Apostle(s) of Common Sense

Mark Shea, devotee of the Apostle of Common Sense, has birthed a mini-conversation at his blog, inviting conversation on the NFP witch hunt taking place here (with NFP being the witch hunted for–not myself, except for approximately two days per my cycle).

Some of my favorite comments (there are more):

Of all the objections that I’ve heard to NFP, the silliest and most out of touch has to be the charge that is somehow violates chastity to teach it to couples taking marriage prep classes.

I got married almost three years (and two kids) ago, in a diocese known for being pretty orthodox. The marriage prep was taught by an older married couple and some great Dominicans. My fiancee and I were one of twenty or so other couples. Other than us, there was ONE other couple not currently cohabiting. And only two or three others had even heard the Church’s teaching on contraception.

And NFP is the problem?

By the end of the first class, one woman was in tears of rage because of being told for the first time that contraception was wrong.

When it takes until a marriage prep class for people to be informed of the Church’s teaching on contraception, there is a serious problem. And it’s not that NFP is being taught too widely.

Most of the people there knew that the church doesn’t approve of premarital sex. They knew that the church didn’t approve of abortion. But the problem at the root of things–contraception–had never been explained to them.

Thankfully, one of the Dominican priests patiently explained the reasons for the Church’s teachings. I ended up interjecting when the woman who had wept so angrily stood up and announced that her wedding was ruined, because “now when I get married, all I will think about is how the Church is judging me.”

I can’t remember exactly what I said, but I borrowed something that (I think) was kind of a paraphrase of one of Pope Benedict’s comments. Something along the lines of, “No. The Church, and God, loves you and is not judging you here. You are judging the Church. Catholic teaching on sexuality isn’t a series of negative responses, a NO you can’t do this, and NO you can’t do that. It’s a series of positive responses. YES, you accept life. YES, you accept your spouse without barriers. But in order to embrace the YES of married life, we have to say NO to selfishness. And that includes contraception.”

Surprisingly, that got a round of applause. And some people actually got up and took the NFP pamphlets that had been provided to the class.

I sincerely hope that more priests and more Catholic leaders embrace and teach NFP. So good on Jessica Smith. Fight the good fight.—J.H.

Don–I’ve read Fr. Ripperger on liturgy and other topics. He seems pretty much right-on when it comes to those topics. On pastoral concerns such as NFP… not so much. To be charitable, perhaps it is due to being more of an academic than a pastor. His objections don’t hold water when it comes to concrete reality in most modern parishes. I hardly thing the greatest offense to the chastity of most young couples is going to be a series of cross-sections and a cycle chart. I can see more titillating things just by driving down the freeway and encountering a billboard.—J.H.
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ROFL.

With all due respect to the good father, I wonder if he is not in fact a little sheltered from what is actually confronting young Catholics out there in the world.

I can’t watch a football game, use the internet, or even walk down the street without seeing advertisements that depict men and women in sultry poses and scanty clothing. I can’t go to the gym (or even use the sidewalk) without, of course, seeing men and women in tight attire gyrating and jiggling.

To think that a couple who has managed to remain chaste is going to be driven over the edge by anatomical diagrams is ludicrous. Has Father SEEN anatomical diagrams lately?

Honestly, if my husband-to-be is driven into uncontrollable fits of lust by a drawing of a fallopian tube, that’s something I’d rather know before the wedding!

I’m sure when the presenter was talking about testing cervical mucus before using the toilet, everyone in the audience was overcome with desire! How surprising it did not turn into an orgy!

I also love how the NFP detractors completely sidestep all the other benefits to women that NFP provides, such as making her familiar with her body so that she knows when something goes wrong–plus I always know when my period is coming. I’m not having sex, and I’m not yet married, but I thank God for NFP methods.–J