ShareThisBy ANN RODGERS
Friday, November 17, 2006
Persuading married Catholics to reject contraceptives, gay Catholics to refrain from sex and all Catholics to receive the Eucharist in a state of holiness are topics for the U.S. bishops as they meet this week in Baltimore.
None of the documents breaks new ground, but they try to present difficult teaching in a positive, upbeat manner.
"The bishops (are) applying the teachings of the church to a number of neuralgic issues within contemporary American society, in a pastorally sensitive way," said auxiliary Bishop Paul Bradley, who will represent the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh as its administrator.
The bishops themselves report that just 4 percent of Catholic married couples of childbearing age use the church's approved methods of "natural family planning," or NFP _ abstaining when the wife is fertile.
But Bradley is optimistic that today's young Catholics are more open to the church's view that sex is a deeply spiritual experience inextricably tied to the possibility of new life.
The U.S. bishops as a group have said little about church opposition to artificial contraception since Pope Paul VI reaffirmed that teaching in the 1968 encyclical "Humanae Vitae." Paul's document was written in complex philosophical language. The bishops' document is short, simple _ and notes that modern NFP, based on observed signs of fertility, is not the calendar-based "rhythm method."
"Part of God's gift to husband and wife is this ability in and through their love to cooperate with his creative power," says the draft of "Married Love and the Gift of Life."
"When couples use contraception, either physical or chemical, they suppress their fertility, exerting ultimate control over this power to create a new human life with God. With NFP, spouses respect God's design for life and love."
"It's a countercultural document, for sure," said Bishop Donald Trautman of Erie, Pa.
The brochure explains that hormonal contraceptives, including the common pill, can prevent a fertilized egg from implanting, which the church regards as an early abortion. This is especially a concern about so-called morning-after pills, Trautman said.
"Ministry to Persons With a Homosexual Inclination: Guidelines for Pastoral Care" speaks about including gay people in parish life while also trying to help them abstain from sex.
It says gay people don't have to try to become straight, but that they must cultivate the virtue of chastity.
"The point of the document is not a question of whether homosexuality can be cured. Our focus is on ministering to people who want to live their lives according to the teaching of the church," Bradley said.
The draft says that all people, including gay people, are created in God's image. It condemns gay-bashing:
"Those who work for the church must never tire of making it clear that no one may appeal to the fact that homosexual acts are immoral to justify violence against homosexual persons. Moreover, this does not just apply to physical violence, but to any act of prejudice, unjust discrimination or even subtle hatred."
While reiterating the church opposition to adoption by gay couples, the document says their children may be baptized if there is "a well-founded hope" that the children will be raised Catholic.
Trautman was involved in drafting the communion draft, written in response to a request from bishops during the 2004 presidential campaign, when there was sharp disagreement over whether Catholic legislators who support abortion rights could receive communion. But because the bishops have already adopted guidelines, which allow each bishop discretion on that matter, politicians are not singled out in this draft, Trautman said.
Among other things, the document reminds Catholics that the Eucharist is not considered symbolic, but that the consecrated bread and wine are believed to be the actual body and blood of Jesus.
(Ann Rodgers can be reached at arodgers(at)post-gazette.com.)
