Pastoral Care for Marriage in the Light of

Canonical Legislation and Amoris Lætitia

MARRIED LOVE MADE FRUITFUL

1. Introduction
The gospel of Matthew spells out to us that, “Every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad
tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. You
will know them by their fruits” 1 and so, in this paper I wish to express the ways in which
pastors can exhibit their care for married couples and help them make their love fruitful. It
does not mean that if the couple do not have children, their marriage is fruitless. Fruitfulness
of a marriage is not dependent on the circumstance of having children alone but many other
factors which will be dealt in detail in this paper.
Therefore, it is in the hands of the People of God to nourish these fruits, the children they
bear out of their love for each other, which are accepted from His overflowing goodness to
us. We, as people of God, need to understand and be firmly rooted in Christ, who laid his life
on a tree to grant us Salvation, willing that we bear good fruits.
2. Children, the Prized Treasures from above
The couple receive the greatest possible gift, the gift by which they become co-operators with
God for giving life to a new human person. The couple, while giving themselves to one
another, give not just themselves but also the reality of children, who are a living reflection of
their love, a permanent sign of conjugal unity and a living and inseparable synthesis of their
being a father and a mother.
Conjugal love involves a totality, in which all the elements of the person enter: appeal of the
body and instinct, power of feeling and affectivity, aspiration of the spirit and of will. It aims
at a deeply personal unity, the unity that, beyond union in one flesh, leads to forming one
heart and soul; it demands indissolubility and faithfulness in definitive mutual giving; and it
is open to fertility.2
The children are a visible sign of the very love of God. “Here we see a reflection of the
primacy of the love of God, who always takes the initiative, for children are loved before
having done anything to deserve it. Yet, there are those who dare to say, as if to justify
themselves, that it was a mistake to bring these children into the world. Mistake for the
couple doesn’t mean it’s a mistake for God! As for God the child is the most perfect creation
of His hands.
If a child comes into this world in unwanted circumstances, the parents and other members of
the family must do everything possible to accept that child as a gift from God (as a perfect
being from God) and assume the responsibility of accepting him or her with openness and
affection.” 3
3. Pregnancy
“Pregnancy is a difficult but wonderful time. A mother joins with God to bring forth the
miracle of a new life.”4 The parents thereby become co-creators along with God, the creator.
“Motherhood is the fruit of a “particular creative potential of the female body, directed to the
conception and birth of a new human being”. Each woman shares in “the mystery of creation,
which is renewed with each birth”.”5
“Husband and wife, father and mother, both “cooperate with the love of God the Creator, and
are, in a certain sense, his interpreters”. They show their children the maternal and paternal
face of the Lord.”6 The parents cherish their children and instill in them the same love of God
the Father that He revealed to us through His creation.
4. God, our Creator
Only the Father, the Creator, fully knows the child; He alone knows his or her deepest
identity and worth. Expectant mothers need to ask God for the wisdom fully to know their
children and to accept them as they are. The love of parents is the means by which God our
Father shows his own love. He awaits the birth of each child, accepts that child
unconditionally, and welcomes him or her freely.7
“So, it matters little whether this new life is convenient for the parents, whether it has features
that please them, or whether it fits into their plans and aspirations.” 8 These children are a
special and a unique gift from God alone, who hands them down to the parents as caretakers
in their earthly pilgrimage. This gift of God is to be treasured with utmost respect and care.
5. Child as a Gift of God
Every child of God is exclusively placed in the family and extremely significant to them.
Pope Francis says that, “We love our children because they are children, not because they are
beautiful, or look or think as we do, or embody our dreams. We love them because they are
children. A child is a child,”9 totally accepted as a gift into their family, specially chosen to be
born to them alone, a family chosen by God.
“This love is shown to them through the gift of their personal name, the sharing of language,
looks of love and the brightness of a smile. Every child has a right to receive love from a
mother and a father; both are necessary for a child’s integral and harmonious development.”
10

