What did Mother Teresa say about NFP?

One positive effect of NFP is that men and women acknowledge their roles and responsibilities in the creation of a new life. A second positive effect is a change in the way spouses view each other and their mutual relationship.

Couples who use NFP attest to the benefit. NFP is really a study of fertility in which a couple learns the workings of their reproductive systems. Acquiring this knowledge can bring about profound changes in the way people view their bodies and the bodies of their spouses.

This reverence toward the body seems to increase particularly among men, even those who say they have “finished their families.” Many men report new feelings of awe towards their wives as they see the changes they go through every month. The man develops a sense of gratitude for the gift of fertility a woman gives him every time they make love. She in turn develops a sense of gratitude that her husband is cooperating with her fertility instead of asking her to destroy it.

In this way both come to see that every act of intercourse is a reaffirmation of their marital commitment. Their mutual trust increases. Economist George Akerlof writes: “It seems reasonable … that the probability of a breakup is higher for couples in uncommitted relationships than for those in committed ones.”

Armed with the knowledge of their fertility, the husband and wife can make mutual decisions on when to make love based on their situation in life. These decisions spark a dialogue, which keeps open the lines of communication. The couple sees that not every sexual act, especially one that can result in a pregnancy that would be detrimental, is an act of love.

This can bring about a change in behavior that is beneficial to marriage. Spouses become less selfish, less centered on their own sexual needs. Abstinence becomes a sacrifice made for the good of the other. These benefits are available to couples regardless of whether they are newly-weds or have been married for twenty years.

In light of all this, why should anyone expect the Church to change its teaching on contraception? Why should a Church, speaking in the name of God who is love, give its blessing to something that has led to abortion, divorce, reproductive health problems for women, poorer relationships between the sexes, more children living in poverty and more men becoming socially dysfunctional?

Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta got to the heart of the matter when she addressed a National Prayer Breakfast, sponsored by the U.S. Senate and House of representatives on 3 Feb 1994:

“I know that couples have to plan their family and for that there is natural family planning. The way to plan the family is natural family planning, not contraception.

“In destroying the power of giving life, through contraception, a husband or wife is doing something to self. This turns the attention to self and so it destroys the gift of love in him or her. In loving, the husband and wife must turn the attention to each other as happens in natural family planning, and not to self, as happens in contraception. Once that living love is destroyed by contraception, abortion follows very easily.

“I also know that there are great problems in the world - that many spouses do not love each other enough to practice natural family planning. We cannot solve all the problems in the world, but let us never bring in the worst problem of all, and that is to destroy love. And this is what happens when we tell people to practice contraception and abortion.

“The poor are very great people. They can teach us so many beautiful things. Once one of them came to thank us for teaching her natural family planning and said: "You people who have practiced chastity, you are the best people to teach us natural family planning because it is nothing more than self-control out of love for each other." And what this poor person said is very true. These poor people maybe have nothing to eat, maybe they have not a home to live in, but they can still be great people when they are spiritually rich.

“When I pick up a person from the street, hungry, I give him a plate of rice, a piece of bread. But a person who is shut out, who feels unwanted, unloved, terrified, the person who has been thrown out of society - that spiritual poverty is much harder to overcome. And abortion, which often follows from contraception, brings a people to be spiritually poor, and that is the worst poverty and the most difficult to overcome.”

Whether a couple is using NFP to bring new life into existence or to avoid a pregnancy through the use of periodic abstinence, there is an element of sacrifice involved. Blessed Mother Teresa described the payoff for confronting the fear of that sacrifice as part of her statement to the Cairo Conference on Population on 9 Sept 1994:

“God has created a world big enough for all the lives He wishes to be born. It is only our hearts that are not big enough to want them and accept them… We are too often afraid of the sacrifices we might have to make. But where there is love, there is always sacrifice. Ånd when we love until it hurts, there is joy and peace.”

And where there is joy and peace, marriage and the family can thrive.

Taken from Fletcher Doyle’s NATURAL FAMILY PLANNING BLESSED OUR MARRIAGE, pp. 36-40, which I highly recommend.

