Penitentiary goes Planned Parenthood?

 

"NFP" is as old as the hills, and has always been condemned by the Catholic Church because the essence of marriage has procreation alone as it's primary natural purpose.

In the Old Testament, God warned husbands to consider their wives “unclean” (and therefore legally unapproachable) for the duration of her menstrual period and for the following seven days (Leviticus 15:28). The twelfth day, as we now know, is often the day of ovulation ... In other words, the Jewish law is a prescription for optimum fertility for most couples.

In 388, St. Augustine charged, in his 

Morals of the Manichees

"Is it not you who used to warn us to watch, as much as we could, the time after purification of the menses, when a woman is likely to conceive, and at that time refrain from intercourse?" This eminent “Doctor of Grace” further argued against these heretics that “there is no marriage where motherhood is not in view; consequently, neither is there a wife”; therefore, he declared that such a union “makes the woman not a wife, but a mistress.” Pius XI repeats St. Augustine's words on December 31, 1930 in his encyclical Casti Connubii #65.

Meanwhile, because of  the advancement of more precise fertility knowledge, in 1853, the Bishop of Amiens, France, submitted the following question to the Sacred Apostolic Penitentiary:

“[Q.] Certain married couples, relying on the opinion of learned physicians, are convinced that there are several days each month in which conception cannot occur. Are those who do not use the marriage right except on such days to be disturbed, especially if they have legitimate reasons for abstaining from the conjugal act?”

On March 2, 1853, the Sacred Penitentiary answered as follows:

“[A.] Those spoken of in the request are not to be disturbed, providing that they do nothing to impede conception.” 

Obviously, this response is not meant to condemn AC yet endorse NFP, because AC is not needed when "conception cannot occur." The response simply indicates that it is not against nature to use marriage when conception cannot occur, but it is against nature to take measures to avoid/thwart/exclude/impede conception. This is articulated in Casti Connubii 59: "Nor are those considered as acting against nature who in the married state use their right in the proper manner although on account of natural reasons...new life cannot be brought forth. For in matrimony as well as in the use of the matrimonial rights there are also secondary ends, such as mutual aid, the cultivating of mutual love, and the quieting of concupiscence which husband and wife are not forbidden to consider so long as they are subordinated to the primary end.." ..the marriage act [] will always be evil unless it be excused by [offspring]." Aquinas/Summa q. 49 Art 5. 

To "impede conception" is to subordinate the primary purpose of the act. So, the infertile window can be used as long as conception remains the primary purpose, not the purpose being avoided. The decree does not mention any specific type of impediment. It condemns all impediments, including deliberately-timed infertility.

 The 1853 response says that no action may be taken by the spouses that would impede conception: The goal of NFP is to impede conception via timing when the spouses engage in their carefully-timed marital act. The purpose of NFP is "to avoid children and wish to make sure that none will result." Humanae Vitae 16.

 The 1853 response did not say anything about the spouses deliberately avoiding the fertile period and only having conjugal relations during the wife’s infertile period with the purpose of preventing conception. This motive is not mentioned in the 1853 question and is even condemned in the last sentence, which says, “providing that they [spouses] do nothing to impede conception.” 

In 1880, NFP advocates tried again, this time with an overt purpose requested - to avoid "having numerous children."

Fr. Le Conte submitted the following questions to the Sacred Penitentiary in 1880:

“[Q.] Whether married couples may have intercourse during such sterile periods without committing mortal or venial sin?

“Whether the confessor may suggest such a procedure either to the wife who detests the onanism of her husband but cannot correct him, or to either spouse who shrinks from having numerous children?”

The response of the Sacred Penitentiary dated June 16, 1880, was:

“[A.] Married couples who use their marriage right in the aforesaid manner are not to be disturbed, and the confessor may suggest the opinion in question, cautiously, however, to those married people whom he has tried in vain by other means to dissuade from the detestable crime of onanism.”

1. There is no sin in having marital relations during known infertile periods, provided conception is not deferred deliberately.

2. The response does not permit NFP for spouses who shrink from having numerous children, but only for the obstinate sin of Onan.

The second part of the response which supports NFP only allows it in case of Onanism: “...and the confessor may suggest the opinion in question, cautiously, however, to those married people whom he has tried in vain by other means to dissuade from the detestable crime of onanism.” The only permitted use of NFP, according to this response, would be if the husband obstinately commits the sin of Onanism. If not, the confessor cannot even suggest the use of NFP. This is articulated in Casti Connubii 59."Holy Church knows well that not infrequently one of the parties is sinned against rather than sinning, when for a grave cause he or she reluctantly allows the perversion of the right order (secondary over primary). In such a case, there is no sin, provided that, mindful of the law of charity, he or she does not neglect to seek to dissuade and to deter the partner from sin." #59 is not referring to artificial contraception as decreed by the Sacred Penitentiary in 1916.

Casti Connubii 53-54 "Others say that they cannot on the one hand remain continent nor on the other can they have children because of the difficulties whether on the part of the mother or on the part of family circumstances. But no reason, however grave, may be put forward by which anything intrinsically against nature may become conformable to nature and morally good." Pius XII adds "Spouses, who make use of their matrimonial rights, have the positive obligation, by virtue of the natural law of their state, not to exclude procreation." 1958 International society of Hematology. "

Conclusion: the responses of the Sacred Penitentiary allow for the infertile only window when the reason thereof is circumstantial, and not purposed to avoid pregnancy. If the couple is avoiding pregnancy through complete continence, yet one spouse pursues Onanism, then said [NFP] window can be "reluctantly allowed" by the innocent spouse. However, said innocent spouse must "not neglect to seek to dissuade and to deter the partner from sin" (of the perversion of the right order -- seeking the secondary end of marriage independent of the primary).

