Contraception

[Guest elle]

Our 18-year daugher has spent the last year in a treatment facility to help her with some psychiatric problems. She is home and blooming and spending a lot of time with her first boyfriend. She recently informed us she is planning to be his roommate with her own room in a couple months, indicating it will be platonic. She is very naive and all the counselors working with our family indicate we must warn her to use birth control if she decides to become sexually active. They told us she will surely become pregnant if she doesn't protect herself. Would it be sinful to to follow their advice and tell her that is an option for her but that we do not agree with it? Do we trust our daughter to live in the same home with a young man to stay chaste and leave it in God's hands? We have told her how important it is for her to remain abstinent. She has indicated she is and her boyfriend is respecting that. We are praying very hard to do the right thing. Some of her diagnoses make communicating very difficult sometimes. We do not know if she may be sexually already and afraid to tell us. It is also possible she has made up her mind to stay pure and we don't want her to think we don't think she can do it. Her treatment team indicated to us she has the emotional maturity of a 13-year old. Thank you.

[Cam42]

[quote name='elle' date='May 26 2005, 01:55 PM']Our 18-year daugher has spent the last year in a treatment facility to help her with some psychiatric problems.  She is home and blooming and spending a lot of time with her first boyfriend.  She recently informed us she is planning to be his roommate with her own room in a couple months, indicating it will be platonic.  She is very naive and all the counselors working with our family indicate we must warn her to use birth control if she decides to become sexually active.  They told us she will surely become pregnant if she doesn't protect herself.  Would it be sinful to to follow their advice and tell her that is an option for her but that we do not agree with it?  Do we trust our daughter to live in the same home with a young man to stay chaste and leave it in God's hands?  We have told her how important it is for her to remain abstinent.  She has indicated she is and her boyfriend is respecting that.  We are praying very hard to do the right thing.  Some of her diagnoses make communicating very difficult sometimes.  We do not know if she may be sexually already and afraid to tell us.  It is also possible she has made up her mind to stay pure and we don't want her to think we don't think she can do it.  Her treatment team indicated to us she has the emotional maturity of a 13-year old.  Thank you.[/quote]
Definitely a touchy subject, but here is the Catholic answer.

One cannot do evil in order to bring about a good. In other words, you must teach and impress upon her that contraception is not a method of anything good, regardless of the end result.

[quote]Would it be sinful to to follow their advice and tell her that is an option for her but that we do not agree with it?[/quote]

For your daughter, yes. For you, no. Although, you have an obligation to teach and promote proper sexual morality. [url="http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-vi_enc_25071968_humanae-vitae_en.html"]Humane Vitae[/url] is the best route to follow in teaching her the possibility of right thinking in sexual morality.

I have often counseled my friends that have to undergo counselling that they should find a Catholic psychologist that is competent in pro-life activity. It is the biggest stumbling block of the 20th and 21st Centuries, but we, as Catholics, must stay the course and teach properly to those we have an obligation to teach right thinking.

Cam