Cordially yours,

Fr. Matthew Habiger OSB

Is it appropriate to teach NFP to singles?

Would it be appropriate to teach NFP to singles in order to gain an appreciation of the natural cycle of fertility or a general ‘fertility awareness’? Some state that this would not be advisable because it may be used in a fashion similar to contraceptives. Others state that, if presented correctly, fertility awareness would give singles a new found sense of dignity and awareness that the total ‘gift of self’ in a sexual union within marriage which includes fertility (without holding this back by contracepting). – Marie

Dear Marie,

Remember the Socratic error? Knowledge, by itself, is virtue. We know that is not true, because virtue requires another indispensable element: will power. I must both KNOW what is right, and WILL (consciously choose) to do the right. Thus, giving good information to a young person about their bodies, as God designed them, must be accompanied with good morality. This means explaining the moral principles of chastity, and why they make such good sense. Then train the will by DOING virtuous acts. We grow into a virtue only by doing virtuous acts, e.g., the acts of self-denial which chastity demands.

Take another error from the other extreme: ignorance is bliss. We know that this does not work in a world where sexual misinformation and disinformation is pervasive. If young persons do not have good knowledge about their sexuality, then they are easy prey. Parents know their sons and daughters best. Parents know when they are ready for more insights into their makeup as bodied-persons, male or female, fertile and sexual.

The beauty of NFP is that it provides a rich understanding of our sexuality and fertility in the context of God’s magnificent plan for us as bodied-persons. NFP cannot stay at the level of simple biology. Behind the biology there is a meaning, a set of values, a plan that God has devised. This is where the Theology of the Body comes into play. The Theology of the Body helps us to understand God’s plan for marriage, spousal love and family, as well as His plan for making us bodied-persons, male or female.

Can knowledge be abused by putting it to doing wrong? Oh, yes! But that is part of our human condition as persons with free will. God gave us our sex drives and our free will, and we must learn how to give them good direction in ways that give glory to God and benefit ourselves. We always run the risk of abusing our freedom. That is what sin is.

If you teach a young person how to shoot a gun, he or she may abuse that knowledge. Teaching the morality of using a gun is imperative. But a risk still remains. If you show a young person how to drive a car or truck, he or she may abuse that knowledge. Thus teaching the rights and wrongs (morality) about driving is imperative. Risks are involved, because they are never completely avoidable.

Learning morality (good moral principles and their reasonableness) and developing the virtues (using our many talents correctly in pursuit of the good) is a lifelong task. Each stage of life has its tasks to be mastered. You see this especially in the area of human sexuality.

Parents need to give their sons and daughters the knowledge and moral guidance they need to cope with a culture that is confused, indulgent, promiscuous and full of moral relativism. Some, perhaps many, parents are not well equipped to do this. Cardinal John J. O’Connor said that we now have two generations of catechetical illiterates. By that he meant that the catechetical programs since the 1960’s were very short on content and long on experiences and feelings. As a result, many parents are unsure about the sexual ethic. But not to fear! You cannot begin to learn any younger! Parents can benefit as much as their teenagers in learning the theology of the body, and NFP.

Learning NFP allows the young woman to know how God put her together. Later on in life, she has the ability to help pinpoint problems in her gynecological system that she can take up with her doctor. This is a good reason for a woman not to get into the pills (hormones) that disguise the workings of her gynecological system. Diseases can progress and not be detected which can be fatal, whereas they could have been detected much earlier. They are detected too late because the symptoms were disguised with birth control pills and other unnatural birth control.

Acquiring self-possession, self-mastery and chastity are a lifelong task, and there is massive ignorance about these matters out there. So let’s get started!

Cordially yours,

Fr. Matthew Habiger OSB

How can an NFP teacher get support from the clergy?

I am an NFP teacher but find very few Catholics interested in learning abut it. I think the reason is, with very few exceptions, a universal lack of clergy support . Our priests seldom, if ever, mention anything about contraception or sterilization from the pulpit. As a result people interpret this silence as condoning such immoral behavior. So why should they bother with NFP? I’m very discouraged and don’t know what to do.

