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Scripture attests to the condemnation
of contraception in the
following two passages:
Genesis 38:8-10 — Onan is killed
for practicing contraception. (In
conjunction, see Deut. 25:7-10,
the penalty for refusing to keep
up the family lineage is only
shame, not death.)
Galatians 5:20 — The Greek word
translated as “scorcery” is pharmakeia.
Pharmakeia denotes the
mixing of potions, and Scripture
scholars believe this includes
contraceptive potions.
In the Tradition, contraception
has been condemned since the
beginning of Christianity; as
early as AD 80 such is found in
the Didache (Didache, II, 1-2).
Down through the ages there
are numerous condemnations of
contraception. This can be seen
in the writings of: Clement of
Alexandria (215), St. John
Chrysostom (407), St. Augustine
(430), St. Caesarius of Arles
(542), The Decretals of Pope
Gregory IX (1241), etc.
Even the Protestant Reformers,
Martin Luther, John Calvin and
John Wesley viewed contraception
as a sin.
All Protestant denominations
agreed with the Catholic
Church’s teaching condemning
contraception as sinful until the
Seventh Lambeth Conference of
the Anglican Church in 1930,
which allowed contraception
under certain circumstances (see
Resolution 15). This opened the
door to greater and greater use
and acceptance in the Christian
populace.
The Catholic Church’s response
in 1930 to this decision of the
Lambeth Conference was the
encyclical by Pope Pius XI Casti
Connubii. In no uncertain terms,
the Catholic Church reaffirmed
her condemnation of contraception
and appealed to the long
standing Christian tradition on
the issue: “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
proclaims] 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 offense
against the law of God and of
nature, and those who do such
are branded with the guilt of a
grave sin.” (CC, #56, emphasis
mine).
A renewed challenge to the
Church’s teaching came with the
advent of the anovulant pill in
1960. In 1968, Humanae Vitae was
promulgated which once again
reaffirmed the Church’s condemnation
of contraception.
(HV, #14).
It was reaffirmed again in 1981
in the Apostolic Exhortation
Familiaris Consortio by Blessed
Pope John Paul II. (FC, #29-33).
In 1997, contraception is again
reaffirmed as an intrinsic evil in
the Catechism of the Catholic
Church, paragraph 2370.
In 2009, A Pastoral Letter of the
United States Conference of
Catholic Bishops titled,
Marriage: Love and Life in the
Divine Plan, states “Deliberately
intervening, by the use of contraceptive
practices, to close off
an act of intercourse to the possibility
of procreation is a way of
separating the unitive meaning
of marriage from the procreative
meaning. This is objectively
wrong in and of itself and is
essentially opposed to God’s
plan for marriage and proper
human development.” (pg. 18).
If you would like more information
on the theology or history of
contraception, more resources are
available from Pastoral & Renewal
Services.
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