Posted on 04/20/2006 4:48:53 PM PDT by Coleus
Whether or not we obey God's laws and the teachings of His Church is up to each of us. The problem reduces itself to: how much do we love God and how much do we value our own souls and the souls of others?
You don't count, because the media and the broader culture regard anyone with more than three children (at most) as a freak. This goes hand in hand with regarding anyone who values or practices chastity as a freak. Today, most Americans regard consequence-free sexual pleasure as the summum bonum of existence, and woe to him who suggests it might not be.
My last child was conceived just six months after the previous section so my doctor was understandably worried. The incision hadn't even had time to really heal well.
Talk about one scared momma! Fear played a huge part in that, but gave birth to a wonderful kid..it was a difficult pregnancy though and the recovery was just awful.
There are times when you do have to listen to what medicine says.
I have a cousin who now has 5 boys all under the age of 9. When his wife became pregnant with the third they began losing some of their liberal friends. Even some of the family members are making snarky comments. People just don't get it.
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Good article. Thanks for posting it.
I wonder if everyone bashing the Church's position realizes that until the Church of England approved the use of birth control for married couples. It was the universal teaching of both the Catholic and Protestant churches that A Birth Control was wrong. Birth control was condemn by the reformers in very strong language.
I suggest those who insist on sneering at the Churh's teaching at least read the reasoning behind it. Pope Paul VI's encyclical Humanae Vitae can easily be found on the internet.
Also there is a growing movement among Protestant Evangelicals who have come to the conclusion that Birth control is contrary to Biblical teaching.
So this is not a Catholic only issue.
Yes, that is the experience of my sister (who has five children) and a good friend (who has six).
It's definitely my experience too.
6 kids and pregnant with my 7th.
I have become disillusioned about NFP and am seriously considering a tubal ligation after this baby is born.
I have many health problems and am exhausted and cranky.
I'm having a hard time believing it is the will of God to have more kids than we can care for.
One of my favorite priests at my Church is a grandfather. He entered the seminary as a young man, dropped out, married, raised children, had grandchildren, became widowed, re-entered the seminary and is now ordained a priest. He has lots of experience in marriage and child-rearing.
Interestingly enough, his advice on the catechism is the same as his fellow priests without the experience.
**I have a cousin who now has 5 boys all under the age of 9.**
Wonderful. Tell her that we are praying for their family.
Prayers for you and your husband. May your faith be strengthened.
**Interestingly enough, his advice on the catechism is the same as his fellow priests without the experience.**
Bumpt that thought!
As a Protestant, I'm glad my clergyman is married and has a family, so he can more fully understand his work and the people with whom he works.
I'm not using ANY birth control. It strikes me as weird to be married and use birth control. I always thought of BC as something that unmarried couples used to avoid getting pregnant.
Please don't do that. Have you consulted with CCLI or another solid NFP teaching establishment about your NFP practice?
Actually, you haven't multiplied because two (you and your wife) have become one (your child.) If you have three, then you've multiplied. A society needs to have a birth rate of 2.0 to sustain itself. Russia has a birth rate of 1.3 and will see its population cut in half by 2050.
"As a Protestant, I'm glad my clergyman is married and has a family, so he can more fully understand his work and the people with whom he works."
Your statement betrays a misconception held by many Protestants: that all Catholic Priests are unmarried. It also ignores the existence of Deacons.
There happen to be many married Priests in the eastern Catholic churches, although this is not the norm in the U.S. There are also men who, having become widowed, become Priests. It's not that unusual.
Most Deacons are married, and in the western (Roman) Catholic church, Deacons are often the de facto clergy for a specific Parish.
Your statement implies that a clergyman who is not married cannot fully understand his work and the people with whom he works. Have you considered, however, that celibacy might be something of an advantage because you can more objectively evaluate what you see? Even if celibacy were a disadvantage, a point which I do not concede, there are plenty of married clergy (e.g. Deacons) available in the Catholic churches.
I'm aware of the married priests in the Eastern church, and I'm aware of Deacons (I'm Episcopalian). I was merely expressing an opinion. Celibacy is of course a discipline that some choose to adopt; it's not (again, my opinion), the normal human condition.
It's just one of many reasons I'm not Catholic.
"Spoken like a typical man who attends a church run by celibate men."
Your comment is unnecessarily inflammatory. It's also factually inaccurate.
There are numerous ordained men in the Catholic churches who are or who have been married. Most Deacons are married. There are many married Priests in the Eastern Catholic churches, and even a few married Priests in the western (Roman) Catholic church. And then there are those who became Priests after being widowed.
Your comment also implies that the church is run solely by men. A point of view that borders on the laughable for those of us who actually attend Catholic parishes, or who have ever had any significant interaction with Nuns. Women, not men, are usually the ones who step forward to run the lay ministries in our parishes. And arguably *the* most powerful and influential Catholic in the U.S. during the last 25 years has been Mother Angelica.
"I have a cousin who now has 5 boys all under the age of 9. When his wife became pregnant with the third they began losing some of their liberal friends. Even some of the family members are making snarky comments. People just don't get it."
Sad to say, this attitude crops up in some Catholic parishes as well. One of the (large) families at my Parish started looking east when they ran into these kinds of issues.
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