Ave Maria series
420 May a Christian married couple regulate the number of children they have?
Yes, a Christian married couple may and should be responsible in using the gift and privilege of transmitting life. [2368-2369, 2399]
US Army enlisted men Don L Bragg (left) and Lawrence Kane (center) relaxing in the outer lobby of the Pan American Building in Washington, DC in 1949. We were in training as military news reporters. We both ended up in Korea. Eventually the US Catholic bishops appointed Larry executive director of Human Life and Natural Family Planning foundation (NFP).…..420
Sometimes social, psychological, and medical conditions are such that in th e given circumstances an additional child would be a big, almost superhuman challenge for the couple. Hence there are clear criteria that the married couple must observe: Regulating births, in the first place, must not mean that the couple is avoiding conception as a matter of principle. Second, it must not mean avoiding children for selfish reasons. Third, it must not mean that external coercion is involved (if, for example, the State were to decide how many children a couple could have). Fourth, it must not mean that any and every means may be used.
“Natural family planning is nothing more than self-control out of love for each other.” Blessed Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997), Nobel Prize speech, 1979
Natural Family Planning (NFP): A general term for methods of regulating conception that use the signs of the woman’s fertility cycle and knowledge about the fertility of the man and woman together so as to achieve or avoid pregnancy.
2368-2369, 2399]
The fecundity of marriage
2368 A particular aspect of this responsibility concerns the regulation of procreation. For just reasons, spouses may wish to space the births of their children. It is their duty to make certain that their desire is not motivated by selfishness but is in conformity with the generosity appropriate to responsible parenthood. Moreover, they should conform their behavior to the objective criteria of morality: --Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition
When it is a question of harmonizing married love with the responsible transmission of life, the morality of the behavior does not depend on sincere intention and evaluation of motives alone; but it must be determined by objective criteria, criteria drawn from the nature of the person and his acts, criteria that respect the total meaning of mutual self-giving and human procreation in the context of true love; this is possible only if the virtue of married chastity is practiced with sincerity of heart. (Gaudium et Spes 51 § 3.)156–CCC
2369 "By safeguarding both these essential aspects, the unitive and the procreative, the conjugal act preserves in its fullness the sense of true mutual love and its orientation toward man's exalted vocation to parenthood." (Compare Humanae Vitae 12.)157--CCC
IN BRIEF
2399 The regulation of births represents one of the aspects of responsible fatherhood and motherhood. Legitimate intentions on the part of the spouses do not justify recourse to morally unacceptable means (for example, direct sterilization or contraception).–CCC
People Don L Bragg and Lawrence Kane
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