"During Pregnancy Is Gay"

 

Here's why. The only essential purpose of the conjugal act is procreation. Obviously during pregnancy, the essential purpose cannot be considered. "both in marriage itself and in the use of matrimonial law, secondary ends are also contained, such as mutual help and mutual affection to be fomented and the quiet of concupiscence, ends which the spouses are not prohibited from wanting, provided that it is the intrinsic nature of the act is always respected and, consequently, its subordination to the main purpose." Casti Connubii (Latin translation). Therefore, nature is offended by relations during pregnancy.  it is unnatural and unreasonable to sow one’s seed when one “awaits the harvest.”

Athenagoras the Athenian “After throwing the seed into the ground, the farmer awaits the harvest. He does not sow more seed on top of it. Likewise, to us the procreation of children is the limit of our indulgence in appetite.”

 St. Clement of Alexandria “To…a spiritual man, after conception, his wife is as a sister and is treated as if of the same father.”

St. Augustine, in his book On The Good of Marriage (A.D. 401), likewise agreed with the Church’s tradition that performing the marital act during pregnancy is unreasonable and unnatural since “necessary sexual intercourse for begetting [of children] is free from blame, and itself is alone worthy of marriage. But that which goes beyond this necessity [of begetting children] no longer follows reason but lust…” (Section 11) He also taught that marital relations during pregnancy “are the sins of the married persons themselves, not the fault of marriage.”

"the desire for union does not prevail, but ceases when there is no prospect of generation.” (St. Augustine, Against Julian, Book III, Chapter 21:43) Thus the conception of children is “the one alone worthy fruit… of the sexual intercourse.” (St. Augustine, On the Good of Marriage, Section 1)

St. Ambrose: "For even the young who temper their hearts to prudence by divine fear, generally renounce the works of youth when progeny [offspring] have been received. And is this remarkable for man, if beasts mutely speak a zeal for generating, not a desire for copulating? Indeed, once they know the womb is filled, and the seed received by the generative soil, they no longer indulge in intercourse or the wantonness of love, but they take up parental care. Yet men spare neither the embryo nor God. They contaminate the former and exasperate the latter. "

"even in the elements and the beasts it is a shame to nature not to cease from generating.” - St. Ambrose

"even these acts themselves are performed to the glory of God if they are attended to with a view to posterity [offspring] alone.” - Origen

"..only for the love of posterity" (Tobias 8:9)

"I would like to know, dearly beloved, what kind of a harvest a man could gather if he sowed his field in one year as often as he is overcome by dissipation and abuses his wife without any desire for children. If those who are unwilling to control themselves plowed and sowed repeatedly their land which was already sown, let us see in what kind of fruit they would rejoice. As you well know, no land can produce proper fruit if it is sown frequently in one year. Why, then, does a man do with his body what he does not want done with his field?” St. Caesarius of Arles

If NFP-ers seek self-control and discipline, look no further.

"Married people, then, must mutually abstain...after the wife has conceived he shall not have intercourse with her until she has borne her child, and they shall come together again for this purpose, as saith the Apostle. But if they shall fulfill this instruction, then they are worthy of the body of Christ… and there they shall receive the thirty-fold fruit which as the Savior relates in the Gospel, he has also plucked for married people." St. Finnian of Clonard

"It is lawful for you to take sensual pleasures only from your wife in order to beget legitimate offspring, for only these pleasures are lawful according to the Word.." St Clement of Alexandria

"continence after conception preserves the fruit of the womb from many sinful impulses" Anne Catherine Emmerich

“Men shall be… lovers of pleasure more than of God.” (2 Timothy 3:1-5)

"But the act of fornication is always evil. Therefore the marriage act also will always be evil unless it be excused by the aforesaid goods [begetting children, or of paying the debt]. - Aquinas

 St. Bridget was allowed to communicate with this tormented soul. She asked the man about the specific reasons why he escaped Eternal Hell. He answered saying: “The third [reason I escaped being eternally condemned to burn in Hell] is that I obeyed my teacher who advised me to abstain from my wife’s bed when I understood that she was pregnant.” (The Revelations of St. Bridget

"[Our Lord] rigorously commanded perfect continence after the period of conception." Anne Catherine Emmerich

"the husband has no right to ask for the debt during this period" because marriage contract rights are only for "acts suitable for the generation of children."

“Those who have intercourse with the pregnant are murderers. I do not want the work of a man and woman to take place from the time when the root of a little child has already been placed in a woman, lest the development of that little child be polluted by excessive and wasted semen” St. Hildegard, doctor of the Church

Casti Connubii 59. Holy Church knows well that not infrequently one of the parties is sinned against rather than sinning, when for a grave cause he or she reluctantly allows the perversion of the right order [NFP/ "during pregnancy"]. In such a case, there is no sin, provided that, mindful of the law of charity, he or she does not neglect to seek to dissuade and to deter the partner from sin. Nor are those considered as acting against nature who in the married state use their right in the proper manner although on account of natural reasons either of time or of certain defects, new life cannot be brought forth." "During pregnancy" is acting against nature because it is neither defect, nor "time" (menopause). The right order is procreation purposed first, and secondary ends dependent thereon.

This blogpost is primarily my summation from a much longer article https://docs.google.com/document/d/1c6F6ac7tPNQgBetg0Aojyjz1833JzaB2krzvGvWASj0/edit?usp=sharing