Aquino to the Bishops on Contraceptives: “Let’s Talk”

As Catholic lay groups backed by bishops crank up to go to the streets to protest the presidential stand on artificial contraception that it should be available to all, President Aquino said that he is willing to meet with Catholic bishops to explain his position on the controversial reproductive bill rotting in Congress.

What will P-Noy explain and how?

I can only assume that the president will convince the bishops that changing the gear of population growth  to a lower gear is a big factor in alleviating poverty. Other ingredients worth threshing out could be on the table but no matter how Mr. Aquino explains his side; the bishops will never change their stand after politely listening the president’s argument.

Once again, just like my in previous pronouncement, I believe that the population issue is not the cause of poverty in this country but massive graft and corruption, government mismanagement, the unabated widening gap of the rich and the poor and the abuse of our environment and natural resources.

The Church has indicated many times that artificial contraception, euthanasia and anything that deals with  the moral issue of life is non-negotiable. Some bishops may have a different opinion on artificial contraception. That is their personal view. Yet, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), a collegial body acts as one and not individually in the person of its members. Its declarations are final and they reflect the official stand of the Catholic Church. Even if the bishops, so to speak, are willing to give their blessing  to the use of artificial contraception, they cannot and never will --- not even the Pope for using such method in spacing a family goes against the Magisterium.

Pres. Aquino has the option in not listening to the bishops but he cannot stop protesters flooding the streets. Such protests, Church officials say, are not confrontational with the president. They just vent strong opposition on a moral issue that regulates the reproductive system through artificial  contraception. If protests crop up like mushroom which the president or the government has no power to stop, he has a valid reason to scratch his balding head and ask, “Do these protests tarnish if not erode the people’s trust in my government?"  Mr. Aquino knows that Catholics are the majority of Christians in the country with 100 million population scattered through the archipelago.

There is nothing wrong if the president and the bishops sit together and talk about artificial contraception. The bishops are willing to lecture Mr. Aquino on the Ethics of Life and the meaning of Magisterium. At the end of the day, I am sure that the bishops will never be coaxed to agree with the chief executive that artificial contraception is okay. 

As they say, "abangan ang susunod na kabanata". (Let’s see what’s next.) -30-