Posted on 02/15/2007 2:16:28 PM PST by NYer
Correct me if I'm wrong, but the Church does allow for trying to avoid pregnacy by abstinence for certain reasons. I couldn't tell you exactly what those are because it's late and I'm tired and should be in bed already.
After each of my 3 miscarriages my husband and I abstained during my fertile time basically for my mental health. My body probably could have handled a quick turn around but I am an emotional person. This was not years of abstinence but a short period of a few months to recover. I have no guilt over this.
We are open to as many children that God wants to bless us with and realize than the successes and failures are part of His plan.
Someone mentioned above that big families are rare today(forgive me for not looking back to see who it was to ping them?). However, I believe they are making a come back. My kids are in a Catholic children's choir and we are one of the smallest families in that group. We're working on our 4th. These families are mostly 6-8-10 kids strong. It's truly inspirational to be around them!
Excuse me while I go puke over this bit of hubris.
We are no longer and egrarian society. Children are not needed to help feed, support the family hence there is not the need to continually add hands to support the family unit...that and economics for many...
I'm not saying that I think it's a good thing, but it's pretty much the way it is here...other countries where they still support themselves by their families production of food is an entirely different story...
Actually, I mentioned it no uncertain terms that such methods were not acceptable to the Orthodox.
Either you accept that or you choose to bear false witness. Which is it, then?
You have repeatedly made a rather serious error in stating that the Latin faithful have rejected Humane Vitae. Those who have rejected it are not faithful. They are dissenters. Furthermore, K., rule by majority action and opinion of the laity is a category never employed in Orthodoxy as you have outlined it. The faithful respond in the affirmative to the wisdom of their spiritual fathers. The faithless go their own way. It is the same for Rome as it is for the Orthodox world.
"Truth is not subject to a majority vote." - Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger
Since, therefore, openly departing from the uninterrupted Christian tradition some recently have judged it possible solemnly to declare another doctrine regarding this question, the Catholic Church, ... in order that she may preserve the chastity of the nuptial union from being defiled by this foul stain, ... proclaims anew: any use whatsoever of matrimony exercised in such a way that the act is deliberately frustrated in its natural power to generate life is an offence against the law of God and of nature, and those who indulge in such are branded with the guilt of a grave sin. - Pope Pius XI, Casti conubii
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| Couple say Natural Family Planning strengthens marriage |
Clerical Contraception (Important Read! By Fr. Thomas J. Euteneuer)
The Early Church Fathers on The Church (Catholic Caucus)
Early Church Fathers on (Oral) Tradition - Catholic/Orthodox Caucus
The Early Church Fathers on Apostolic Succession - Catholic/Orthodox Caucus
The Early Church Fathers on Purgatory - Catholic/Orthodox Caucus
The Early Church Fathers on Salvation Outside the Church [Catholic/Orthodox Caucus]
The Early Church Fathers on Mary’s Perpetual Virginity - Catholic/Orthodox Caucus
The Early Church Fathers on The Primacy of Peter/Rome (Catholic/Orthodox Caucus)
The Early Church Fathers on Hell - Catholic/Orthodox Caucus
The Early Church Fathers on Intercession of the Saints - Catholic/Orthodox Caucus
The Early Church Fathers on The Real Presence - Catholic/Orthodox Caucus
The Early Church Fathers on Confession / Reconciliation - Catholic/Orthodox Caucus
The Early Church Fathers on the Immaculate Conception - Catholic/Orthodox Caucus
The Early Church Fathers on Justification - Catholic/Orthodox Caucus
The Early Church Fathers on Contraception - Catholic/Orthodox Caucus
**"When is it 'okay' to abort an unborn child, in the Orthodox Church, using artificial birth control?" **
Never in the Roman Church either.
Is there any evidence to indicate that Orthodox, as a whole, respect their Church's teachings on sex and marriage any more than Catholics do?
But if something is true, then it is wise to promulgate it. At least as far as God's laws are concerned. To act against the true, even unknowingly, is to act against your own nature.
"Is there any evidence to indicate that Orthodox, as a whole, respect their Church's teachings on sex and marriage any more than Catholics do?"
In some areas, yes. Divorce rates are low, in some places very low, by comparison for example. Certain ethnic groups have low abortion rates, Arab and American Orthodox people among them. In Eastern Europe and Greece, though, abortion rates are scandalous.
"But if something is true, then it is wise to promulgate it."
To teach it, yes. To make it a necessary pre-condition for theosis/salvation, no. Something like ABC simply doesn't rise to that level.
Re: the comment of Pope Pius XI, it sounds to me as if he is condemning NFP, Maeve.
It certainly sounds that way, doesn't it.
What is the intent of Natural Family Planning and what does it achieve?
As I said, it is a distinction without a difference.
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