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I love to read letters in the newspaper from people pontificating on what they think are facts. A recent letter by Jean Fourcade ["Roman church's dogmas are killing the Third World," Nov. 1] stated that the Catholic Church teaches that the "only purpose (or excuse) for sexual intercourse is the production of babies."
If Fourcade had taken the time to even scratch the surface of Catholic teachings on sexuality, this would undoubtedly be shown to be false. But why bother doing that? Why not just blindly bash a 2,000-year-old institution?
For Fourcade's information, the Catholic Church teaches that not only do married couples not need an "excuse" to have sex, it is actually a fulfillment of the sacrament of holy matrimony.
Catholic couples use a method called natural family planning, or NFP. We can still have sex without the "production" of babies. We simply have to have the self-control not to lust after each other in an animalistic fashion when the possibility of pregnancy exists (we can tell this by understanding the fertility cycle).
An interesting side note: The divorce rate among NFP couples is 2 percent versus more than 50 percent in the general population. We do not use contraceptives, not because we are unable to take our "conceited heads out of the sand" but because we are educated on the risks of endorsing and using such devices.
I could easily defend this position in depth, but I must be brief. I would like to thank Fourcade for re-solidifying my belief in and support of the holy Catholic Church.
Paula Wood
Milford