CNML's Faith Statement and Principles



Principles of the Catholic Nursing Mothers League, Inc.
God the Creator has a plan for all men, women and children and this plan applies to every area of our lives. The Catholic Church's authoritative teaching helps us to know this plan.  God's plan includes conception, childbirth and the nurturing of babies.     
Breastfeeding is the natural continuation of the childbearing cycle which begins with conception, pregnancy and childbirth.  As such, it forms an important part of God's plan for mothers and babies.      
Breast milk is the best nourishment for babies, and the act of breastfeeding provides the best nurturing environment for both mothers and babies.    
Breastfeeding is a special way in which a mother makes a sincere gift of herself to her baby.  Breastfeeding is also a special way in which mothers are called to serve life in one of its most vulnerable stages.  In the breastfeeding Madonna, Catholic mothers have a special exemplar.
Ecological breastfeeding - the form of mothering which tends to delay the return of fertility after the birth of a baby - benefits the nursing child and enhances the mother's health and well-being.  Its natural child spacing effect is a moral and healthy form of natural birth regulation and should be supported and encouraged by families, society and the Church.      
Children deserve to be raised to appreciate the equality and complementarity of men and women in the context of lifelong marriage.  Fathers offer essential spiritual and emotional support to their breastfeeding wives, and they provide for and protect the nursing couple.  These early acts of service lay the groundwork for fathers' unique and irreplaceable role in their children's lives.
Women have a right to be truthfully informed about the benefits of breastfeeding for themselves as well as for their babies.  Families, parishes, communities, governments and society have a responsibility to protect and strengthen cultural support for breastfeeding practices.

Children need their mothers' presence, especially in the first three years of life.  With or without breastfeeding, motherhood is an important and valuable way in which women live in accordance with their nature as persons created in God's image.



Statement of Faith of the Catholic Nursing Mothers League, Inc.
· The Catholic Nursing Mothers League acknowledges that the Catholic Church was founded by Christ, and the League assents to all that the Church authentically teaches through the Magisterium.
· The teachings of the Roman Pontiffs and the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith are accepted by CNML as authoritative.
· In particular, the Catholic Nursing Mothers League assents to the following specific teachings that bear on our work as supporters of breastfeeding mothers:
1. We respect the sanctity of all human life from conception to natural death.  We oppose all forms of abortion, both surgical and via abortafacient devices and drugs.
2. We believe that marriage is between one man and one woman and that children are the supreme gift of marriage.  We believe that married couples are called to be generous in the service of life and to exercise responsible parenthood.
3. We reject all unnatural forms of birth control, and we reject as contrary to God’s plan all means of seeking conception in which technological interventions are substituted for the marriage act. We accept the morality of natural means of birth regulation for couples with a serious reason to space their children.


Comments