This is exactly why I no longer want to go to mass or tell my ubber Catholic in-laws about our IVF plans. DH doesn't get it, but I am glad someone else does.

That is a very interesting comment from the Catholic Church. I can see why you would be offended. I think I would be as well. I am LDS and I hear alot of the time....."Now that I am a mother, I truly feel the sacrifing love that Christ has for us." This irritates me to no end because what about the rest of us who can't have children? I love that some religions are very into the whole family thing. But I feel that the way you grow that family is between you, DH, and God and nobody else.

Trying2bamom.....I think your right in not wanting to share your IVF plans with your in-laws if you feel like they won't be very supportive. IVF is a very emotional rollercoaster and you need all the support you can get.

Thank you both for your comments, it certainly had me on a pedastal. I don't think the church (or any church) is bad, just that handing out something like this on Mother's Day pretty much alienates more women than not, and reduces the act of motherhood to solely a biological process. Feels very short-sighted to me.

As a practicing Catholic, I had/have my issues with IVF, but I resolved them before starting. No PGD unless medically necessary and no "disposal" of any embryos. I only had four so they all went in, and we got lucky with one.

I can understand how this is offensive - people are offensive all the time without realizing it. I would give the bishop/cardinal the benefit of the doubt or at very least benefit of ignorance. True, they should be more sensitive about this in particular with the increase in adoptions.

Trying2bamom - I didn't tell my mom for the same reasons; I will tell her once the baby is born.

There is an article available on CNN today on IVF and the Catholic Church for those that might be interested. As a Catholic who turned to IVF to conceive and have a wonderfully loved and cherished son, I have to agree with Mr. Savage.

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2011/05/10/my-take-catholic-church-should-reverse-ivf-opposition/?hpt=C2

I can totally relate to this. When we first starting trying to have a baby. I went to our priest and explained what was going on and how I felt like a bad catholic because my husband and I were having trouble getting pregnant. He stated that it was a sin to take the "seed" out of the body or use any type of modern science to get pregnant or medication. I remember thinking to myself, who in the hell are you telling me this. Do you even know how it feels to cry on the bathroom floor every month? Do you know how it feels to see ALL your friends having babies and you can not? No. I left there amd I NEVER returned back. I believe this, God gave certain people the talents to invent and why is it a sin to conceive a child using modern medicine?

I am a practicing Catholic but that doesn't believe I agree with every single tenet the Catholic Church preaches, just like I don't agree with every single tenet of being Republican or Democrat! I often wondered what I would do if I got pregnant with twins and our priest asked me if they run in our family. Fortunately I didn't have to lie and I'm only carrying a singleton. We know the church's position on IVF and we prayed about it a lot--but we felt God lead us in this direction, and God made the ultimate decision on whether or not to give us the gift of life. At our FET (after a miscarriage of twins through IVF) they had three thawed and they would only recommend transferring two. We had about 15 minutes to pray and discuss it, and we decided God would give us 3, 2, 1 or 0 babies and we would leave it up to him and transfer all three. Fortunately in our area they really focus on PRO LIFE articles and literature at Mother's Day, which we of course support when so many people like us long for a pregnancy/babt while others are just disposing of their babies because they choose not to deal with what has happened to them.

I'm sorry this was the approach taken but at least the card wasn't knocking IVF like a lot of people tend to do that have no idea what it's like to struggle!

awaiting I 100% agree with Mr. Savage. I will be honest, when we got the diagnosis that IVF was our only way to have children, my biggest pang of pain was that our child would not be conceived in a natural love act but in a petri dish. Took me about a week, and I got over that.