It comes to something that to really understand the Catholic Church's teachings on contraception, you have to read web pages of mainly protestant Christians who some of whom quite rightly espouse the concept of 'Quiverfull'.
Today when I sit in my local Catholic church I will not see pews stuffed with children, families eager to Love God and their neighbour. I fear most Catholic couples have been seduced by the family planing mentality.
"Quiverfull" is the idea that truly godly families
will “trust the Lord” with their family planning.
Children are viewed as unmitigated blessings. “As arrows in the hand of the mighty man, so are the children of ones youth, happy is the man who has his quiver full of them” and as such, the couple is willing to have as many children as the Lord chooses to bless them with. Artificial or chemical birth control such as the Pill or IUDs are equated with abortion ~ the sin of murdering your own offspring. “Natural” birth control such as Natural Family Planning is not actually “natural” because a couple must abstain at the very time of the month when the woman is naturally more desirous of physical intimacy. All methods of “conception control” is considered a lack of trust in God to provide for the “children of the righteous.”
Quiverfull is radically Pro-Life.It is this ideal which has results in quiverfull families having quite a few more than the average number of children. Why do some Christians seek to limit the size of their families through the use of chemical birth control? The truth be told, our reasoning generally parallels that of the abortion culture – additional children will cause inconvenience, financial hardships, lifestyle constraints – all this coupled with the desire to separate sex from procreation. How can the Church expect to speak with any moral authority on the evils of abortion when we ourselves are guilty of the very anti-life values fuelled by the family planning mentality?" Vyckie Garrison
Although, the quiverfull movement is not without it's problems, lack of love in some families and churches has led to dreadful situations and far from Christian, shameful, practices taking place.
Those of us who are called to marriage should welcome every child as a blessing. We should trust God a little more. We need to be pro life and pro God.
Sons are a heritage from the LORD,
children a reward from him.
Like arrows in the hands of a warrior
are sons born in one's youth.
Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them.
They will not be put to shame
when they contend with their enemies in the gate.
Psalm 127:3-5 (NIV)
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society
Everybody else, those who are not called to Christian marriage are called to celibacy, where or not they are priests, lay people, gay or straight.