“The sense of being orphaned that affects many children and young people today is much
deeper than we think.”11 “A mother who watches over her child with tenderness and
compassion, helps him or her to grow in confidence, and to experience that the world is a
good and welcoming place. This helps the child to grow in self-esteem and develop a
capacity for intimacy and empathy.
A father, for his part, helps the child to perceive the limits of life, to be open to the challenges
of the wider world, and to see the need for hard work and strenuous effort.” 12 “We often
hear that ours is “a society without fathers”. In Western culture, the father figure is said to be
symbolically absent, missing or vanished. Fathers are often so caught up in themselves and
their work, and at times in their own self-fulfillment, that they neglect their families. They
leave the little ones and the young to themselves”.13
“God sets the father in the family so that by the gifts of his masculinity he can be “close to his
wife and share everything, joy and sorrow, hope and hardship and to be close to his children
as they grow”. To be a father who is always present but not ‘controlling’. Fathers who are too
controlling overshadow their children, they don’t let them develop.
Some fathers feel they are useless or unnecessary, but the fact is that “children need to find a
father waiting for them when they return home with their problems. They may try hard not to
admit it, not to show it, but they need it”.”14
6. Forming a Moral Conscience
Living in a world, under the pressures coming from all directions, the faithful do not always
remain immune from the obscuring of certain fundamental values. The education of the moral
conscience is of primary concern. It makes every human being capable of judging and of
discerning the proper ways to achieve self-realization.
7. Love made “Unfruitful”
The same love which shares and bears fruits can become unfruitful and is many a time used
for mere gratification of the body at the cost of one’s soul. The body which has the capacity
to partake in the life giving ability of God’s creation is used and misused not to bear abundant
fruit by means of:
1. Abortion
2. Contraception
3. Sterilization
“A Study on abortions in 2017, headlined on the Times of India read: 1.6 crore abortions a
year in India, 81% at home.
A total of 15.6 million (1.56 crore) abortions took place across India in 2015, against the 7
lakh figure the Centre has been putting out every year for the last 15 years, according to a
research paper published in The Lancet Global Health medical journal.
Many Indian women undergo abortions every year, an overwhelming number 81% take
medicines at home instead of going to hospitals.
Overall, 12.7 million (81%) abortions were medication abortions, 2.2 million (14%) were
surgical, and 0.8 million (5%) were through other methods, probably unsafe.” 15
8. Possible reasons for abortions
Another study conducted among couples who resorted to abortions give various reasons why
they were seeking for an abortion:
8.1. Timing births and controlling family size: The desire to postpone a birth or
to stop childbearing is a very common reason given by women seeking abortion.
8.2. Poverty and economic reasons: Economic reasons or women saying that they could
not afford to properly care for a child come second overall in importance. 
8.3. Relationship problems: Relationship problems, including the partner's objection to
carrying the pregnancy to term, are moderately important in explaining why women have
abortions. 
8.4. Young and unmarried: Being too young or fearing that parents or others would
object to the pregnancy is a fairly common reason for having an abortion.
8.5. Risk to maternal health: This reason was somewhat important overall.
8.6. Fetal defect: Women rarely report that fetal defects or potential problems for the
baby motivated their decision to have an abortion.

