Catholic Teaching on IVF and Contraception Explained

I originally clicked on the thumbnail because I wanted to know more about what the church teaches about contraception. My questions have definitely been addressed in that regard. The IVF portion caught me completely off guard. Being an IVF baby, hearing that IVF is not an accepted practice in the church made me feel like a mistake for a split second. Father, thank you for reiterating to me that someone like me is NOT a mistake and that I AM made in the likeness of God.

My wife had Cancer. We could never have children. Now in our 50's. She joined the Catholic Church. I was already Catholic, and went back also. After a year we were helping a family member, she was homeless and pregnant. After she had the baby. She left without saying a word. I found him screaming. God Blesses you in ways you could never imagine. We are now parents and PRAY for my Niece that she is well and comes to GOD !!! Thanks Be To GOD!!!

This was one of the first videos I watched, as a Protestant, regarding Catholic Church teaching. I watched this video sometime between June 25th, 2019, and June 29th, 2019. It was divine providence that Father Mike recorded this video in May 2019, allowing me to find it 1 month later. Since I was a young girl, I remember having a curiosity and deep appreciation for how God designed man and woman, and how He designed sex. I finally decided to search "Catholic teaching contraception" and this video was the resource I got. Praise be to God. After watching, my idea of sex was changed forever. My view of the Catholic Church was also changed forever--the Catholics just might have something figured out. "Well, I don't really care what else Catholics say, I'm taking this with me in life." Fast forward to April 2022 and I am 10 days away from Confirmation. Praise be to God!

This is one of the teachings that is the hardest to accept. I am not Catholic yet, but I want to accept it all before just jumping in. Please pray for me.

This is a very real issue for my wife and I and it has been incredibly hard. I had cancer as a teenager and our chances of conceiving were very small. For six years we prayed and tried and asked the Lord for peace with however He was blessing us. It was a huge temptation to try other ways of conceiving like IVF. And even though it was hard, i'm glad we didn't. After 6 years we have our beautiful baby girl and she is the greatest blessing. Thank you for speaking truth into this sensitive issue.

I needed to hear this...married for 18 years, and not pregnant once. This puts my heart at ease. For a reason, God has plans for us...if that means not being a parent biologically then I’m ok with it. Father Mike you brought me to tears, but I thank you.

9:20 The room suddenly stands still. You can hear a pin drop. Excellent message on a very difficult topic. You uphold Catholic teaching with immense mercy and understanding.

If captain america was a priest, he would be like you

I cannot thank God enough for people like you who give up everything, especially in today's time, to be shepherds for the Lord's flock. Your reward is a hundred fold. Praying for all of you Priests and Pastors who choose the hard celibate path. Thanks a million! God is your companion, His sheep your children!

I'm Catholic and have an IVF 19 year old daughter. I was not practicing my faith at the time, but instinctively felt uneasy about forcing life into existence. The view I embraced was that God would not have allowed this medical knowledge to be gifted to doctors unless it benefited mankind. I realize now that was my way of making peace with the decision to move ahead with it. That being said, I absolutely have no regrets, I have a beautiful, kind and loving daughter that I know was meant to be here. But in hindsight, I recognize now that we were not in a faith-based marriage and the fallout from that led to an abusive relationship and ultimately divorce. In all of this mess though, I realized the missing piece was my relationship with the Lord, which has now been restored through repentance and forgiveness. I have gone to confession to unload a lifetime of ego driven sin and guilt, which was incredibly freeing. I attend Catholic mass regularly and humbly try to be a devout and loving follower of Jesus Christ. My daughter is a typical 19 yr old, but she lives in a home saturated with the love of God, she knows she is a child that belongs to Him and I know He loves her more than I can imagine.

I’m not a Catholic, or even a Christian, but I’ve always died to know why you, or any one for that matter, would be against contraception. This video has helped shed a lot of much needed light. I feel that I can understand the Catholic position a bit easier after watching this.

"There was a time in my life when I HATED being Catholic" hahaha he says it sooo casually

Wow. You touched my soul so deeply on this subject. My husband and I were sadly victims of infertility. I KNEW that I was made to be a mother - I was your PERFECT mother and I literally went to a dark place with GOD about it. Thanking my husband and my family for their prayers, because I was able to come back from there and return to believe that God has a plan. Our plan was to ADOPT. That was back in 1998, my KIDS (MY KIDS) are now 25, 23 and 19 . . . I can't imagine my life without them and I am THE PERFECT MOTHER. But I KNOW that God had them for me all along . . . HE just wanted me to LEAVE IT TO HIM . . . and when I finally did, within a few weeks, we got a call from our caseworker about the two older ones. My 19 year old, came from the same mother, so they are all half siblings . . . but she was my newborn baby that I NEVER THOUGHT I would have. I AM A MOTHER, MY HUSBAND WOULD SAY, HE IS A FATHER . . . they were chosen from GOD for US . . . people still say, "wow, your daughters look so much like you and your son is the splitting image of his dad." I am humbly complimented, because they are beautiful and they were GIFTS FROM GOD.

“God chose it for me, I just said Yes.” ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

I’m in tears😭 “God loves you. It was not by accident.” My first daughter is an ivf baby and I thank God every single day for her and my second daughter who wAs naturally conceived.🙏🏻 God filled that hole in my heart and I will forever be grateful.

Very much needed topic that every Catholic couple should hear. Very important and necessary for today.

"God wants you to be whole. Even in the midst of that wholeness there's a hole in your heart." 😭❤️🙏 Thank you Fr. Mike.

This gives me an assurance that I’m doing the right thing as a Catholic. Thanks Father Mike

"If you truly believe children are a gift from God... not everyone gets that gift." That's a REALLY hard thing to say, and I respect you for saying it. Thank you.

In my thirties, I expressed grief to my ob-gyn that I might not find a husband in time to have children. She advised me to freeze my eggs for IVF at a later date, and I said I wouldn’t do that because the Church teaches against it and because it didn’t sit well with my own conscience. She said that she was a Catholic and she knew of no such teaching by the Church. It’s distressing that so many people in a position to know better haven’t informed themselves on this subject. I actually think that even without knowing the teaching on IVF, a Catholic with very basic catechesis should be able to connect the dots. Thank you for speaking the truth in love, Fr. Mike.