Planning as a necessary component in the couple's effective realization of what they need and have a right to know in order to live in accord with the clear teaching of the Church.