ON BIRTH CONTROL AGAIN
Bishop Teodoro C. Bacani, Jr.

There is again a flurry of comments and columns on the "population problem" and the question of birth control. Often, the Church has been blamed for the "population explosion" which is seen to threaten our country.. It is alleged that the Church blinds itself to the population problem, and does miserably little about it. The Church is sometimes seen to promote unbridled procreation, the multiplication of human beings like rabbits.

I will not waste much time here in showing that it is not the official position of the worldwide Catholic Church nor of the Church in the Philippines that there does not exist a population problem. Whether or not there is a population problem in the sense of the growth of the population outpacing a country's capacity to provide for the integral human development of its people is not for the Church to decide. It relies on demographers and economists and other experts to determine the existence or non-existence of a population problem. The official documents of the Church have no difficulty admitting the presence of such a problem in some parts of the world. The Church here in the Philippines has not affirmed or denied the existence of a population problem. This is an area of free opinion for Catholics and is in no way a matter of obligatory doctrine.

There are several things that the Church insists on, and which bind the conscience of its members. First, parents must exercise responsible parenthood. Among other things, this means that they should be generous in the procreation of new life, but they should also strive to bring forth only those children whom they can raise up in a human way. The purposes of marriage, according to traditional Catholic teaching are: the procreation and education of children, and the growth in loving intimacy of the couple. Notice that procreation and education are always coupled together. Children are not only to be brought into the world. They are to be raised up in a manner befitting human beings who have a vocation to be children of God and heirs of His kingdom as well.

Couples can be irresponsible in the procreation of children when they engage in sexual intercourse without giving any thought to their capability of raising up their children (those born and those yet to be born) in a human way. Mindless procreation is as big a violation of God's will as contraception. In other words, couples can be irresponsible not only when they engage in contraception but also when they give birth to too many children.

The Church insists also that it is only the married couples themselves who have from God the right and the duty to decide on the number and spacing of their children. Neither the Church nor the government has competence in this matter. While the Church or the government may propose some ideals in this matter, they cannot oblige the couples nor substitute their decrees for the couples' responsible decision. The Church will, in the name of God and of our humanity protest strongly against any attempts to dictate to couples when or how many babies they can procreate. The Church will not oppose any non-coercive attempts to convince people to keep the number of their children at a certain level, but she will fight attempts to pressure them into doing so by subtle or crass means.

It is well known that the Church allows only the Natural Family Planning method for practicing responsible parenthood. Others feel that contraceptive devices or pills should be allowed the couples as well.

I wish to suggest two ways in which both the Church and government can cooperate in the sensitive matter of birth control. First, they can, each in its own way and together propagate the idea of responsible parenthood among the populace, but especially among the poor. If this idea is inculcated well in our people, they themselves will search for the appropriate means to achieve this idea. In my opinion, it is the men more than the women who need to be made to understand this idea.

Second, the Church and the government can collaborate in the promotion and propagation of Natural Family Planning. The Church can secure the collaboration of the government for this morally legitimate way of promoting responsible parenthood. The Church also can give its collaboration to the government by way providing values formation to couples. In the past, the Church did not accept such collaborative efforts because Church leaders were afraid that the Church would be coopted into the population control program of the government. The Church and the government can collaborate under the aegis of responsible parenthood rather than population control. The government and the Church should collaborate to the fullest extent they can while disagreeing in some matters.

Let not the sad experience of the past, and the suspicions which they have bred tie the hands of the Church and the government which should work together in promoting God's desire, responsible parenthood, which if achieved by couples will result in an optimal population for our country.