Rob Colquhoun

 

Christ raised the community of life and love (marriage) to the dignity of a sacrament. But John Paul II recognised the dignity marriage had before the time of Christ, calling it the ‘primordial sacrament,’ ‘willed by God in the act of creation’ and ‘interiorly ordained.’

 

Today there are many challenges and snares against the wonderful dignity of marriage. Augustine reminded us that “Nobody can love the king (Christ) if he abhors his commandments.”[1] De Facto unions present a serious objection to marriage. They can possess a serious lack of mutual commitment, a paradoxical desire to maintain autonomy of one’s will and no trusting openness to open life together. The widespread fear of being parents has helped to herald a demographic winter, an aging population with unforeseeable moral, civil and political dangers. In other circumstances parents have renounced their roles only to be friends to their children, refraining from correcting them. John Paul II believed that the future of humanity passes by way of the family, and the future of the family passes by way of adequate preparation. This preparation involves children being conceived in the context of total human self giving, an indispensable prerequisite for their peaceful and harmonious growth.

 

Cultures whose juridical institutions sever sexuality from procreative significance have a subliminal death risk. So called ‘gay marriage’ has sought to be assimilated into the institution of civil marriage. It is based upon a anthropology that is radically different to Christian culture and attempts to subvert and evacuate the meaning of the institution. The intrinsic otherness of sexual difference is denied in a gay marriage and as a result sexual relations all become androgynous. Existence is more that a set of experiences and pleasure. It is grounded in tradition and the continuation of culture for other generations. The family embodies and guarantees the continuation of culture in history. The sexual difference of parents communicate what it is to be human, how to love, bow to belong to society and live in a culture. In this way a child learns that life is something larger than himself.

 

Pope John Paul II recognised that many would openly attack the family. He said, “Frequently man lives as if God did not exist, and even puts himself in God’s place. He claims for himself the creator’s right to interfere in the mystery of human life. He wishes to determine human life through genetic manipulation and establish the limit of death. Rejecting divine law and moral principles, he openly attacks the family. In a variety of ways he attempts to silence the voice of God in human hearts; he wishes to make God the ‘great absence’ in culture and consciences of peoples. The ‘mystery of iniquity’ continues to mark the reality of the world.”[2] Amidst these attacks, God has shown he has a wonderful design for all of our lives; this is like a path planted with temptations, but never without divine grace and hope. With a freshness and enthusiasm of love, the taste for beauty, the desire for open dialogue and hope for tomorrow we can overcome the cultural challenges to family in the twenty-first century to inaugurate a new springtime of love.

 

Marriage complements and is closely related to virginity. It is the Blessed Virgin Mary who imitates the inseparability of both virginity and marriage so closely. In the early Church virginity was associated with immortality. St John Chrysostom states, "Whoever denigrates marriage also diminishes the glory of virginity. Whoever praises it makes virginity more admirable and resplendent. What appears good only in comparison with evil would not be particularly good. It is something better than what is admitted to be good that is the most excellent good."[3]  Marriage and virginity as a sacrament and a state are receptive to the fecundity of divine blessing. A healthier society would protect women from premarital sexual experience because it leads to the hatred of women.[4]

 

Wendy Shalit belives that modesty is a great weapon in rejuvenating our culture to restore feminine mystique. The sexual revolution failed because it ignored female modesty and the difference of the sexes, bringing us harassment, date rape, stalking, eating disorders, dreary hook ups and the great ‘gain’ of divorce.  Modesty, for Shalit, is proof that morality is sexy and is likely to enkindle eros. Modesty may even be a proof of God, because it means “that we have been designed in such a way that when we humans act like animals, without any restraint and without any rules, we just don’t have as much fun.”[5] Modesty, falsely associated with prudery, is far more exciting than promiscuity because it restores the dignity given to femininity. Kierkegaard believed that “What distinguishes love from lust is the fact that it bears an impress of eternity.”[6] And modesty combined with motherhood helps to form part of the salvation of mankind (cf. 1 Tm 2:15).

