By DEXTER DUGGAN
Part 1
PHOENIX — A member of the leadership team of the Diocese of Phoenix explored contraception and related issues in an interview with The Wanderer after he preached on the topics during July 22-23 weekend Masses at one of the large diocesan parishes, St. Thomas the Apostle, in a residential area of Phoenix.
Fr. Chris Fraser, JCL, ordained a priest for this diocese in 2001, earned a licentiate in canon law in 2006 at the Catholic University of America, in Washington, D.C. Upon graduation, he returned here to work full time in the diocesan tribunal, where he has served as judicial vicar since late 2007.
During a Q-and-A interview, which will be continued next week in a second installment, Fraser told The Wanderer that “when the clergy attempt to preach on this topic, they are well aware that there is disagreement, confusion, and also outright opposition to the Church’s position.”
Email questions for this lightly edited interview were submitted in advance to Fraser, who provided his responses. An audio of his homily may be found at the St. Thomas the Apostle website, staphx.org, at Podcasts.
Q. Why did you decide to address that topic in the homily? Do you often address it in homilies at whatever church you’re preaching at?
A. No, I do not preach often about contraception. However, I do mention contraception and birth control occasionally in homilies when the occasion calls for it. For instance, in making comparisons to different ideas or human experiences in light of putting your faith into action in today’s culture, and in decision-making where faith is called to inform our actions in a unique or courageous way.
I preached on contraception (at St. Thomas the Apostle) because it was the USCCB National Natural Family Planning Awareness Week. So, I thought it was a good opportunity to talk about contraception and NFP.
I also used (Phoenix) Bishop (Thomas J.) Olmsted’s letter to priests from 2008 or so, when he asked all of us to preach on the harm of contraception and the blessing of children when 2008 marked the 40th anniversary of Humanae Vitae.
I wanted to make reference to Bishop Olmsted’s pledge of support to the Church’s teachings in their entirety when it comes to these topics and his enthusiastic faithfulness to these moral beliefs of ours. I think that when a bishop encourages his priests to preach on such a difficult and controversial topic like contraception, it leads to a renewed strengthening and zeal among both the clergy and the lay faithful.
It also is challenging to us to see the radical nature of the Gospel. Teachings such as these stand in stark contrast to the secular values and purely worldly priorities that we buy into which are strictly materialistic and often selfish.
Q. You said you received considerable favorable reaction to the St. Thomas homily. Could you please give some examples of such reaction?
A. All I know is what some staff at St. Thomas have told me. Apparently it was getting quite a bit of activity and people were commenting on it via social media like Facebook.
I don’t have Facebook, so I have not seen any of the comments. I have only heard what people from the parish and a few people on staff at the diocese have told me.
Q. The topic often isn’t addressed from the pulpit. Why do you think that is?
A. I think there are many reasons the clergy do not address this topic more often. First, the topic itself is one that must be dealt with in a prudent and responsible manner. It is the homily; and so must be infused with the Word of God and must lead to instruction in living the Catholic faith courageously.
Second, there are young people in the congregation, and so it is important to use good judgment and discretion about how to go about publicly talking about the complexities and problems of contraception, sterilization, etc.
Third, the clergy are very well aware of the confusion amongst the faithful and the public at large about the Church’s teachings in this area. I think that the Church leaders bear some responsibility for creating this confusion and for 1) either not being faithful to the Church’s teaching as they preach and speak about the issue; or 2) because some of the clergy in the past and in the present do not agree with or believe in this teaching themselves.
Therefore, when the clergy attempt to preach on this topic, they are well aware that there is disagreement, confusion, and also outright opposition to the Church’s position.
A fourth reason why this is not addressed more often is that the clergy are well aware of how much they know, and how much they do not know, about the science as well as the connection contraception has to other areas of the sexual moral life.
What I am referring to is that sometimes the clergy can make the mistake of speaking about contraception and birth control as if it was an entity all to itself. But, when we are fully informed about the Church’s teachings in the area of sexual morality, we see that they are all beautifully connected to each other.
Whether we are talking about contraceptives, sterilization, abortion, fornication, masturbation, homosexual acts, in vitro fertilization, they are all connected to each other in terms of their moral foundation in the dignity of the human person, the sacredness of sexual intimacy, and the prohibition of misusing the human body and our sexuality for any purpose other than the one God has established within us.
