Natural Family Planning International

God made marriage.  God Himself created the marriage relationship and ordered sexuality exclusively toward marriage.  The Bible and sacred Tradition make it clear that God intends sexual intercourse to be, at least implicitly, a renewal of the marriage covenant.  That is, in God’s plan, sexual union is exclusively a marriage act that 1) reflects and renews, at least minimally, the faith and committed love of the marriage covenant and 2) is not deliberately closed to the transmission of life.  Pope John Paul II incorporated this basic understanding of the marriage act into his Letter to Families ten years after he completed the lectures that make up his Theology of the Body.  “In the conjugal act, husband and wife are called to confirm in a responsible way the mutual gift of self which they have made to each other in the marriage covenant” (n.12.12, his italics).  In practice, these concepts are easily expanded to explain more fully the marriage covenant.  Every engaged and married couple deserves to learn this basic understanding of the marriage covenant and how it applies to love and sexuality.

God made marriage for family.  The right kind of NFP course will help couples understand that marriage is for family and that they are called to be generous in having children.  NFP is not “Catholic birth control.”  Specifically, the NFP course should transmit standard Catholic teaching that couples need a sufficiently serious reason to postpone or avoid pregnancy in order to use systematic NFP.  Some NFP promoters want to avoid the term “serious reason” (HV 10 and 16) and substitute “just cause” (HV 16). While both terms are used in Humanae Vitae, I think that in the present circumstances “just cause” is psychologically inadequate if used separately instead of as a supplement to “serious reason.”  “Just cause” terminology carries the risk of sounding like “just ’cuz” as in “just ’cuz we don’t want the inconvenience of kids or more kids.”

What about the decision to do ecological breastfeeding?  Aside from wanting to do what’s best for the child, no reasons are needed to use ecological breastfeeding with the hopes of a year or more of natural infertility.  In fact, considering all the health benefits of EBF to mother and baby, breastfeeding ought to be the default decision—the normal standard of care, and couples should need a sufficiently serious reason not to breastfeed.

BOOK SALE:  30% off Kippley books in print at lulu through August 7.  Plus 20% off any order at lulu though July 27 with code SILVER when ordering.

John F. Kippley
Battle-Scarred: Justice Can Be Elusive

God Himself made woman in such a way that the frequent suckling of her baby at her breasts postpones the return of fertility.  Scientific research has demonstrated that frequency of suckling is the key to the normal postponement of fertility.  Mothers who breastfeed according to the Seven Standards of ecological breastfeeding (EBF) will experience, on average, 14 to 15 months of amenorrhea (the absence of periods) before their first postpartum menstruation.  These mothers will also provide the best nutrition with resultant better health for both baby and themselves; and they will save well over a thousand U. S. dollars with each baby—funds not spent on formula and baby foods.  Mothers also enjoy a number of health benefits.  (There are currently at least 21 recognized health benefits for breastfed babies and eight health benefits for breastfeeding mothers.)  It is God Himself who created this mutually health-enhancing mother-baby relationship, and God Himself created the side effect of natural baby spacing.  It is part of the New Evangelization to teach God’s personal causation of these beautiful natural realities.  Every engaged and married man & 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.  God Himself made woman in such a way that pre-ovulation estrogen also causes several physical changes in the cervix.  Both the mucus changes and the cervix changes can be detected and evaluated by informed women.  Every engaged and married woman deserves to know these aspects of God’s creation.

God Himself made woman in such a way that post-ovulation progesterone causes her basal (i.e., resting) temperature to rise enough that it can be readily noticed with accurate temperature taking and recording.  A sufficiently elevated temperature pattern provides a positive assurance that she is past ovulation.  The NFP husband can become involved in the process of fertility awareness through the simple act of giving the thermometer to his wife in the morning, taking it back after a minute or so, and recording the temperature on their chart.  Every engaged and married couple deserves to know this aspect of God’s creation.

BOOK SALE:  30% off Kippley books in print at lulu through August 7.  Plus 20% off any order at lulu though July 27; use code SILVER when ordering.

John F. Kippley
Battle-Scarred: Justice Can Be Elusive

By John F. Kippley
(to be run in 7 sections daily during NFP Week)

The reason for the existence of NFP International is to provide the right kind of instruction in Natural Family Planning (NFP), something that is much more than “Catholic birth control.”  The right kind of instruction in NFP has to address the whole person.  Within the Catholic Church, the entire body of Catholic teaching on love, marriage and sexuality needs to be presented in the context of Christian discipleship.  The NFP course and the rest of the marriage preparation need to present Jesus as the reason for all teaching about love.  He is love incarnate, so it is a great omission to try to teach about love and marriage, including sexual love, without letting Jesus show us the way.

Some negative aspects
The right kind of NFP instruction is both negative and positive, and everyone has a human right to learn both.  There are serious problems with unnatural forms of birth control, and they need to be addressed.  Hormonal birth control (the Pill, injections, implants, and coated intrauterine devices) can have long-term harmful effects.  Everyone should learn that every form of hormonal birth control has the potential to cause an early abortion.  Every couple deserves to know that the Pill increases the risk of breast cancer.  They should also know that vasectomy is associated with an increased risk of prostate cancer.  Lastly, they should realize that the traditional barrier methods of birth control are by no means 100% effective.  The Catholic Church is truly being a friend of women and men alike when it teaches against contraception.  If this information does not help a couple to eschew all unnatural forms of birth control when they start their marriage, at least it may help them to discontinue these unhealthy and immoral practices in the future.

The positive aspects
The New Evangelization involves raising the consciousness of ordinary people about God’s personal interest in the things of nature as well as in specific doctrinal teaching.  The right kind of NFP course provides an excellent opportunity to teach and explain some important parts of God’s plan for us. The positive aspects of natural family planning are beautiful in themselves and even more attractive in comparison with the unnatural forms of birth control.

BOOK SALE:  30% off Kippley books in print at lulu through August 7.

John F. Kippley
Battle-Scarred: Justice Can Be Elusive