-- Discouraged in New Mexico

Dear Discouraged,

What you mention is a common complaint we hear all over the country. If the clergy do not encourage couples to learn a morally good way to space their babies, while always remaining open to the great gift of their fertility, then there will be only an exceptional few couples seeking information about NFP. This must be discouraging to you as a teacher, who has gone to great lengths to prepare yourself to be a certified teacher of NFP for the benefit of a parish and the broader diocese.

Please know that there are some bright spots on the horizon. Individual priests are strong promoters of the values surrounding NFP. We meet them in our work throughout the country. Many of our younger clergy bring with them a much better appreciation of the Church’s sexual ethic than previous generations. They received a better exposition of the Church’s teachings in the seminaries, and there are better materials available today on these issues. You should know that some dioceses are requesting that NFP Outreach provide clergy conferences on the topic “How to Preach God’s Plan for Marriage and Spousal Love from the Pulpit.”

My advice to you is to refuse to become discouraged. It is precisely times like these that require people like you and me to be faithful to what we are called to do. We know that God’s plan for marriage and spousal love is the perfect formula for happiness, and that it is within the reach of everyone. No sensible person is happy with the present 50% divorce rate, 80% cohabitation rate, and an 85% contraception rate. Our efforts are needed more, not less, in these difficult times. God does bless these efforts. There will be breakthroughs.

Here is what Bishop Robert Vasa of Baker, OR, wrote in his diocesan newspaper, The Catholic Sentinel, on 5 May 06: “Rejecting the Church’s teaching on contraception has a profound impact on our ability to love God. The truth is that it is simply not possible to say on one hand, ‘I do love the Lord with my whole heart, mind and soul’ and at the same time to say, ‘My decisions about how to deal with the most marvelous God-given gift of fertility has nothing to do with God.

“These sex-related sins have achieved a high degree of societal acceptability. This societal acceptability has given the impression to Catholics that God really has nothing of value to say about these life issues.”

Bishop Vasa criticized Catholic leadership for failing to teach clearly the essential importance of obedience to the Church’s teaching on contraception. “The one question which stands … as a condemnation to all teachers and preachers within the Church is simply, ‘Why haven’t we been told this clearly and consistently?’

“The answer is as difficult as the question. I suspect that if we took some liberties with the Scripture we could envision Jesus saying: “You cannot love God and contraception at the same time. You will either love one and hate the other or be committed to one and despise the other.’

“If God is really saying, ‘If you love me then abide by my Commandments including my Church’s teaching about the sinfulness of contraception,’ then many in the Church are faced with the same conflict…. We cannot separate the concrete realities of our lives from the love of God.

“It is not an easy thing to present this very personal and emotional subject in such direct black and white terminology, but the truth is that Jesus and His Church either include contraception in the list of prohibited practices, or they do not. There may be huge numbers of Catholics who reject this teaching but I do not know of any who deny that it is what the Church clearly and consistently teaches.”

In his 6 Nov 07 column, Bishop Vasa wrote: “Many Catholic have erroneously determined that the path the should follow is to disobey while tying to convince the Church that Her teaching is erroneous. In choosing to disobey, they break faith with the Church. In that disobedience tremendous harm has been brought to many women. Tremendous harm to marriage. Tremendous harm to family life. Tremendous harm to society.”

As the 40th anniversary of the encyclical looms, the Bishop says he hopes for a general renewal of instruction and faithfulness to its teachings. “I suspect, and pray, that there will be a very strong and concerted effort in the Church to engage in a comprehensive program of study and instruction surrounding this teaching.”

Cordially yours,

Fr. Matthew Habiger OSB

What resources on NFP can I recommend to my daughter?

Father, I would like your recommendation on what book/booklet to purchase for my 20-year-old daughter that discusses how Natural Family Planning works.

Thank you.

Cathy

Dear Cathy,

Hello. My name is Kristie Wellman, and I work at One More Soul, a non-profit organization fostering God's plan for chastity, love, marriage, and children. I'm 24 and the Youth and Family Outreach Coordinator here. Stella from the NFP Outreach forwarded your e-mail to us for our suggestions. Here are a few different suggestions:

1) For a simple overview of NFP -- but one that would basically teach your daughter the method, there is a small book called Love and Fertility that is on the Ovulation Method of NFP by Family of the Americas. It is short and to the point and easily understood.