When people begin to realize this thread in all of these teachings, all the lights start coming on and people finally get it. So, in summary, I think that the clergy are aware that the congregation is at various stages of understanding and acceptance of the Church’s teachings, and they honestly struggle with how to present the topic in a challenging but yet compassionate or empathetic way.
Finally, some clergy avoid this topic altogether because they wrongly believe that people can make up their minds about sex and children and they can do that in private.
Some clergy just don’t want to know, because they mistakenly believe that people can just “follow their conscience.” Some clergy do not preach about this subject because they either don’t agree with the Church’s teaching themselves, or they feel as though people can, and should, privately and independently make decisions about how many children to have and the means by which they seek to achieve that.
Some priests do not want to meddle with the lives of people behind — or to interfere in their private lives behind — “closed doors,” so to speak. That attitude and approach is absolutely preposterous, though, because what is Christianity but a personally held set of beliefs that we accept and apply to our lives because we believe in them?
Opposed From
The Beginning
Q. If some Catholics told you, give us five or six things we should be able to say when we defend the Church stand, what would you say?
A. I suppose I would encourage people to offer the following thoughts for careful consideration.
a: All of Christendom has been opposed to artificial contraceptive practices since the beginning. It is a new idea (and an error) to believe that it is acceptable to harness and control God’s rightful place to co-create new life with us by taking control of fertility for ourselves and, for the most part, for our selfish and pleasure-seeking motives. We must know and accept our limitations.
b: Is artificial contraception dangerous or does it propose a real risk to your health and life? If you believe that contraception and artificial birth control are acceptable, do you know what the side effects of these drugs and procedures are? I mean, do you know what the scientific and medical consequences could be if you choose to use these drugs or have these devices put inside of you?
c: If you are raising children, would you want them to have free access to artificial birth control methods, devices, and drugs? If so, why would you be willing to encourage them to use these? To protect themselves. Okay — well, why would someone need to protect themselves from the person they love and are committed to? This begs the question as to whether you have to love and be committed to the person you are having sexual relations with.
You must be saying that sex with other people is like talking or riding a bike. What does it really say when a person engages in sexual relations with someone and they feel the need to “protect” themselves from what the other person may have, as well as prevent a possible pregnancy? That would mean that the act you are engaged in is something that is actually directed toward the creation of life in pregnancy.
But, you object, I don’t want to get pregnant. So, we ask, “Why are you having sexual relations?” The answer to that is that, “because it feels good.” So, you will run all these risks and take all these drugs in order to do something that simply “feels good” but which is not really fulfilling the purpose of the act itself?
d: Why do you think people use contraception and birth-control methods? Because they want to have sexual relations without the consequence of having babies.
e: Many people today claim (as well as in the past) that they share their sexuality with other people freely because it is natural, it is human, and it makes us free. Should the power that resides in sexual relations be treated in the same manner with the same degree of carelessness as eating, swimming, or playing basketball? Do you think that our sexuality is special? Is it sacred?
If sex is not a big deal and we can have it with anyone we want, how does that play out in real life? Would that kind of lifestyle be possible without contraceptives? Why don’t people take sex more seriously? It is because we are deceived about the power and dignity of sex.
f: Do you think it would be better for people to wait for marriage to have sexual relations? What would the effects of that decision be? If we posed the question in a different way, what are the consequences of society accepting sexual activity outside of the marriage? Here are some of them.
Explosion of sexually transmitted diseases. Would we have STDs if people were virgins at the time of marriage and people did not engage in adultery or fornication? Such diseases would eventually disappear.
Millions of unplanned and unwanted pregnancies when no contraceptives are used and even when contraceptives are used and they fail. This leads to millions of aborted children.
Many unwanted children are co-created with God by people who carelessly have sexual relations with and without birth control, and these children grow up without being loved and cherished, or they are sent off to live with family members to raise them. This is a tragedy.
If NFP and the Church’s teachings about contraception and birth control and all this are so true and obvious, why don’t more people believe in it and practice it? To know and understand these teachings, their goodness, and their wisdom takes time and effort. This can be difficult and challenging.
But using contraception is easy and takes little effort on our part. It is the proverbial easy way out. But, as I said in my homily, the easy way out in contraception turns out to be not easy but very harmful and potentially dangerous. It also will lead to cooperation in evil and separation from God.
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