Natural Family Planning International

Natural Family Planning: The Right Kind of Course

The right kind of course in natural family planning needs to be faithful to what God has done for us.  The greatest thing he has done for us is his work of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.  This is not just pious talk to fill a column.  Truly Jesus is the ultimate reason for being faithful to your spouse, for loving your parents and your children, and for living a chaste and generous married life.  That means that the right kind of NFP course will include evangelization in the sense of placing the scientific aspects of NFP in the context of Christian discipleship, regardless of who is attending the course.  Protestants and every form of non-Catholic as well as uninformed and/or unbelieving Catholics deserve to know why faithful Catholics believe what the Church teaches. 
         Another great thing God has done for us is the wonderful way he had made us.  People coming to an NFP course, especially one offered under Catholic auspices, deserve to learn all the common but still wonderful ways of bodily human nature.
         God Himself made woman in such a way that the frequent suckling by her baby from her breasts normally postpones the return of her fertility for more than a year in most cases.  Every man and woman deserves to know this part of God’s creation.
         God Himself made woman in such a way that pre-ovulation estrogen causes a healthy discharge of mucus from the cervix and also causes physical changes in the cervix.  Both the mucus and the cervix changes can be detected and evaluated by informed women.  Every man and woman deserves to know these aspects of God’s creation.
         God Himself made woman in such a way that post-ovulation progesterone causes her waking temperature to rise enough that it can readily noticed and evaluated by the informed person.  Every man and woman deserves to know this part of God’s creation.
         Evangelization, ecological breastfeeding, the common signs of fertility and infertility—why would any bishop or priest want to exclude any of these elements from NFP courses taking place in his jurisdiction?  
 
Tomorrow:  Natural Family Planning: The Time Has Come

John F. Kippley
Sex and the Marriage Covenant
Natural Family Planning: The Complete Approach

The Natural Family Planning course as evangelization

The Lord Jesus Christ is the center of any Catholic evangelization, and that should also be true of Catholic-sponsored courses in natural family planning.  Systematic NFP calls for chaste abstinence during the fertile time in order to avoid pregnancy.  Periodic abstinence is not easy and is not infrequently accompanied by temptations to use contraceptive behaviors.  True, there are excellent pragmatic reasons for not using condoms and diaphragms or practicing withdrawal during the fertile time because all of these have definite problems with effectiveness. 
         But it takes faith and spiritual courage and fortitude to overcome temptations to masturbation and marital sodomy.  The Catholic Church teaches that it is the grave matter of mortal sin to engage in any of these contraceptive behaviors.  Why should a Christian believe such teaching?   
         The reason is found every Sunday.  When we profess the Nicene Creed at Sunday Mass, we are professing not only our faith in the Holy Trinity and the Incarnation but also in the promises made by Jesus.  The Nicene Creed did not drop out of heaven on a golden scroll.  It was occasioned by the Arian heresy that denied the full divinity of Jesus Christ.  At the Council of Nicea in 325, the bishops of the Catholic Church clarified and reaffirmed the Traditional faith in the Lord Jesus as true God and true man, of one being with the Father.  How do we know they had it right?  The ultimate reason is that we believe that Jesus keeps his promises.  At the Last Supper Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit to lead the Apostles and their successors into the fullness of the truth. 
         When we profess faith in the teaching of Humanae Vitae, we are professing our faith that the same Holy Spirit who led the bishops at Nicea also led the centuries-long Tradition against contraceptive behaviors.  It was that same Holy Spirit who guided Pope Paul VI to reaffirm that Tradition in Humanae Vitae. 
         Jesus keeps his promises.  That’s what we profess in the Nicene Creed and by believing the teaching of Humanae Vitae and acting accordingly. 
It is my conviction that this profession of our faith in the Lord Jesus and in his promises should be an integral part of every NFP course.  This is simply a normal part of adult education and evangelization. 

Next week:  Natural Family Planning: The Right Kind of Course

John F. Kippley
Sex and the Marriage Covenant
Natural Family Planning: The Complete Approach

Can bishops require natural family planning instruction?

At the recent Fertility Conference in Milwaukee (July 15-17), the miniscule numbers of Catholics using natural family planning was duly reported.  The question of requiring a complete NFP course as a normal part of preparation for marriage was raised, and that in turn raised another question.  Can bishops and priests make this requirement with any teeth in it? 
         Can they actually refuse to allow a refuse-to-attend couple to marry in the Church?  A moral theologian at the conference noted that Catholics, like everyone else, have a natural right to marry.  Thus, the Church cannot enact rules for marriage preparation that would deny this right.  I agree a hundred percent. 
         But there is something called leverage.  By canon law, the priest cannot refuse to witness the marriage of a man and woman who are qualified to marry, but that doesn’t mean that he has to agree with their choice of place.  If a couple refuses to accept an NFP-course requirement, the priest can calmly tell them that he is obliged by the law of the Church to witness their marriage.  Further, he can witness their exchange of vows either in the Church building or he can witness it in the rectory.  The choice is theirs. 
         The precedent for this is long established.  When I was young, it was common policy that if a Catholic married a Protestant or other non-Catholic, the wedding would take place in the rectory, not the church.  I witnessed such a wedding between my Aunt Harriette and her Lutheran husband. 
         Thus the answer to our question is obvious.  The bishop or even an individual priest can require attendance at an NFP course as a normal part of preparation for marriage.  But will it do any good?  Does the course need to be much more than “Catholic birth control”?  Should the NFP course be an exercise in evangelization?

Tomorrow:  The NFP course as evangelization.

John F. Kippley
Sex and the Marriage Covenant
Natural Family Planning: The Complete Approach