A delicate issue...

The question of contraception is without doubt one of the hot potatoes of our time. The aim of this article is to give some clarity about the issue. It is easy enough to outline the Church’s teaching, which we do below. But actually saying why the Church teaches that contraception is wrong is the interesting question. We are long past the days when people would do what the Church tells us simply “because the Church (or Father, or Sister, or father or mother) says so”. In any case such a form of argument is weak. But the truth of the matter is that we need to listen to what the Church says not simply because “the Church says it”. Rather, we listen to what the Church says because what the Church says is true.

That is, it actually makes sense.

There are some very entertaining talks or informative websites about the issue. The Catechism of the Catholic Church also deals with the question very sensitively. Here we will stick to the basics: what the Church teaches about contraception and why she teaches it.

It is probably fairly safe to say that most people think that the issue of contraception is a specifically “Catholic” topic. Yet until 1930 all Christian denominations agreed with the Catholic Church’s teaching, that contraception is gravely wrong. Then, in 1930, the Lambeth Conference (that is, Anglican leaders) decided that contraception was permissible in some circumstances. Swayed by growing social pressure, the Church of England little by little allowed contraception without exception. Today, only the Catholic Church upholds the historic Christian position on contraception.