133 Isn't it futile to imagine that natural methods
        can be widely distributed and used?

For the Church, instruction in natural methods of birth control must be made part of the basic education to which every man and woman has the right. It is by wide distribution of these methods that we can hope to arrive at a balanced birth rate with respect to the specific character of human sexuality, of persons and of spouses.

The easy means now spread by our consumerist society have the characteristic of unleashing a catastrophic demographic upheaval and of being an assault against the spouses who use them. Moreover, as actual practice confirms, these easy means expose human reproduction to an imperative of planning that deprives the couple of their responsible liberty.

It is disquieting to see that China, a major contradictory example of a developing country and bastion of an out-of-date totalitarianism, is cited with praise by Western contraceptors for the barbarous effectiveness of its anti-life campaigns.


  BACK TO "THE CHURCH & DEMOGRAPHY"   |   TABLE OF CONTENTS   |   NEXT QUESTION  
PERSISTENT MALTHUSIAN PARADIGM: http://www.brown.edu/Courses/Bio_Community_Health168C/malthus.htm
COUNCIL FOR SECULAR HUMANISM: http://www.freespeech.org/freethought/declaration.htm
SOCIAL DARWINISM AND ELITISM: http://tqd.advanced.org/3376/Genktk7.htm
THEORIES OF POPULATION: http://www.knight.org/advent/cathen/12276a.htm
THE OVERPOPULATION MYTH: http://www.ohiolife.org/overpop/overpop.htm
WESTERN CIVILIZATION IS DYING: http://www.ohiolife.org/qa/qa20.htm
IMPOSED MORALITY?: http://www.ohiolife.org/qa/qa22.htm
POPULATION RESEARCH INSTITUTE: http://www.pop.org

POPULORUM PROGRESSIO (ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF PEOPLES)
http://www.sni.net/advent/docs/pa06pp.htm
SOLLICITUDO REI SOCIALIS (ON SOCIAL CONCERNS)
http://listserv.american.edu/catholic/church/papal/jp.ii/jp2solli.txt
CENTESIMUS ANNUS (CENTENARY OF RERUM NOVARUM)
http://www.sni.net/advent/docs/jp02ca.htm
ETHICAL & PASTORAL DIMENSIONS OF POPULATION TRENDS
http://www.hli.org/issues/population/church/pop1.html
COMBATTING ABORTION & EUTHANASIA
http://www.sni.net/advent/docs/jp02ab.htm

CBCP GUIDELINES ON PHILIPPINE POPULATION CONTROL
http://www.cbcp.net/documents/population_90.html
THE TAIPEI DECLARATION OF 1996
http://www.simbahayan.org/taipeideclaration.html