YOUCAT Lesson 420
YOUCAT the catechism
for Catholic youth
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]
Sometimes social, psychological, and medical conditions are
such that in the 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
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