In response to a newspaper Inquirer article http://bit.ly/g72uX8
Thanks, Fr. Joaquin for giving us an idea of what will happen if the Congress approves the final version of the RH Bill. I am living in the US right now but I try to keep up with the issues surrounding this bill. I pray that our kababayans who oppose it continue to pray, to fight and to continue to exercise the freedom of expression to let the leaders of our land know the dangers of supporting and funding the promotion of contraception and birth control. I thank you for pointing out things in our constitution that will be used as an basis to determine the constitutionality of the bill.
I believe that Section 11 that says, as you have quoted , “The State values the dignity of every human person and guarantees full respect for human rights.” , is violated by the promotion of contraception since, as Pope John Paul II said, contraception takes away the deepest value of the conjugal act by separating the unitive and the procreative aspect of it which means that the the act is precisely proper to human dignity as long as these two aspects are maintained.
The moral teaching of the Church does not contradict nature or science, and as Pope Benedict has said, when it talks to all people of any religion, it proclaims the message using reason and natural law which anyone of us can talk about even without talking of religious belief. Our faith is not divorced to reason as some people think. What is the relation of Faith to Reason? We are able to understand the purpose and design of nature through our ability to reason. But our reason is limited and it is also affected by the wound inflicted to our will due to original sin. So although our reason can understand nature, our reason has to be pointed to the right direction by faith which is the acceptance of the supernatural revelation of Christ. Reason, to serve it's purpose must flow from faith, given direction and meaning by faith and gives the our reason it's goal! Through our faith with the aid of the Church, we are able to understand the natural laws which means that what the Church promotes to be normative in the society are objective truths that all people will be able recognize with their reason and by looking at the grand design of who we are and how we should relate to another person and the society. What the church echoes is a reality about the nature of marriage that transcends any limitations of race, history and beliefs. It applies to all because it explains the natural law. But it doesn't stop there,the Church also echo the supernatural foundations of our nature, realities that aids our reasons and expands our horizons to things that go beyond our reason since human reasoning has it’s limitations.
I know that it is challenging to explain the Church’s teaching to other people especially those who don’t believe in God but understanding our own nature requires our recognition of Him. To understand nature better, one has to see that there are purposes in how nature is designed and how it acts. Most of all, although society has been closing in to itself by not giving space to God, we can only know ourselves by knowing Jesus. It is sad that people think that to oppose the RH bill is largely based on religious beliefs, it is not true since faith doesn’t abolish nature but rather builds on it and elevates it. Through our faith we are guided to find solutions that considers all the aspect of man, social, spiritual, political etc. But we shouldn’t shy away from explaining our side by limiting ourselves to only what reason can reach. We should appeal and reach out to our kababayan’s seed of faith that already has been planted to most Filipinos because of our culture. Natural law tells us that this is how they will have natural marital relations. And this will be the natural way to do it even if they're not capable of having kids. Even if there is a lack of capacity to bear children, it doesn’t mean that we can do things in a different way. The normal way of things jas to be maintained even if one of the ends can't be fulfilled. The act should always be oriented towards having kids. An analogy can be drawn from the fact that some people with mental disorders or retardation are not stopped from walking, from dressing up in a civil way. These things are the the natural ways of doing things and so we help them do these things even if they can't match the level of be as productive as normal people are. The natural design of and law of marital acts is integral part of who we are and to violate this is a disrespect to humanity.
Humanae Vitae states that "Marriage and conjugal love are, by their nature, ordained toward the procreation and education of children. Children are really the supreme gift of marriage and contribute in the highest degree to their parents' welfare." I think that RH bill supporters fail to see and recognize this first because they have lost the sense that creation didn’t happen by chance and that all things are created for a purpose. As a result of their loss of the sense of God and the objective truth, they are predisposed to think that they can do anything that they can think of and they are led to think that there is no moral absolutes. There is a natural reason that is integral to man’s nature as to why the unitive and procreative has to be maintained. It is an expression of love and not just to satisfy our sexual urges . Every person knows that the sexual act should only be done with the mutual consent of partners which makes it different from the sexual act of animals. By nature, we also know that it is open to the gift of life. To separate these two will be detrimental and creates a lot of complications that degrades people, complications that the RH bill refuse to consider which proves that their narrow perspective of who a man is. Paul VI, in Humanae Vitae,foresaw the consequences of methods and plans for artificial birth control in considering the whole aspect of man: 1. marital infidelity and a general lowering of moral standards.2. loss of reverence due to a woman, reducing her to being a mere instrument for the satisfaction of his own desires 3. the danger of this power passing into the hands of those public authorities who care little for the precepts of the moral law. Many people also see that a contraceptive mentality instills an attitude to not to be open to life which makes contraceptive users more inclined to abort their babies. Are these factors irrelevant to man’s dignity that is being protected by Section 11?
May our Blessed Lady guide our nation and illuminate are minds and speak to our conscience.
Eric Piczon
