Sheila: A friend was under many deadlines and asked John if he could provide a text summarizing natural family planning and Church teaching in 250 words or less. Our friend needed this the next day. The following is what John wrote:
A brief description of Natural Family Planning in 234 words:
Natural Family Planning (or NFP) is a general term that refers to the use of natural methods to achieve and to avoid pregnancy. There are two basic forms of NFP—Systematic NFP and Ecological Breastfeeding.
Systematic NFP consists of “fertility awareness” so that the spouses know the fertile and infertile times of the wife’s fertility-menstrual cycle. Fertility awareness is an educated awareness of the normal female signs of fertility and infertility. There are several common signs of fertility, and when couples take an NFP course, they learn how to observe and interpret these signs. When seeking pregnancy, they engage in the marriage act during the fertile time. When seeking to avoid pregnancy, the couple practice chaste abstinence during the fertile time.
The second basic form of NFP is Ecological Breastfeeding. This is a form of the form of nursing in which 1) the mother fulfills her baby’s needs for frequent suckling and her full-time presence and 2) in which the child’s frequent suckling postpones the return of the mother’s fertility. Studies have shown that mothers who do this form of breastfeeding experience, on the average, 14 to 15 months before their first postpartum period.
Since the apostolic era, the Catholic Church has taught that it is immoral to use contraception. Today, the Church encourages couples to learn NFP, to be generous in having children, and to raise them in the ways of the Lord.
by John Kippley