9. Teachings of the Church Magisterium

9.1. Church view on abortion
The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that human life must be respected and protected
absolutely from the moment of conception. 16 From the first moment of his existence, a human
being must be recognized as having the rights of a person - among which is the inviolable
right of every innocent being to life. The canon law affirms this statement and states that a
person who actually procures an abortion incurs a latae sententiae excommunication. 17
Christian doctrine of marriage declares that the direct interruption of the generative process
which has already begun, all direct abortion, even for therapeutic reasons, are to be absolutely
excluded as lawful means of regulating the number of children. 18
9.2. Church view on Contraception
When couples take recourse to contraception, they act as "arbiters" of the divine plan and
they "manipulate" and degrade human sexuality and with it themselves and their married
partner-by altering its value of "total" self-giving.19 Pope Paul VI in his encyclical
letter Humanae Vitae states that Contraception is “any action which either before, at the
moment of, or after sexual intercourse, is specifically intended to prevent procreation,
whether as an end or as a means.”. 20 This includes use of condoms and other barrier methods,
spermicides, sterilization, coitus interruptus, taking contraceptive pills, and all other such
methods.
9.3. Church view on Sterilization
Direct sterilization of the man or of the woman, permanent or temporary is equally
condemned.21 Similarly, action which either before, at the moment of, or after sexual
intercourse, is specifically intended to prevent procreation, whether as an end or as a means is
also denounced by Humanae Vitae.22
The Canon Law pronounces that although sterility is the incapacity to beget children, it is
neither an impediment nor a prohibition for it does not affect the unitive character of
marriage. However, if the fact is hidden from the spouse to obtain consent, it renders the
marriage invalid on the grounds of deceit. A person therefore, “contracts invalidly who enters
marriage inveigled by deceit, perpetrated in order to secure consent, concerning some quality
of the other party, which of its very nature can seriously disrupt the partnership of conjugal
life.”23
10. Choosing the lesser evil
Many people argue that the use artificial birth control could bring about harmony and peace
of a family as the children already born are better served and more suitable conditions are
provided for their education.
“If therefore there are well-grounded reasons for spacing births, arising from the physical or
psychological condition of husband or wife, or from external circumstances, the Church
teaches that married people may then take advantage of the natural cycles immanent in the
reproductive system and engage in marital intercourse only during those times that are
infertile, thus controlling birth in a way which does not, in the least, offend the moral
principles.”24 This method of controlling births in the family and spacing children is referred
to as Natural Family Planning.
11. Consequences of Artificial Methods
Taking recourse to artificial methods of contraception can have a deep impact on the life of
the person and the institution of marriage. It can therefore lead to:
1. Marital infidelity and a general lowering of moral standards.
2. A man who grows accustomed to the use of contraceptive methods may forget the
reverence due to a woman.
3. Reduce her to being a mere instrument for the satisfaction of his own desires. 25
These artificial methods of birth control mistakenly appeal to the demands of many married
couples and they feel this is the correct way of achieving responsible parenthood. These
artificial methods have fatal repercussions on the morality of their conjugal life.
12. Responsible Parenthood
All of us would love to have children of our own as they share the image of God and our very
being in them. We might want to have a very large family which is not a bad idea but the
need for responsible parenthood is also of prime importance. Various questions like: will I be
able to cater to their fundamental needs, take due care of their food, education, clothing,
problems, psychological needs and all other obligations and responsibilities inherent in the
marital union often arise.
“Large families are a joy for the Church. But at the same time, Saint John Paul II rightly
explained that responsible parenthood does not mean “unlimited procreation or lack of
awareness of what is involved in rearing children, but rather the empowerment of couples to
use their inviolable liberty wisely and responsibly, taking into account social and
demographic realities, as well as their own situation and legitimate desires”.”26
“With regard to the biological processes, responsible parenthood means an awareness of, and
respect for, their proper functions. With regard to man's innate drives and emotions,
responsible parenthood means that man's reason and will must exert control over them.
With regard to physical, economic, psychological and social conditions, responsible
parenthood is exercised by those who prudently and generously decide to have more children,
and by those who, for serious reasons and with due respect to moral precepts, decide not to
have additional children for either a certain or an indefinite period of time. ” 27
The Code of Canon Law explains that the ends of marriage are good of the spouses and good
of children which includes procreation and education.28 The parents have a responsibility to
educate their children as they are the first and main educators of children.29
13. Adoption
“Adoption is a very generous way to become parents. The Pope encourages those who cannot
