In the past few days much fuss had been made about some
statistic that claims that “98% of Catholic women HAVE used
contraception.” The
administration, and mainstream media, take this skewed statistic as evidence
that Catholics don’t really believe the Church teaching that contraception is
wrong, and therefore, Catholic consciences won’t be violated. It takes a special, twisted sort of
logic to reach that conclusion, but I guess if you really, really, really want
something to be true badly enough, you can just decide to believe it,
regardless of reality.
I even heard a panel on MSNBC say that even “devout”
Catholics contracept and then say that there aren’t really any lay Catholics
that try to live by all the Church’s teachings. To hear that panel speak, and pat each other on the back,
you’d think that the entirety of the Catholic laity is waiting, sharpening our
pitchforks, ready to rebel against our Church and turn it into a dysfunctional
democracy, and that the President and Ms. Sebelius are just trying to help us
along.
Now I realize that I live in a place that is a little bit
different from many parts of America, but since moving here it’s not abnormal
for me to have conversations with friends about the evils on contraception (in
fact it’s very likely to come up during the girls’ play date this morning
because the HHS mandate has made it such a popular topic!). In fact, I’ve even heard a few debates
about the morality of NFP, since arriving here six month ago, along with
various conversations pondering the definition of “serious reasons to avoid”
and the meaning of being “generous” when deciding whether one has a
reason.
My personal experience, combined with my earlier blog poll
in which 36% of readers say they use NFP and 43% said they use neither NFP nor
Contraception, gives away the lie that the White House would have us believe,
that there aren’t Catholics out there that follow this particular
teaching. Anyone can create a
skewed poll and say it represents America (and JoAnna has a great post on just how dishonest the 98% statistic is in the debate).
And the dishonesty of asking if a woman “ever has” used
contraception is also quite apparent in the 98% statistic. If asked if I have taken the Pill in
the last six months even, I would have to say yes. That idiot doctor who thought I was making up the whole
“retained debris” thing, said that the only cure for my problem was taking the
pill (my NFP doctor pointed out that it was at such a low dose that it never
would have done anything… so he was basically using it as a placebo…).
As a result of the possibility of the pill preventing
implantation, our family never questioned what our we would do at that
point. We would abstain until I
was off the medication. We
couldn’t bear the idea of a life being formed and destroyed, which is very much
a possibility, with the way the pill works. But if I was asked if I’d been on the pill in the last year,
I’d have to say yes (until my new OB realized I needed surgery and that the
Pill was doing far more harm then good).
The 98% statistic also takes into account all the Catholics
who used contraception in the distant (or not so distant) past, either because
they didn’t believe it was wrong, or didn’t know it was wrong. Some likely even knew it was
wrong, did it anyways and repented when they realized that the Church teaching
was correct. It doesn’t take into
account converts who stopped using it when they converted. And it doesn’t take into account 15
year old girls who are given it for cramps or acne, or whatever other reason,
or girls and women who are given it for a variety of medical reasons (although
I’d strongly suggest trying to find a NaPro doctor if you are on it for medical
reasons, because, as with my case, the pill can mask problems, but doesn’t fix
them, and with NaPro technology, problems can be uncovered and treated instead
of just masked). The
statistic also doesn’t differentiate between “Catholics” who never set foot in a Church and are about as
“Catholic” in reality as I am “Irish” (well my great grandfather came over from
Ireland and he was Irish...), and Catholics that actually adhere to the
Church’s teachings.
But perhaps the greatest point is that all of these points
don’t really matter. They aren’t
the incredibly important underlying issue that needs to be addressed here. The underlying issue is religious
freedom. The Catholic Church
teaches that contraception is wrong.
Therefore Catholics shouldn’t be required to provide contraceptive
coverage for anyone.
You see, saying that most Catholics don’t follow this
teaching, misses the point. Can we
tell the federal government that pretty much everyone has told a lie, so
perjury is okay? The fact that
people fall short of ideals, doesn’t mean that the ideal to do what is right
should be tossed away. And it
certainly doesn’t mean that the faithful should be stripped of their religious
liberty and their right to strive for those ideals.
I can’t help but feel more than a bit disturbed that the
government and various media pundits best logic in this case seems to be: “It’s okay because everyone’s doing
it!” Didn’t their mother’s ever
teach them about that sort of thinking and where it could lead?
Perhaps it’s for the best that the government decided to
begin their religious persecutions with the largest “denomination” in the
United States. I have a feeling
that they’re going to be surprised by the reaction of religious faithful across
the spectrum, who are going to recognize this attack on religious freedom for
what it is. You don’t have to be
Catholic to realize that this is wrong.
People of other faiths should take note, because while this violation of
rights is beginning with Catholics, I promise you that it won’t end with
us. What do you think that
government is going to force us to actively accept next?
I have a few ideas…
They’d like to tell us that we can practice our faith
privately… but only privately… They’d like to twist the Constitution so that we
can only be faithful behind closed doors, or within the four walls of our
Church. While this infantile
approach to faith may work for Mr. Obama and Ms. Sebelius, those who realize
that faith is something that extends beyond Sunday mornings, must stand up now
and speak out and let our power grabbing President know that this is
unacceptable. We must stop this
violation of basic rights now, while we still can. This violation of rights may start with Catholics, but I
promise you, it will not end with us.