 

Tertullian beautifully described the beauty of marriage in the Church. He wrote, “How can I ever express the happiness of the marriage that is joined together by the Church, strengthened by an offering, sealed by a blessing, announced by Angels and ratified by the father… They are both brethren and both fellow servants; there is no separation between them in spirit or flesh. Christ rejoices in them and he sends his peace; where the couple is, there he is also to be found.[7] If we are captivated by the beauty and pleasure of God’s way, refusing the counterfeits of this world, we see the goodness and beauty of marriage as fulfilling and creative.

 

The most essential components of a Catholic marriage are that it is free, faithful, total and fruitful. The rights and duties of marriage bring responsibility and stability to counteract the pragmatism and hedonism of our age. As the family is written into the constitution of most of the world’s countries, it is clear that God put in men and women the vocation, capacity and responsibility of love and communion. Life and freedom are inextricably linked to the freedom to love.

 

 

Why is being pro life so important?

 

Abortion is the most important and contentious issue our country faces because every year, 200,000 unborn children are murdered by induced abortion, when they do not have the ability to defend themselves. In the words of Roman Giertych, the Polish deputy prime minister and education minister said in 2007 that, “The nation that kills its children is a nation without a future.” Because human life is sacred from the moment of conception, it is most important that we nurture life and ensure it is revered as precious. In the British parliament, 700 hours were spent debating the foxhunting legislation whereas just 3 hours were spent debating the value of unborn children, when the topic of abortion had not been properly addressed since 1990.

 

If we consider what is at stake in the pro life issues, if the pro choice position is objectively true, the right to choose should be a right and no-one should undergo the inconvenience of an unwanted child. But should the pro life position be correct, hundreds of thousands of babies are being brutally murdered, many for the sake of handiness. It is time to draw the line- both positions cannot be correct simultaneously.

 

Professor Stuart Campbell has greatly helped the pro life movement by showing some 3D pictures of babies in the womb doing typically the things that babies do: sucking their thumb, yawning and smiling. This has helped to communicate the human nature of the foetus- a counter argument those who just presume that is a clump of cells. Modern technology has helped us to visualise what normally is hidden inside the womb, helping us to see that a baby inside the womb is not terribly dissimilar to one outside the womb.

 

Doctor Bernard Nathanson has made a thoroughly convincing film called the silent scream. In this we see how a baby, just prior to be aborted, gives off considerable stressful signs and attempts to avoid being attacked by the tools of the abortionist. It compellingly conveys how human life is just as present in the womb and can even struggle to live and communicate inside the womb. This particularly tragic incident caused Doctor Bernard to change heart from being ardently pro choice to firmly pro life. And through his work he has managed to influence many thousands of others.

 

Jana Tutkova has been doing some excellent pro life work in Slovakia. During contentious debates about whether abortion is constitutional or not, Jana has made many adverts of aborted foetuses on billboards around the country- forcing the debate into the public and getting many people to wake up to the genocide that is happening. Although the billboards are particularly graphic and would not pass advertising standards in the UK, Jana has managed to change hearts and minds by the sheer reality of what abortion is. Jon Snow in the UK dismissed this approach in the UK as sheer propaganda, but the pictures are precisely what happens in reality behind closed doors.

 

Many have forgotten that abortion is still a crime in the United Kingdom as it has only been partially decriminalised. Part of the reforms of the 1967 abortion law in 1990 was to allow abortions up to birth for those suspected of having a disability. We have great numbers of laws for the provision of disabled toilets, ramps and access across the country, but when the disabled are being screened and murdered before they are able to access all these wonderful services we can see that something is seriously wrong! How is it possible that discrimination of the disabled is permitted so blatantly in the womb, but not on the pavement? Abortion laws have largely come in the twentieth century as part of a culture of death that has descended on the western world. Many women abort the only children they will ever have. This is a true tragedy, yet there is healing, compassion, mercy and forgiveness for those who have had this terrible experience.

