The Catholic Church, Birth Control, and Same-Sex Marriage
By: Ania Schening
Two extremely controversial topics in today's society are women's reproductive rights and LGBTQ rights. Although these topics are not shied away from in political debates, these issues are often avoided in discussion with members of the Catholic church due to their general unacceptance. Although there is supposed to be a separation between church and state, there is not a complete separation of theology and politics. This phenomenon begs the question, with society's general acceptance of homosexuality and premarital sex - will the Catholic church ever change its teachings on same-sex marriage or contraception?
For the Catholic church marriage and sex go hand in hand. Marriage permits sex, and sex is only permitted between a married man and woman. As pointed out by David Matzko McCarthy, in his chapter from Theology and Sexuality, entitled " The Relationship of Bodies: A Nuptial Hermeneutics of Same-Sex Unions", Marriage is a covenant between two people, a covenant in which they give themselves to each other and God fully, "giving yourself fully" is what allows for the married couple to have sex. He emphasizes that the most important part of this covenant is constancy, being bound to only each other and God for the rest of your life. The same-sex theological rationale given by McCarthy in his essay focuses on "God's steadfast fidelity and frames same-sex unions in the image of God's enduring love, insofar as they are faithful, permanent, and contribute to the continuing life of the church. (McCarthy 202)" McCarthy acknowledges that same-sex unions cannot be equated to heterosexual marriages because same-sex couples cannot procreate, but he argues that they can sustain the fundamental good of constancy, and may even provide a more striking example of Gods love than many heterosexual unions.
Through this theological lense, same-sex unions are a great example of God's covenant-making and gracious self-giving to the world. Catholics may understand this point of view, but the church still refuses to accept same-sex marriage because they see homosexual acts as sins, and they see sex as an important part of marriage. In addition to this, the Catholic Church sees procreation as the most vital part of marriage. As stated by the US Conference of Bishops, "spouses are called to be stewards of the gift of life. They are to welcome children generously to their marital union...God created marriage to be "oriented" or "ordained toward the begetting and education of children" (Gaudium et spes, no. 50). The fullness of human sexuality-its power to unite the man and women in the one-flesh union (unitive) and its ability to generate new life (procreative)-is, therefore, to be lived within the context of marriage." Same-sex couples cannot procreate, but neither can a large amount of heterosexual couples, and the marriage of infertile heterosexual couples is still valid. In response to infertile couples, the church offers condolences and counseling and does not devalue their marriage for not being able to fulfill the "primary goods" of marriage. Being infertile strips the value of the marriage down to the same values held in same-sex marriage; constancy, fidelity, and commitment to God and the church.
Since 2015 same-sex couples have had the legal right to legitimate marriage, and same sex-couples generally accepted in today's society. They are allowed to celebrate their community through things like the pride parade, there are college courses dedicated to the study of homosexuality, and even neighborhoods such as Boystown in Chicago dedicated to the gay community. Despite the general societal acceptance of homosexuality, the church has decided to accept them as people, they were created in the image and likeness of God, but still do not recognize their marriages as legitimate and still condemns same-sex acts. The Catholic church does not seem to care about today's norms. The same ignorance for societal changes can be seen in their views of contraception, and women's reproductive rights.
In G. J. McAleer's "Ecstatic Morality and Sexual Politics" is a quote from Woyjtyla on Catholic ethics and norms which I find contradicts the actions of the church. "The task of ethics is to justify norms, which are themselves something - one could say - for they are connected with really existing people and societies. (19)" Justifying norms with ethics is very important because Wojtyla is right, they are connected with real people and societies. It would be wrong to have ethics shame entire societies of people for their norms. Granted there are certain extreme cases where societies may cause harm to people, and even if those are "norms" for a small society they can not be considered ethical, but in the case of gay marriage and contraception, there is no harm being done to other autonomous human beings.
To be clear moving forward, when talking about contraception, it is meant as pregnancy prevention, not pregnancy termination. Either way, the Catholic Church condemns the use of any preventative measure taken to prevent conception during sex, other than timing sex around a woman ovulation cycle, which is unreliable. Before getting into the full theology of it all, the history and political climate around contraception must be explained. In the early 1900's America was undergoing urbanization and industrialization, which resulted in new social conditions including poverty in cities, poor working conditions, child labor, poor health services, and an increase in alcohol, prostitution, and gambling. It would also produce a diminished financial capacity to care for children. It was found that women who had more access to wealth had means to family limitation and the birth rate was lower than the women from a lower socioeconomic status who did not have access to family limitation and had a higher birth rate (Dienes 76). In this time, birth control was not legal, but the people from higher socioeconomic status had more education and knowledge and could use that knowledge to better limit the number of children they had. These conditions are what started the women's movement for birth control, it was a societal good for the poor to be able to limit the number of children they had.
