What does contraception do?
Catholic church views most contraceptives as abortive of a vial fetus, whether newly fertilized egg (the pill, etc.) or later. The key is life begins at conception and anything used to end that life is against Catholic teaching. Using condoms, etc., is against the Church because it believes that procreation is the purpose of sexual intercourse - and that teaches us not to waste seed. Any Catholics more knowledgable than I please correct me if I am wrong but this is how I understand it.
http://www.ewtn.com/library/PRIESTS/FR93103.TXT
You might want to have a gander at this rather long article before you judge. It places things in their proper perspective about "harmless contraception."
Yes>
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). |
2370 Periodic continence, that is, the methods of birth regulation based on self-observation and the use of infertile periods, is in conformity with the objective criteria of morality. These methods respect the bodies of the spouses, encourage tenderness between them, and favor the education of an authentic freedom. In contrast, "every action which, whether in anticipation of the conjugal act, or in its accomplishment, or in the development of its natural consequences, proposes, whether as an end or as a means, to render procreation impossible" is intrinsically evil:
|
They are not the same, but they are both serious enough to warrant the decision by a priest to withhold communion in certain circumstances.
Sheltering homosexual pedophile priests is apparently insufficient grounds for denying communion.