2) For another book that would actually teach your daughter the method, there is The Billings Method. This is a much longer book. It also teaches the Ovulation Method using a different methodology. The book does go into more detail and explanation than Love and Fertility.

3) If you are more interested in something that discusses NFP but isn't a book actually teaching the method, there are several other options:

One More Soul's resource called "First Comes Love" is in newspaper format and full of testimonies, quotes, articles, and more on the Catholic Church's teaching on married sexuality -- the blessings of children, the harms of contraception, and how NFP can help marriages. It is very well put together and good for just picking up and reading bits and pieces at a time.

There is also a book called Life-Giving Love by Kimberly Hahn that is excellent. It discusses the Church's teaching on NFP and openness to life. I love it because it is engaging to read and has stories of real-life people who either have or have not lived out this teaching in their lives and what happened.

Finally, One More Soul has 2 CDs that come to my mind as relevant for what you are looking for. The first is "Contraception: Why Not?” by Dr. Janet Smith, which explains the advantages of NFP. The second is "It Brought Me Back to God," which is the testimony of a man who reluctantly agreed to switch from contraception to NFP in his marriage and had his life totally changed for the better in the process.

You can obtain all of these resources from our website (www.omsoul.com) and most of them from other places (Catholic bookstores, etc.) as well. I hope that this is helpful but not too much information! May God bless you and your daughter.

In Jesus, Kristie

Can NFP still work if a woman has irregular cycles?

Thinking that NFP cannot work due to irregular menses is predicated on the old "Rhythm Method." Unfortunately, the pharmaceutical companies perpetuate this with their products designed to replicate the "normal cycle." Ovulatory cycles range from 26 to 35 days and do not obey calendars.

The great news is that the same researchers who brought the birth control pill to the market in 1960 have spent their careers researching natural fertility regulation. Please recommend the WOOMB website to your daughter (www.woomb.org ) and click on the OMRRC (Ovulation Method Reference and Research Center) for the history and research behind the simplest and most scientifically pure NFP method. All women, despite their reproductive history or stage in life can easily identify the roughly 96 hours of fertility per month. The numerous studies cited will testify to the 99.5% effectiveness rate. Experts in my field quote a pregnancy rate of 10% with typical use of the pill (Trussell, Pearl Index).

More importantly, if cycles are irregular, there is usually an underlying metabolic disorder which lies undiagnosed with typical gynecologic treatment. The Billings Ovulation Method chart is a bioassay of the ovarian hormones. This means that the charted changing or unchanging pattern of discharge is diagnostic and guides treatment. While there may be other NFP methods with varying detection methods, only the BOM chart reflects the actual production of estrogen and progesterone. One million hormonal assays and 55 years of research confirm this.

Best wishes,

Mary W. Martin, M.D.,FACOG

Why do so few Catholic OB/GYN's promote NFP?

Why are Catholic doctors, especially obstetricians-gynecologists, so hesitant to give their backing to natural family planning? I understand that only one percent of Catholic ob/gyns refuse to prescribe contraception and to do sterilizations. That means, does it not, that the others are contributing to the problem of so many Catholic women using the Pill, and all the moral harm that results from that?

Thanks for your answer,

D.

Dear D,

You are correct in pointing to the fact that so few Catholic medical doctors promote NFP, and prescribe contraceptives instead. Why is this? There are many reasons. Let me provide just a few.

Most doctors were never exposed to the merits of NFP when they went through medical school. The prevailing attitude is that NFP does not work, and that it is equivalent to the rhythm method. But this means that the med schools have not keep up with all the developments in refining the effectiveness of NFP. Doctors at the Pope Paul VI Institute at Creighton University, for one example, have advanced the science of NFP to the extent now that NFP can be used not only to effectively space pregnancies, but to overcome infertility. Naprotechnology (natural procreative technology) is three times more effective than standard treatments for infertility, less expensive, and without the dangers of hyper ovulation, in vitro fertilization, embryo transfer, and placing many embryos in the mother’s womb. Naprotechnology eliminates frozen embryo banks, where in this country alone there are 400,000 frozen embryos.