Fast forward to today, birth control is widely used and accepted, it is actually more common than not for women to be on some type of birth control. It is also very common for unmarried people to have sex, this is something excepted in today's society. We also see a similar problem concerning the relationship between sexual health and poverty. In an article published by CQ researcher titled Sexually Transmitted Diseases; Does the surge in cases spell a crisis? by Barbara Mantel, states that STD rates and unplanned pregnancy "rates among blacks and Hispanics are higher than among whites and can reflect disparities in income, education status and access to health care" This is similar to the problem in the 1900s where women did not have the education and means for proper family planning. The CQ researcher article also goes to discuss how abstinence-only sex education is a factor in high teen pregnancy and STD rates.
Catherine Madsen in her book "The Silence of Sodom: Homosexuality in Modern Catholicism." discusses the dangers of abstinence-only sex education. She describes it as doing more harm than good, especially when talking about teenagers. Teenagers have a natural strong sexual desire and curiosity, so the chances of them experimenting with sex are incredibly high. When using the abstinence-only model, the children are being taught what the church believes, which as stated above as sex being reserved only for straight, married couples intending to procreate. This leaves out vital information and puts the students at great risk. This model leaves out information on life-threatening STDs, unplanned pregnancy, and methods of preventing both of these things. The church believes that any artificial contraception is preventing or killing the life of the unborn, and is forbidden in the church, so teaching about contraception is left out in abstinence-only teachings. Not being educated properly on sex, mixed with the curiosity and desire of teenagers, leads to teen pregnancy and the spread of STDs.
With the vast acceptance of homosexuality and premarital sex in today's society and political arena, will the Catholic church change its stance on contraception and same-sex marriages? The answer is no, the church will most likely not change its beliefs on these issues. Even when analyzing same-sex marriage from the lense described at the beginning of the essay, homosexual acts will always be considered a sin. Despite the fact that same-sex marriages can fulfill all other requirements for a sanctified marriage, they cannot procreate and their sexual-acts are sins, so the church will never accept same-sex marriage. In regards to contraception, in the eyes of the church, premarital sex will never be an acceptable act, and so preventing the creation of human life is a sin, and if you are staying abstinent until marriage then STDs should not be a concern for you. The Catholic church does not care about societal trends, in the US it is evident by laws passed that the church influences the state, but the state does not influence the teachings of the church.
Many public schools in the US are required by county laws to teach abstinence-only sex education, and states like Alabama have strict laws on abortion and birth control, it is almost impossible to get an abortion and it is extremely hard for women to access birth control. This is because the laws in these places are made by mostly conservative Christians, who believe in these teachings on homosexuality and contraception. The problem is that just because the laws reflect these values, does not mean everybody being affected by these laws have these same values. People who do not believe in staying abstinent until marriage are then not getting the education they need to prevent unwanted pregnancies and STDs.
Although there is a separation of church and state, church teachings affect laws made, which in turn has an impact on Christians and non-Christians the same. If the church were to change their teachings based on current societal norms, more people would feel accepted by the church and people would also be better protected from unwanted pregnancies and STDs, as the values would be reflected in the laws. It is a hopeful thought, but there is no way it will actually ever happen.
Resources
Beeman, Patrick C. "Catholicism, Cooperation, and Contraception." The National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly, vol. 12, no. 2, Sum 2012, pp. 283-309. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=rfh&AN=CPLI0000540710&site=ehost-live.
"Love and Sexuality." United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2020, www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings/what-we-believe/love-and-sexuality/index.cfm#communionofpersons.
Madsen, Catherine. "The Silence of Sodom: Homosexuality in Modern Catholicism." Cross Currents, vol. 52, no. 4, Wint 2003, pp. 558-565. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=rfh&AN=ATLA0001335431&site=ehost-live.
Mantel, Barbara. "Sexually Transmitted Diseases." CQ Researcher by CQ Press, 22 Feb. 2019, library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/document.php?id=cqresrre2019022200&type=hitlist&num=0.
McAleer, Graham James. Ecstatic Morality and Sexual Politics a Catholic and Antitotalitarian Theory of the Body. Fordham University Press, 2005.
"The Catholic Church and Birth Control." PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/pill-catholic-church-and-birth-control/.