Fr. Roger J. Landry
SS. Peter and Paul Parish, Fall River, MA
Controversial and Often Misunderstood Issues in Catholicism Series
August 9, 1999
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Marriage, Family and Sexuality Issues
Outline of the Lecture
Outline:
I. Objections to the Church’s teaching in these areas
A. How can a celibate priest, or the Church in general, talk about issues of sexuality?
B. Can there be mortal sins in the area of sexuality?
C. Shouldn’t the Church adapt her teaching in light of present-day problems?
II. Four Essential Principles
A. The meaning of true human love.
B. The meaning of the gift of human sexuality.
C. Marital fruitfulness or fecundity
D. The vocation to chastity in all states of life.
III. The conjugal act — designed toward truly “making love”
A. The meritorious gift of self.
B. The marks and demands of conjugal love.
C. Pro-life purpose and responsible parenthood
D. A mutual decision
E. Two-fold purpose of the conjugal act: unity and procreation (love and life).
F. Can you ever morally stop having children?
G. Why is contraception wrong?
H. What if your spouse demands you contracept? What is the morality of such cooperation in contraception?
I. What is periodic continence or Natural Family Planning (NFP)?
J. What is the moral difference between NFP and contraception?
K. Is NFP-use always moral or do you have to have serious reasons to use it?
L. What can be done in the case of a mother who risks dying if she becomes pregnant again? Can you use
contraception? Get a hysterectomy? Vasectomy?
M. Is this burden too heavy to bear?
N. Isn’t the Church just reducing everything to “biologism”?
IV. Various false (and sinful) applications of human love and sexuality
A. Adultery
B. Premarital sex (fornication)
C. Homosexuality
D. Masturbation
E. Pornography
F. Prostitution
V. Sterility and infertility
A. The great suffering associated with sterility and infertility
B. What about in-vitro fertilization and embryonic transfer (IVFET)
C. What about GIFT and other new methods (ZIFT, LTOT)
D. Is “surrogate” motherhood morally licit?