Catholic ob/gyns and family practice doctors have told me that they experienced real prejudice against NFP in their training. Some were told that, if they could not in conscience prescribe contraception, then there was no place for them in the school. Many medical students do not have strong enough convictions about their faith to resist this kind of pressure. They reason, if the profession feels this way about NFP, who am I to think otherwise?

Many medical students were never exposed to good courses in Catholic medical ethics. Thus, they do not understand morally why contraception is so harmful, and medically why NFP is so effective and beneficial. This means, of course, that Catholic colleges and universities that do not offer reputable courses in ethics have failed both the Church and people they serve.

Still another consideration is the financial one. There is no money to be made in promoting NFP. In the case of the Pill, a doctor can routinely prescribe a monthly prescription, and collect his fee. But with NFP there is the initial teaching a couple in their own physiology, helping them to understand their sexuality, and encouraging them to acquire self-possession and self-mastery. A normal course in NFP requires usually 4-6 sessions. Once the couple masters the method, then there are no further expenses. NFP is very good medicine, but bad for business. However, there are other compensations. NFP couples usually seek out totally pro-life doctors for all their medical needs. Many pro-life doctors have built up a very good cliental of couples who seek out their services.

A final consideration is the faith one. Many Catholic doctors have a split, or double, conscience. They use one conscience at Sunday Mass, and another one in their profession. They have not assimilated their faith into their profession. They take all their medical guidance from academia, which stresses expedience instead of morality. This has lead, in many instances, to making the customer always right. Medicine today is here to serve the wishes of the customer-patient. Doctors are not to “impose” their principles, or values, upon their customer-patients. This may provide good income, but it is not good medicine.

What is the solution? Catholic doctors need to discover good expositions of medical ethics. I recommend Dr. William E. May’s Catholic Bioethics and the Gift of Human Life (Our Sunday Visitor Press, Huntington, IN: 2000). Then they must assume their role, their unique vocation, in the new evangelization of the Gospel of Life

Cordially yours,

Fr. Matthew Habiger OSB

How to move from contraceptives to NFP

Dear Fr. Matthew,

We were married in the 1980s. I think NFP was discussed during our marriage preparation classes, but I remember very little of that discussion. At that time, everyone used birth control and I dismissed the idea of NFP as a non-realistic option. I used the birth control pill for the first 15 years of our marriage. As I began to grow in my faith, I came to understand the Church's teaching on birth control and struggled to share with my husband reasons why I could no longer use it. Together, we took instruction on NFP, yet we have never come to totally trust its effectiveness. How do you counsel couples who want to move from birth control to NFP yet do not feel called to have more children because of age (mid-40s)?

T.

T, your questions were forwarded to me to answer. I am a Board-certified OB/GYN specializing in NFP and can assure you of two things: modern NFP methods are superior to current hormonal contraceptive methods, and your age dramatically decreases the chance of failure regardless. The failure rate of NFP is less than 3%. The method I personally teach, The Billings Ovulation Method, has a failure rate of 0.5% with usage data from 120 countries around the world, most impressively, China. Please take a course from a certified instructor (BOM has only 4 simple rules) and make your marriage truly open to God's plan for marriage. You only have potentially 96 hours of fertility per month and God gives us the technology to recognize those few hours if, after considering your resources and health, you and your husband choose not to use them.

Mary W. Martin, M.D., FACOG

The contrasting anthropologies of contraception and NFP

Most people in the Western World today, including Catholics, approve of contraception and practice it as a way of controlling birth. Young persons growing up in our culture for the most part consider contraception and intelligent way of coping with difficult problems; it is the “natural,” “responsible” way to act. They find the Catholic Church’s opposition to contraception a relic of a bygone age, unrealistic, impracticable.

