Is it ever permissible to condone artificial ­contraception as a means of family planning for a Catholic couple?


The simple, direct answer to this question is No. It is never permissible to break God’s laws nor 


advise an act which in itself is intrinsically evil, i.e., it is always evil by its very nature and nothing nor any one can ever excuse it. The marriage act, willed by God, must respect the divinely established order: Catholic parents are co-creators with God and must never, by any practice whatsoever, prevents God’s will which is that every marital act must be open to the transmission of life. Procreation is the primary end of marriage and is always to be respected. The secondary end of marriage—for in marriage there is a hierarchy of ends—is the mutual love and companionship of husband and wife. These ends are not opposed to each other nor can they be inverted as has been done in the new conception of marriage without grave damage to the divine concept of the sacrament itself. Such a practice prompts the question asked and the response duly given. Birth control is a misnomer as Chesterton rightly observed. There is nothing to control—except our wayward passion—but there is a possible birth to prevent. Artificial contraception is birth prevention which is clearly opposed to God’s laws. Therefore it can never be approved nor advised. It is contrary to the Church’s traditional teaching from the beginning as Pope Pius XI reminds us in his papal encyclical Casti Connubii, January 9, 1931: “Those who in exercising the conjugal act deliberately frustrate its natural power and purpose sin against nature and commit a deed which is sinful and intrinsically vicious.”


Is there any moral objection for a Catholic mother to submit to the practice of amniocentesis?


The Catholic Church has no objection in principle to this medical practice provided the intention of doctor and patient is honorable and morally upright. This technique employed in prenatal screening involves using a needle and syringe to remove some of the amniotic fluid from the amniotic sack in which the unborn child is held suspended. The fluid obtained may be analyzed with a view to correcting genetic disorders or maternal fetal blood incompatibility before the birth of the child. Many disorders can be corrected by injecting the unborn child with the appropriate medicine–or by giving the medication to the mother or by performing micro fetal surgery. It is clearly to be seen in this case that the fetus is considered as a patient, i.e. as a person.


However amniocentesis is also subject to a 
grave abuse, an immoral usage that every Catholic must deplore. The results obtained frequently 
permit the doctor to counsel an abortion, a crime against the unborn and crying out to Heaven for vengeance.


On the other hand parents who learn that they may have a potentially deformed child will of course be naturally disappointed. At the same time they should realize in the light and comfort of the Faith, that Almighty God is offering them a very special child and the grace to accept and welcome the infant into their family. How often in a loving Christian home an abnormal child brings out and develops in parents and the other children the finest qualities of love, sacrifice, understanding and selfless generosity. 


In summary the technique is not opposed to Catholic teaching despite abuses. It is so promising and rich in its possibilities that it truly heralds a breakthrough in medical science and fetal surgery and Catholics can legitimately profit by it.


A single woman for grave medical reasons has undergone a hysterectomy. Can she contract a valid Catholic marriage?


Catholic marriage is defined as the lawful contract between a man and a woman by which contract the exclusive and perpetual right is given and accepted to those mutual bodily functions which of themselves are suitable for the generation of children. What concerns us here in this definition is the right to the marital act, i.e. can the marriage act be accomplished fully as to its proper function and end.


For a man, impotency is an invalidating impediment to marriage. In the case of hysterectomy the absence of the uterus does not constitute impotency but sterility. Canon 1068, 1917 Code of Canon Law, paragraph 3, clearly states that sterility neither invalidates marriage nor renders it illicit. This is really the issue raised in the question. Thus it is clear such a person can validly marry, but with respect to Canon 1098 of the New Code of Canon Law, she must inform her future spouse of her condition, this is also restated in the New code, Canon 1084, paragraph 2.