1. The Right Kind of Natural Family Planning Instruction: A Work of Evangelization

July 22nd, 2012

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

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9. The Importance of Fathers

July 15th, 2012

What about the father?  David Blankenhorn wrote a book, Fatherless America, to show the importance of the father.  At the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars convention in 1999, he called the father “that first significant other” or “the first encounter with an intimate other,” Here he means “other than mother.”  In spite of his promotion of good fathers, Mr. Blankenhorn stressed the importance of the mother-baby relationship during the first three years of life.

Dr. Herbert Ratner was a public health doctor,a convert to the Catholic faith who gave many talks to the laity on marriage and family, and a strong advocate of breastfeeding and good parenting. At a Catholic Physicians Guild of Chicago in 1997, he made the following comments on fathers:
“I will give you two words that characterize what fathers have to offer their children, and these apply to parents in general. Love and time. The father  “romances” each new child by delighting in and falling in love with the newborn. In addition, the male gives moral and emotional support by appreciating the nurturing mother and is customarily the provider and the
protector of the mother and child. With the passage of time, he contributes more and more to the emotional, intellectual, and moral formation of the child.”

A father is (or ought to be) an invaluable support for his wife.  His love and support can help her feel good about herself as she devotes herself to the task of good mothering and to breastfeeding. Behind most successful breastfeeding mothers is a good husband and dad who offers spiritual and emotional support to his wife and who provides for her and the children so that she can be there to raise their children. Dads can enjoy their little ones through many activities. They can hold, play, walk, dance, bathe, dress, read, sing, whistle, teach, and pray when spending time with their baby. Dads can form close relationships with their children by spending time with them. Any child today is especially lucky when he has a mom and dad who love him dearly and express that love in simple ways.

Beginning July 22 through August 7th, the following printed books will be available at 30% discount at www.lulu.com:
The Seven Standards of Ecological Breastfeeding: The Frequency Factor
Breastfeeding and Natural Child Spacing, the 1974 Harper & Row classic edition
Natural Family Planning: The Complete Approach (coil version)
Battle-Scarred: Justice Can Be Elusive
This sale is being offered from the start of NFP Week and goes through World Breastfeeding Week.

Sheila Kippley
Breastfeeding and Catholic Motherhood
The Seven Standards of Ecological Breastfeeding
The Crucial First Three Years

Posted in Family, Mother and Baby as One | Comments Off on 9. The Importance of Fathers

8. Breastfeeding: Mother, Baby and Society

July 8th, 2012

Canadian psychiatrist Elliott Barker worked with 300 of the most dangerous persons in Ontario at a maximum-security prison. All of these prisoners were criminally insane. Through his studies. Barker gradually became convinced that a tendency to criminal behavior can be traced back to the lack of care a person receives during the first three years of life. The greatest cruelty that can happen to human persons during the first three years, he said, is “to harm them so emotionally that they can never form an affectionate relationship with another human being, that they can never trust another person, and that they can never have the capacity for empathy.” It is during these early years that a person develops the capacity to trust, to empathize, and to show affection.

He took his message to the teens in the classroom.  In an effort to prevent or reduce criminal activity, the doctor told teenagers that the most important job they will ever do is to raise their children. The job of parenting takes priority over their career or anything else, and the time during pregnancy and during the first three years are the most important years of formation. That is when the life-foundation is set.  Barker told teens to do three things as parents:
1) Fall in love with your baby through a positive birth experience. The father should be present at the birth.
2) The mother should strengthen that love by breastfeeding her baby until he no longer needs it.
3) The mother should keep her baby with her as much as possible. Separations and changing caregivers make it harder for babies to learn trust.

Again breastfeeding and avoiding separation of mother and baby is the message for a better society.

Sheila Kippley
Breastfeeding and Catholic Motherhood
The Seven Standards of Ecological Breastfeeding
The Crucial First Three Years

Posted in Ecological Breastfeeding, Mother and Baby as One | 3 Comments »

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