Question 28

"I’m not prepared to speak about these issues because I wasn’t trained in the seminary for this."

We find that many clergy are woefully unprepared to address these issues. They have not kept up with their reading and personal ongoing formation in the areas of human sexuality, chastity and marriage. But this is not an acceptable excuse. What other profession would be excused from professional ongoing formation, keeping abreast with contemporary developments in their profession? If medical doctors did not keep themselves updated, they would lose their license to practice medicine. Can it be any different for the clergy?

There are excellent materials available today to help us understand the beauty of God’s plan for human love, and especially marital love. There is Pope John Paul II’s Theology of the Body; there is Christian Personalism. There are the writings of reliable moral theologians. There are the writings, CDs and videotapes of Dr. Janet Smith. There are the testimonies of thousands of married couples that have discovered the blessings that these values have brought into their marriages and families. Two readily available sources for materials on Natural Family Planning and the harms of contraception and sterilization are One More Soul (www.OMSoul.com) and the Couple to Couple League International (www.ccli.org). CCL provides three-day clergy conferences twice a year at Covington, Kentucky. NFP Outreach helps design and conduct clergy conferences for entire dioceses on the topic of "How to Preach God’s Plan for Marriage and Spousal Love From the Pulpit." There are many good Catholic doctors who are willing to bring their expertise to these conferences. And there are hundreds of married couples that are willing to give their testimonies about the values of NFP in their marriages.

Ignorance was never a good excuse for justifying neglect. And it will not wash today in areas that are so vital to good marriages and happy families.

Fr. Matthew Habiger OSB 
mhabiger@kansasmonks.org