| April 7, 2008 | Volume 83, Number 12 | |
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Church teaching on abstinenceI am somewhat shocked at the reasoning used in the letter by Chuck Brown (CV Letters, March 24 issue). Though a practicing Catholic, he seems to be lobbying in favor of the hormone-based opinion of city school adolescents against the teaching of the Catholic Church. Let us remind ourselves that in matters of faith and morals, the Church speaks with the authority of Jesus — “Whatever you declare bound on earth shall be bound in heaven; whatever …Mt 16:19.” Neither statistics, Planned Parenthood, majority rule, nor even high-schoolers will ever have the authority to dictate moral law. The end never justifies the means. This laudable particular end is fewer teen pregnancies. The proposed means are contraceptive ‘education’ and availability. Hopefully the letter writer does not counsel his own children in the way he proposes. What “alternate protective measure” [other than chastity] could one rightly recommend to a teenager who wants to ‘have sex’ with a ‘partner’ who might have an STD or AIDS? To be lucid, the practice of abstinence/chastity actually works in avoiding teen pregnancy, 100 percent of the time. It only makes sense. Abstinence definitely works when trying to avoid STDs and AIDS — on a large scale, note the success of Uganda, having the lowest rate of AIDS in all of Africa (condoms are not promoted in Uganda as the big fix). Contraceptives can and do have a failure rate, necessitating the need for [in the mind of many, including the US Supreme Court] abortion, the murder of unborn children. Fornication and adultery are grave sins. Fallen human nature is tempted by the availability and use of contraceptives. In other words, contraception facilitates these grave sins, even facilitating ‘premeditation’ beforehand. Pretty serious stuff. ‘Abstinence only’ education gives the only morally correct teaching of the Church, age appropriateness assumed. ‘Abstinence based’ education is much too vague and allows for ambiguous options as it can include the ‘option’ of using contraceptives, a mixed signal for teens. In the schools, we teach ‘abstinence only’ with respect to drugs (yes, even knowing some — maybe more than some — will experiment with drugs). In the schools, we teach ‘abstinence only’ with respect to the use of guns and knives to settle personal disputes. But when it comes to ‘sex’, no restrictions can apply, even though life and death can result. Intimate use of our bodies in marriage is a beautiful thing. Outside of marriage, improper use, besides being sinful, is the cornerstone of the culture of death — STDs, abortion, illegitimacy, infidelity, divorce, homosexual activity, pornography… The 1968 “Humanae Vitae” encyclical foretold our current societal problems related to the misuse of our body’s fertility gift. It was, and still is, good reading. Catholics need to stay with the firm and constant counsel of Holy Mother Church and promote purity, whether or not all her children (or the world at-large), agree. Our most important end is salvation and continued life with God. The means to use can be discovered in the teaching of the Catholic Church, not in misinterpretation of amoral data.
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Hopefully the habit of monthly confession will stay with my children once they move away from home and thus strengthen their ability to stay pure.