| Category: |
Religion |
| Subject: |
A lot of Catholics have a lot of kids |
| Reply: |
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| My parents are Catholic and I'm one of seven kids. But Catholics have a form of birth control called natural birth control (or the rhythm method.) Essentially, it involves the woman figuring out when she is ovulating by taking her temperature, noting any vaginal discharge and the color of it, etc. She keeps track of this information and that allows her to know when she is fertile, which is really only a few days during the course of a month and is right around the time she ovulates. During those days, the couple simply does not have sex and therefore there is very little chance that she'll get pregnant at other times of the month. |
| Posted: | 12/12/2007 |
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Shelly Strauss Rollison,
New Alexandria, PA, United States
, 49
, Female
, New Age/Metaphysical
, White/Caucasian
, Bisexual
, Minister, writer, activist, CNA, draftsman
, 4 Years of College
, Lower middle class
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| Mesg ID: | 1262649e-3906-4998-a1e2-7b6bad6e7ddf |
| Responses: | 0 |
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| Category: |
Religion |
| Subject: |
Contraceptives and Catholics |
| Reply: |
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The method taught at my Roman Catholic Church uses the women's Basal Body Temperature to find out when she normally ovulates each month. I know which days that I am fertile and when I am not. That means that my husband and I abstain from sex every other week (one week because I am fertile, the other week because I feel disgusting}. I have talked to my married friends and it seems that we actually are intimate a lot more often than they are even though they can have sex at any time. I think the waiting makes the urge stronger and more enjoyable when we can get together.
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| Posted: | 11/10/2007 |
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Cindy Higgins,
Pittsburgh, PA, United States
, 31
, Female
, Catholic
, White/Caucasian
, Straight
, Mother
, Over 4 Years of College
, Middle class
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| Mesg ID: | de318810-8100-4ecc-9c70-e8982303c100 |
| Responses: | 0 |
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| Category: |
Religion |
| Subject: |
Catholics have options |
| Reply: |
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First, let me explain the Church line on contraceptives. The Catholic Church believes that you can't do anything that will prevent conception from happening. This is why the Church frowns upon birth control, pulling out, etc., because it prevents conception and there are passages in the Bible condemning that. Popular birth control methods, such as the Pill, are also abortifascients (causing you to basically have an abortion, not prevent a pregnancy) and can lead to higher risks of breast cancer and miscarriages down the road.
The Catholic Church's approved way of 'birth control' is Natural Family Planning, or NFP. A lot of people confuse this with the Rhythm Method, but they're completely different. NFP was created by a doctor, and is almost foolproof. You can only get pregnant certain times of the month, and other times you can't get pregnant at all (it's about half and half, unlike the misconception that NFP means you can only have sex two or three days a month). So basically, you get an NFP trainer who works with you for the first few months until you get the hang of it, and then you can use NFP to either specifically try to get pregnant or avoid getting pregnant. If you stick to it and follow the rules, it works, and supposedly, couples who use NFP tend to have more sex long-term in their marriages than couples who don't. (When you go through Pre-Cana, the required pre-marital counseling in the Catholic Church, a mini-tutorial on NFP is part of it, which is how I learned about it).
Here's a website you can look at if you want to learn more:
http://www.bygpub.com/natural/natural-family-planning.htm
All that said -- not every Catholic is orthodox. Not every Catholic toes the line on what the Church says we should do. Different parishes and priests will be more conservative or liberal. And it isn't like we have to send in surveys every year saying we do or don't use birth control. There are Catholics who use birth control just like there are non-Catholics who do. |
| Posted: | 10/28/2007 |
| By: |
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Melissa ,
Jacksonville, FL, United States
, 23
, Female
, Catholic
, White/Caucasian
, Straight
, writer
, High School Diploma
, Lower middle class
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| Mesg ID: | 38b6b0e9-995d-4a1e-80f0-1f8c1e400d6f |
| Responses: | 0 |
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| Category: |
Religion |
| Subject: |
Catholics and contraception |
| Reply: |
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It's all about timing. And the Church's issue is with ARTIFICIAL contraception. Instead of relying on devices and hormones, Catholic couples who have sex -- but not 15 kids -- track signs of fertility (body temperature, cervical fluid, etc.) for birth control purposes. If you know when you're fertile, you simply abstain on the days when pregnancy's most likely to occur.
It's a surprisingly effective method that's practiced by lots of folks -- not just Catholics -- and one that people would probably know more about, if birth control weren't such a big business. |
| Posted: | 10/24/2007 |
| By: |
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Betty ,
Jacksonville, FL, United States
, 30
, Female
, Catholic
, White/Caucasian
, Straight
, 4 Years of College
, Middle class
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| Mesg ID: | a1db8865-cc4c-454a-bfbf-05af59eb3ca6 |
| Responses: | 0 |
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| Category: |
Religion |
| Subject: |
Catholics and Contraceptives |
| Reply: |
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1. There are other methods that do not destroy a fertilized egg, but prevent one from forming.
2. Just because the church teaches against contraceptives doesn't mean Catholics aren't using them. |
| Posted: | 8/30/2007 |
| By: |
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Arnold U ,
Edmonton, NA, Canada
, Male
, Christian
, Middle class
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| Mesg ID: | d842ec85-20cb-438f-b9ee-0368b4297f1d |
| Responses: | 0 |
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