 

Above all, a new sexual revolution needs to occur with a phenomenal culture change before the scourge of abortion diminishes in the western world. This will happen through the rediscovery of modesty and chastity as joyful ways of life. An opening of many compassionate alternatives to abortion also needs to be examined, such as housing, adoption and counselling for those involved in this trauma.  

 

 

A tremendous amount of ignorance surrounds the fascinating, liberating and enchanting world of natural family planning (NFP). This form of family planning shows us that fertility is in fact a wondrous gift and a normal and healthy condition that should not be repressed or fiddled with. A woman’s fertility is cyclical and naturally manageable. As a holistic approach, it helps and empowers women to make healthy and ethical reproductive choices about their fertility.

 

The Creighton model is unarguably the best model of natural fertility management. This model relies on biological indicators that are signs of human fertility. The model helps couples to sees precisely on what days it is possible to become pregnant during a woman’s cycle. This knowledge enhances the ability to achieve or avoid pregnancy. This model is 99.5% effective for avoiding pregnancy.[1] This makes it the most effective method of avoiding pregnancy, more than the contraceptive bill and barrier methods. When used to achieve pregnancy, the model is 76% effective in the first cycle and 98% within 6 months. The model is the most effective way to pinpoint ovulation. In this way they come to understand and respect fertility as a wonder and not a disease that needs to be discarded, or a light switch that can be turned on and off at will.

 

The model can help couples to discover alternative ways of intimacy other than genital intercourse. Many couples have mentioned a sort of honeymoon effect after short periods of abstinence. Fertility becomes a shared responsibility between men and women and this facilitates deeper communication between couples. This leads to a deeper level of care and respect between couples and a strengthening of their relationship. There are several markers in the Creighton model that help to show the depth of risk of infertility or miscarriage. Early treatment is the best option for combating infertility. The method teaches couples how to care for their fertility, helping them detect and prevent gynaecological problems.

 

Overall the Creighton model is highly reliable, medically safe, inexpensive and versatile. It helps couples to appreciate and value the mystery of fertility and self knowledge. Many people are coming to realise the significance of protecting and preserving one’s fertility. It has been reported that around one in six couples have infertility problems in the UK. As there are no harmful side effects of NFP from any synthetic hormones, normal fertility is permitted in the way it was designed. A familiarity with the natural rhythms of your body helps to generate self respect and self worth. As the Creighton model requires no medical intervention or monitoring, couples themselves learn how to become their own fertility experts. The model is inexpensive to learn about and certainly substantially cheaper than forms of contraception. As a method of family planning it is not a method of contraception.

 

Condoms can cause irritation or allergic reactions.[2] The inter-uterine device can cause pelvic infection or perforation of the womb. The depo Provera can cause irregular menses, acne, weight gain, headaches and breast pain.[3] The contraceptive pill can cause Breast cysts, weight gain, headaches, nausea, vomiting, irregular bleeding, delay the return of normal fertility, increase risk of breast cancer, liver tumours, elevated blood pressure, heart attacks, phlebitis and stroke.[4] But the Creighton model has no side effects whatsoever. By bother damaging your body and fertility when the natural processes are the best and most effective?

 

It is truly astonishing that this model is not well known about in most households in the country. Even doctors have substantial ignorance about the model. This is most likely due to the lack of financial incentives in promoting the model and the overwhelming profits made by other forms of contraception. The government should do more to promote this model in order to help couples with fertility problems and because it is without doubt the best method of achieving and avoiding pregnancy. With this in mind, who would want to use methods that create further complications?

 

But perhaps most fascinating of all, couples that use natural family planning have a divorce rate of one to three percent.[5] Taking into consideration the average divorce rate in the UK is around 40% at present, this is a staggering statistic. It clearly shows that NFP helps encourage intimacy and stability in relationships. If only cosmopolitan magazine would listen!