Pastoral Outreach to Christian Marriage

Formation, Preparation, Celebration, and Continuing Education
Appendix A: Individual Diriment Impediments
Appendix B: Pastoral Aid to Enhance Dialogue with an Engaged Couple
Appendix C: Recommended Outline for Marriage Ministry Contacts
Appendix D: Marriage Preparation Programs
Appendix E: FOCCUS Premarital Inventory
Appendix F: Natural Family Planning (NFP)
Appendix G: Marriage and Family Resources
Appendix H: Anniversary Blessing of a Married Couple
Appendix I: Prayer of the Engaged
Appendix J: Prayers of the Faithful
Appendix K: Marriage Ministry Certification Program
Appendix L: Gaudium et Spes: Fostering the Nobility of Marriage and the Family (Excerpts)
Appendix M: Glossary of Terms
Appendix N: References
Appendix O: Statistical Data on Marriage
Appendix P: Helpful Quotes and Insights
Appendix Q: WMD Sample Prayer Services & Liturgies

Home In the Spirit of Cana Table of Contents Acknowledgements Preface Introduction Formation Preparation Celebration Continuing Education Conclusion Appendices Other Resources

Appendix F:  Natural Family Planning

“Love is essentially a gift; and conjugal love…does not end with the couple, because it makes them capable of the greatest possible gift, the gift by which they become cooperators with God for giving life to a new human person.”

-Pope John Paul II (Familiaris Consortio, 1981)
 

P

arenthood is an awesome and joyful vocation. Yet bringing children into the world and into a relationship is never an easy decision because of the tremendous responsibilities that being a parent brings. How couples respond to and communicate about their own procreative powers is an extremely important element of their marriage. Thanks to all the research that has been done, with the modern methods of Natural Family Planning (NFP), couples now have the ability to understand and better communicate what it fully means to have the power to create life. Natural Family Planning is unique among the methods of family planning because it enables its users to work with the body rather than against it. Fertility is viewed as a reality to live, not a problem to be solved.

Natural Family Planning is an umbrella term for certain methods used to achieve, postpone, or avoid pregnancies. These methods are based on scientific research and are based on observations of the naturally occurring signs and symptoms of the fertile and infertile phases of a woman’s menstrual cycle. Couples using NFP to postpone a pregnancy abstain from intercourse during the fertile phase of the woman’s cycle. No drugs, devices, or surgical procedures are used to avoid or achieve a pregnancy. NFP reflects the dignity of the human person within the context of marriage and family life, promotes openness to life, and recognizes the value of a child. By respecting the love-giving and life-giving natures of marriage, NFP can enrich the bond between husband and wife.

There are different methods of NFP, but the most modern and common methods are the Billings Ovulation and the Sympto-Thermal. The Billings Ovulation Method uses a technique of Natural Fertility Awareness, based on the woman’s understanding of the cervical mucus changes. With this knowledge, the couple is able to identify the days of infertility, possible fertility, and maximum fertility. With the Sympto-Thermal Method, couples are instructed to recognize the signs to cross check. These signs include the changes in basal body temperature, cervical mucus, and cervix. When couples are taught by competent teachers, understand the methods, and are motivated to follow them, NFP is up to 99% successful in spacing or limiting births.

NFP programs vary, offering classes and/or personalized instruction. The Archdiocese of Chicago, through the Family Ministries Office, offers NFP classes every month at various locations.

For information on classes, information sessions, teachers’ training, and registration, please contact the NFP coordinator in the Family Ministries Office at (312) 751-8273.

Building Better Marriages through Natural Family Planning 

Natural Family Planning allows couples to integrate their fertility with their family planning intention and to remain faithful to God’s design for human sexuality.

It also respects God’s design of the marital act to be: fully human, permanent, faithful, exclusive, and fruitful. 

Benefits of using NFP

·         Can be used to achieve, postpone, and avoid a pregnancy.

·         Gives couples better understanding and appreciation of fertility.

·         Safe, reliable, and healthy.

·         Increases intimacy.

·         Increases communication.

·         Couples share family planning responsibility.

·         Causes no harm nor has any side effects. 

Couples that are married by a justice of peace – 50% of marriages end in divorce.

Couples married by the Church – 33% of marriages end in divorce.

Couples married by the Church and attend Church together – 2% end in divorce.

Couples using NFP – 2-5% end in divorce.

Couples married by the Church, pray together, and use NFP - .001 – 1% end in divorce.

(Statistical information from “The Practice of Natural Family Planning Versus the Use of Artificial Birth Control: Family, Sexual and Moral Issues” by Mercedes Arzu Wilson, in Catholic Social Science Review, Vol VII, Nov. 2002)

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