Birth Control and Catholicism

Is the use of birth control necessarily incompatible with being a practicing Catholic in good standing with the Church?

[quote]Bismark wrote:
Is the use of birth control necessarily incompatible with being a practicing Catholic in good standing with the Church? [/quote]

Yes, to my knowledge the Church (i.e., Rome by official decree) has not changed its position with regards to the use of artificial birth control, though the use of ‘Natural Family Planning’ is not considered incompatible with being a practicing Catholic.

[quote]Bismark wrote:
Is the use of birth control necessarily incompatible with being a practicing Catholic in good standing with the Church? [/quote]

If it’s an honest question, the answer is no.

The issue of birth control is not a dogmatic decree and some forms are more ‘forbiden’ than others. The ones that can act as abortifacients are more forbidden than say a rubber.

The short story is it’s not a major crime, but it is frowned upon. It’s not a dogma though. And we prefer not to be overly legalistic. We rely on the grace of Christ and the sacraments to help form a relationship with Christ. We all fall short in many ways, the point isn’t that we don’t sin as much as we don’t give up because we sinned.

Whether or not you use birth control isn’t the markings of being a good Catholic. Love, grace, faith, prayer, trust in Christ, reconciliation, humility, etc. are the basis of the faith. Individual sin and people’s opinions on that should not separate you from Christ.
We all have our personal crisis’s of faith. That’s ok, if our hearts are open to grace and we strive to be better. We also have to be open to answer’s we may not like.

No, just like any Christian who is living in sin or engaged in a lifestyle unfavorable to the Church.

No man, regardless of his situation, is “incompatible” with Christ’s love and the Catholic Church.

[quote]pat wrote:

If it’s an honest question, the answer is no.

[/quote]

It’s treated as a gravely moral issue in the Catechism - i.e., a mortal sin, which makes one unworthy to receive the sacrament of the holy eucharist until completion of a good confession. I may have misinterpreted what he meant by a Catholic in good standing, since it’s not an excommunicable offense, but actual church doctrine has not changed despite most practicing Catholics having a tendency to ignore this teaching.

[quote]JR249 wrote:

[quote]pat wrote:

If it’s an honest question, the answer is no.

[/quote]

It’s treated as a gravely moral issue in the Catechism - i.e., a mortal sin, which makes one unworthy to receive the sacrament of the holy eucharist until completion of a good confession. I may have misinterpreted what he meant by a Catholic in good standing, since it’s not an excommunicable offense, but actual church doctrine has not changed despite most practicing Catholics having a tendency to ignore this teaching.
[/quote]

The answer is as varied as the methods. The use of abortifacients is the one considered a gravely moral issue. Things like the pill, or implants, or ru482 are strictly forbidden as the potentially allow for contraception, but prevent implantation. Those methods used for the expressed purpose of preventing implantation are gravely errored methods and can be considered mortal sin, which is a de facto excommunitcatory.
Barrier methods are less grave in that they prevent conception in the first place and bring a higher risk of failure to boot. As does medical alterations that prevent conception. It is still considered a sin, but it is not the gravity of sin the same as the use of abortifacients.
And there is the allowed method based on natural cycles.
The issue is not so cut and dry.
This is all assuming of course sex with a marital partner and not sex out of wedlock.
But the answer is still ‘no’. Sin should not be an impediment to ‘being a good Catholic’. Sin needs to be dealt with and repented of.
The true penitent knows they fall short and must rely on God’s grace for redemption and reconciliation with Christ. The penitent, though struggling with issues, seeks to improve and repair their relationship with Christ with the help of the Sacrament of Reconciliation and a heart truly trying to do better.
In other words, if the worst thing you do is have sex with your wife using a rubber you are doing pretty good over all. That doesn’t mean you are free from sin or that you are not in need of mercy and forgiveness. It means you understand you fall short, that you struggle with sin and you want to do better. It means that though you’ve sinned you are open to not sinning and are working your way to a better relationship with Christ.
Sinning doesn’t make you a bad Catholic. Quitting, or giving up because of sin does.
Whether it’s birth control or something else, we all fall short. You don’t become a ‘bad Catholic’ because you violated a rule on the naughty list. You become a bad Catholic when you give up and figure there is no hope for you because your a sinner. Giving up, or not caring is when you cross the line to ‘bad Catholic’. That’s when you make a liar out of God and yourself, because you shut him out and you become weak.

Judas’s biggest crime wasn’t his betrayal of Jesus, his biggest crime is that he didn’t trust Jesus enough to believe that He would forgive him for what he had done and he gave up on Christ and hung himself without reconciling himself to Him. Had Judas not hung himself and sought God’s mercy, he would have been forgiven for betraying the Son of God. Instead of humbling himself before Jesus, he hung himself so that he could not be reconciled. Had he lived, and sought mercy from the resurrected Christ, Judas’s story would have read as a great victory of salvation and mercy. He not only betrayed him, but turned his nose at the saving power of Christ’s mercy and the latter was the greater tragedy.

So you don’t become a ‘bad Catholic’ for using birth control. You become a bad Catholic when you deny Christ by giving up on His mercy and forgiveness. If you don’t give up on Christ, He will not give up on you. If you shut him out, he will not force himself upon you. He will let you make that choice.