Bishops on birth control

* The recent documents by the U.S. bishops provoke my ire (NCR, Nov. 24). Bishops setting policy on marital intimacy makes as much sense as married couples determining it for celibate clergy. I swear that if priests and bishops were allowed to marry, the use of birth control would be approved within one generation, if not sooner. Our bishops would realize that their statement in "Married Love and the Gift of Life" about married couples suppressing fertility and it leading to intercourse being less than marital is ludicrous. They may find that intercourse without the anxiety of pregnancy can lead to greater intimacy. Also, once clergy had several children, they could realize that many cannot afford or may not desire large families.

I look forward to reading the bishops' documents that "will prompt Catholics to consider their worthiness to receive the Eucharist" to see what is written regarding pedophile priests and bishops who protected them. Did they ever refrain from receiving the Eucharist?

MARK GOTVALD

Pleasant Hill, Calif.

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