have children to expand their marital love to embrace those who lack a proper family
situation. They will never regret having been generous.” 30 It seems to be a sign from above
for the couple, a divine plan for the family when they do not have children. “Adopting a child
is an act of love, offering the gift of a family to someone who has none. For God says, “Even
if your mother forgets you, I will not forget you” (Is 49:15).”31
The Code of Canon Law also encourages and formulates rules for adopted children 32, that
their names be entered in the Baptism Registers of the church in which s/he is baptized along
with the names of their natural parents.33
14. Areas of pastoral concern
A few pastoral guidelines for Priests and religious including the lay faithful
• Pray before, during and after delivery of the child.
• Pray for those people who support the government when they resort to abortions and
contraceptive measures as it appeals them.
“Hum Do Humare Do” policy rules out government subsidies or other maternity benefits. It
is not necessary to follow all the policies of the government which are totally against the
morality of Catholic conscience and obtain a complacent attitude thereby losing the sense of
sin. Some would not refrain from going to the extent of saying, “Everyone does it so I also
use. What’s the harm? I will confess later.”, which shows utter disregard for the sacrament of
penance.
Public authorities and health centres in Goa, favour contraceptive methods which are
considered effective. They have a mistaken idea that it enhances the love between couples.
They instil in the minds of people to go in for Copper-T, use sterilization methods, use
condoms without fear of anyone and even do it free of cost for the public on Government
expenses. While when it comes to procuring a child and the family actually doesn’t have
money to do the expenditure, there are no government schemes. Most hospitals also propose
cesarean operations during the birth of a child, it could be a reason for birth control since
these mothers have less chances of having more children.
15. Church Proposes
The Church knows the weaknesses of a person, she has compassion on the multitude, she
welcomes sinners. However, the Church is destined to be a "sign of contradiction.”. 34 She
advises that:
1. People should acquire complete mastery over themselves and their emotions.
2. With the aid of reason and of free will they are to control their natural drives, there
can be no doubt at all of the need for self-denial.
3. Modern means of social communication which arouse a person’s baser passions and
encourages low moral standards should be condemned publicly and unanimously.
4. The government can and should solve the population problem, by enacting laws
which will assist families and by educating the people wisely so that the moral law
and the freedom of the citizens are both safeguarded.
 16. Conclusion
Just as Jesus was severe toward sin, but patient and abounding in mercy toward sinners,
priests should teach married couples the necessary way of prayer and prepare them to
approach, more often with great faith, the Sacraments of the Eucharist and of Penance.35
Therefore, let the people of good faith implore the help of God with unremitting prayer and
draw grace and charity from that unfailing fount which is the Eucharist. If, however, sin still
exercises its hold over them, they are not to lose heart. Rather, they must humbly have
recourse to the mercy of God, abundantly bestowed in the Sacrament of Penance.
1
Matthew 7:17-20
2
Encyclical Letter, Humanae Vitae, of the Supreme Pontiff Paul VI, n. 9 and Apostolic Exhortation, Familiaris Consortio,
of Pope John Paul II, n. 20.
3
Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation, Amoris Lætitia, of the Holy Father Francis, n. 166.
4
Ibid, n. 168.
5
Ibid, n. 168.
6
Ibid, n. 172.
7
Ibid, n. 170.
8
Ibid, n. 170.
9
Ibid, n. 170.
10
Ibid, n. 172.
11
Ibid, n. 173.
12
Ibid, n. 175.
13
Ibid, n. 176.
14
Ibid, n. 177.
15
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/1-6-crore-abortions-a-year-in-india-81-at-home-
study/articleshow/62030066.cms#:~:text=MUMBAI%3A%20A%20total%20of%2015.6,Health%20medical%20journal
%20on%20Monday.
16
The Catechism of the Catholic Church no. 2270.
17
Canon 1398
18
Encyclical Letter, Humanae Vitae, of the Supreme Pontiff Paul VI, n. 14.
19
Apostolic Exhortation, Familiaris Consortio, of Pope John Paul II, n. 90.
20
Encyclical Letter, Humanae Vitae, of the Supreme Pontiff Paul VI, n. 14.
21
Ibid.
22
Ibid, n. 15.
23
Canon 1098
24
Encyclical Letter, Humanae Vitae, of the Supreme Pontiff Paul VI, n. 16.
25
Encyclical Letter, Humanae Vitae, of the Supreme Pontiff Paul VI, n.. 17.
26
Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation, Amoris Lætitia, of the Holy Father Francis, n. 167.
27
Encyclical Letter, Humanae Vitae, of the Supreme Pontiff Paul VI, n. 10.
28
Canon 1055.
29
Declaration on Christian Education, Gravissimum Educationis of the Supreme Pontiff Paul VI, n. 3
30
Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation, Amoris Lætitia, of the Holy Father Francis, n. 179.
31
Ibid.
32
Canon 110 states that Children who have been adopted in accordance with the civil law are considered the children of that
person or those persons who have adopted them.

33
Canon 877 §3 asserts that the names of the adopting parents are to be registered and, at least if this is done in the local
civil registration, the names of the natural parents in accordance with §§1 and 2 subject however to the rulings of the
Episcopal Conference.
34
Encyclical Letter, Humanae Vitae, of the Supreme Pontiff Paul VI, n. 22.
35
Encyclical Letter, Humanae Vitae, of the Supreme Pontiff Paul VI, n. 41 and Apostolic Exhortation, Familiaris Consortio,
of Pope John Paul II, n. 92.