Msg Base:  AREA 5  - ASK FATHER            CIN ECHO   AMDG
  Msg No: 217.  Fri 12-20-91 17:43  (NO KILL)  (MAILED)
    From: Father Mateo
      To: John Fisken
 Subject: Contraception; sin

+-
| Father-  I am not a Catholic, but have many friends who are.  The question
| is this.  If you can answer shortly, why does the Church hold the position
| that contraception is wrong?  Also, is there a difference between a sin
| and a mortal sin.   Thanks, Just Curious.
 
Dear John,
 
You have asked me for a short answer to the question: why is
contraception wrong.  I will try to give you such a short answer;
then I will give you some suggestions for further reading.
 
God has fashioned marriage as a sacred covenant between wife and husband
to form a union so close as to make them one person.  "Therefore a man
leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become
one flesh" (Genesis 2:24).  This is the first and oldest of God's covenants
with human beings, immensely older than His covenant with Israel and His
covenant through Jesus Christ with His Catholic Church.  Therefore, it
involves all human beings, not just Jews and Catholics.
 
God's purpose in this marriage covenant is twofold: mutual love and the
transmission of human life.  This twofold purpose involves the whole
being of husband and wife, spiritual and psychic as well as physical.
Physically and spiritually, the two partners achieve both mutual love
and the new life of their children through the spiritual/physical
marriage act.  Deliberately to frustrate God's purpose in the marriage
act through artificial interference with its lifegiving nature is
seriously sinful and contrary to the will of God.
 
Further reading on this subject:
 
1) John F. Kippley.  Sex and the Marriage Covenant.  (Obtainable from
St. Joseph Communications, Inc., P.O. Box 720, West Covina, CA 91793;
$14.95 plus $3.00 shipping and handling.)
 
2) Charles D. Provan.  The Bible and Birth Control. (Obtainable from
Zimmer Printing, 410 West Main Street, Monogahela, Pennsylvania 15063.
Write for ordering information.)  This book is useful, but shows
considerable anti-Catholic bigotry.
 
3) Pope Paul VI. Encyclical on Human Life (Humanae Vitae). (Obtainable
at any Catholic bookstore)
 
A sin is any action or omission hurtful to oneself or other people and
contrary to the will and law of God.  For a sin to be mortal, there are
three elements which must be present: 1) the matter must be SERIOUS;
2) there must be sufficient REFLECTION (one must fully realize that it
is serious); 3) there must be FULL CONSENT of the fully free will.  If
any of these three is diminished or lacking, the sin is not mortal, but
venial.
 
                                Sincerely in Christ,
 
                                Maryanne Lawless