I will return to my discussion of the virtues next week, but this week I was side tracked by something interesting.
These days people love to use words like ‘chemical free’, ‘organic’, ‘all natural ingredients’ and ‘no colours or preservatives’. I live in one of those slightly alternative areas of Auckland where I am surrounded by a myriad of shops with such offerings as organic meat, organic fruit, meditational yoga for wellbeing, and a rather odd holistic health centre.
This return to naturalness and “wellbeing”, be it in very good and healthy or rather odd ways, is probably the reason that an article called “Nature’s Way” found its way into the mainstream magazine “Fitness Life”.
The article heralded Natural Fertility Planning as a natural, yet reliable, alternative to pill popping every morning. It wasn’t angled as Christian at all ,and the well written article by Nicola Kimpton said interesting things like:
“… After 18 years on the drug, the daily pill popping had become a ritual; something I did without question, as routine as taking a shower. A chance article in a national newspaper…brought my attention to an alternative: fertility awareness (FA).”
”… I felt a bit stumped, it being many years since my last ‘natural’ period. And I wasn’t alone. A recent survey has revealed that “many women know surprisingly little about how their menstrual cycle works”.
She then goes on to describe how she is now using this natural alternative and it has worked very well for her, being 98% accurate when taught by an accredited natural family planner NZ educator.
Could the mainstream finely be seeing for itself the effects of all the unnatural things we do to our body without question in order to contracept it?
The chemicals from the contraceptive pill also enter our waters and are deforming animals in some parts of the world.
Scientists at the University of Colorado studied fish in a pristine mountain stream called Boulder Creek and were shocked to find that 101 were female, 12 were male and ten were strange “intersex” fish with male and female features.
The scientists decided the unusual sex ratio was largely caused by estrogens and other steroid hormones from birth-control pills excreted in urine into the city’s sewage system and then into the creek. Sounds crazy – but look up the studies; it’s sadly true.
It was nice to see FA put forward as a positive and natural option for women in a mainstream magazine. It is worth noting, for those that don’t know much about this topic, that there are now a few different methods, some more reliable than others. The oldest and most well known “rhythm” method that probably sprung to mind for a lot of people is not often used as far as I know, and can indeed be unreliable for many women. There are more reliable methods. If you want to find out more, read the article in Fitness Life magazine, or consult a reliable accredited teacher.
It will be interesting to see if the waive of public opinion will ever turn to the Church’s once very controversial stance against artificial contraception, in particular the abortive types and the types which can be damaging to a woman’s natural fertility.
Fantastic post eyeWitness! It amazes me that women can pump themselves with chemicals or get hideous and potentially very dangerous contraceptives (& knowingly or not- abortifacients), placed in their bodies, all in the name of `regulating’ their fertility; while at the same time being concerned with he environment and one’s carbon footprint. Whilst being environmentally `friendly’ (if the latter is one’s concern), natural family planning is also ceratinly one of the best things for married couples.
yes, excellent post eyeWitness.
It is good to see some movement in this regard. With an openess to this type of natural understanding and practice, it may be easier to help people move into the correct intention for which to use these natural methods, i.e., begin to remove the contraceptive mentality even within the natural methods; so that the intention is more inline with natural human ethics.
I suppose what I’m saying is “…good that they’ve moved a little bit, i.e., away from the chemical contraceptives and into a more natural form of birth regulation”, but it would be better if they got their mentality right, i.e., their intentions completely right; and got rid of their contraceptive mentality and intention even within the these natrual methods. But that will hopefully come later if they are open and seek the truth. It’s very hard nowadays though, due to the brainwashing that has occured. What we need is an openess to life, but most of these greenies who are worried about this bodies aren’t that open at all.
I do find that this is a big problem today – people will act and change their lives for physical well-being; like stopping smoking, eating healithy, excercising, and even natural means of birth control…all aimed at good physical health so as to feel better, and give longer life, and even longer ‘quality’ of life…etc…
And these things will be ‘preached’ by the secular culture…quite strongly (often due to the finanical burdens this brings, i.e. medical care down the line)
…but they don’t have much notion of spiritual well-being at an ethical level, at a human level.
For example, I know people who will go out of their way to ‘proselytize’ their friends who smoke, trying to get them to stop smoking…even to the point of a kind of harassement…
…but if others started to talk to these anti-smoking people about how their contracepting was bad for them, or that their living together was un-ethical or bad for them…there would be ‘hell’ to pay, in this life…
It’s a strange dichotomy where people accept the medical science as fact, but the ethical positions like these mentioned above as purely subjective, and just personal ‘belief systems’. I suppose it’s the effect of a materialist culture which accepts the findings of the lower natural sciences at a material level (bodily level), but won’t accept many ethical judgments at a spiritual level – which is demonstrated by many bioethical crimes today.
It really is the fruit of hundreds of years of bad philosophy, i.e. bad thinking, and a massive misunderstanding of reality.
Fantastic post.
Fidelium,
I’m not sure what you mean by a contraceptive mentality among those using NFP, but it’s quite clear from Pope Paul VI’s encyclical Humanae Vitae that recourse to NFP for good reasons is not only perfectly licit, but also encouraged by the Popes :-
God Bless
eW,
It’d be nice to see this catch on around the country — even the world. The links between contraception and certain health conditions should be reason enough for women to seek other methods of regulating their fertility.
Chris,
I’m not sure what you mean by a contraceptive mentality among those using NFP…
Fidelium will correct me if I’m not grasping the point, but it’s possible for people to use NFP with a mentality that is no different from those using artificial contraception.
As you’ve said, Chris, the Church outlines several situations when using NFP to control family size is justified. People can use NFP to avoid having children for purely selfish reasons, though, which is contrary to the spirit of Catholic marriage.
I have just heard that my sister in law is expecting her seventh child. Another beautiful gift from God. Pray for her and the baby, thanks.
I think that the Catholic side of my extended family have been particularly blessed – nearly all of my cousins still go to Mass as adults, and they are having families of 6, 7, 8 children, more than their parents did. Something good is afoot. I think maybe we are turning the corner at least among faithful young Catholics. The culture of death seems to be having less hold – perhaps my experience is an isolated example. I’m not sure. But I think the prayers of holy grandparents and great grandparents really pay off long term. The good news is that there seems to be a strong level of fidelity among the growing children of these families – some of whom have reached adulthood with a very strong faith. Encouraging signs that the Father is continuing to gather people to himself through the Holy Spirit from age to age, so that from east to west the perfect offering of the Son can be made for the glory of His name.