During his pontificate, John Paul II sought valiantly to show that contraception violates the “language of the body” and the love that spouses are to have for one another. Thus in Familiaris Consortio 32 he wrote: “When couples, by means of recourse to contraception, separate these two meanings that God the Creator has inscribed in the being of man and woman and in the dynamism of their sexual communion, they act as ‘arbiters’ of the divine plan and they ‘manipulate’ and degrade human sexuality – and with it themselves and their married partner – by altering its value of ‘total’ self-giving. Thus the innate language that expresses the total reciprocal self-giving of husband and wife is overlaid, through contraception, by an objectively contradictory language, namely, that of not giving oneself totally to the other. This leads not only to a positive refusal to be open to life but also to a falsification of inner truth of conjugal love, which is called upon to give itself in personal totality.”

He also frequently noted that contraception is “anti-life” (e.g., in his Homily to youth in Kenya 17 Aug 85) and in Familiaris Consortio 32 he also wrote: “the difference, both anthropological and moral, between contraception and recourse to the rhythm of the cycle, is much wider and deeper than is usually thought. It is a difference which, in the final analysis, is based on irreconcilable concepts of the human person and of human sexuality.”

Here he had in mind the mentality rooted in a dualistic understanding of the human person that regards the “person: as the subject conscious of himself or herself and capable of relating to other conscious selves, and the human body as an “instrument” of the person. This understanding of human persons and of human sexuality considers our biological fertility part of the sub-personal world over which the “person” has been given dominion, and as “persons” we have the right to suppress this fertility by using contraceptives should its continued flourishing inhibit our participation in the “personal” values of human sexuality.

This mentality, as John Paul pointed out in Evangelium Vitae 19, is one of the bases for the “culture of death.” On this view not all living members of the human species are “persons,” but only those who are capable of conscious awareness; the unborn, the severely mentally crippled, and those in the “vegetative” state thus do not count as persons, who alone are the subjects of rights that must be recognized by the state.

From this it can be seen that contraception is the “gateway” to abortion and other grave offenses against the goodness of human life. Contraception paved the way for abortion, which is frequently considered a backup to failed contraception. All this explains why the Catholic Church is so opposed to contraception.

When God made man, He did not make a subject aware of itself as a self and capable of relating to other selves to which He then added a body as an afterthought. Rather, when He created man, “male and female He created them” (Gen 1:27), i.e., he created them as bodily, sexual beings, whose fertility is a blessing, not a curse.

Moreover, when the eternally begotten Son of God, His “Word,” became man to show us God’s love for us and to redeem us, He became living flesh: “the Word became flesh” (Jn 1:14). He became incarnate.

Thus the Church’s teaching on contraception goes hand-in-hand with the great truth that human persons are bodily persons and that every living member of the human species, the unborn as well as the born, the severely mentally impaired as well as the mentally gifted, is a person, a being of moral worth, a living image of the one and triune God.

William E. May is the Michael J. McGivney Professor of Moral Theology at the John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family. In 2009 Pauline Books & Media will publish his book, Pope John Paul II’s Teaching on the Person, Marriage and Family. He and his wife, Patricia, are the parents of seven, and grandparents of f fourteen.

Fr. Matthew Habiger OSB

What are the contrasts between contraception and NFP?

There is a world of difference between contraception and NFP.

What is most important here is to understand and appreciate God's plan for marriage and the spousal act. In God's plan, marriage is designed to endure "until death do us part," and it requires total fidelity.

What is the spousal act supposed to express and accomplish, as God designed it? The Catholic Church teaches, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, that every spousal act must be open to a love-giving (unitive) dimension and also to a life-giving (procreative) dimension. In the marital act the spouses are renewing their marriage covenant. This calls for making the total gift of self to the other: no conditions, no reservations, nothing held back. This includes our fertility.

When couples abide by God's plan for spousal love, then they have a strong marriage and a healthy, happy family. When they reject God's plan, and substitute their own plan (contraception, sterilization and abortion), then they fall into a cultural trap where today, in this country, there is a 50% divorce rate, a lack of male responsibility, 35% of children born outside of marriage, dysfunctional families, and increased abortions.

NFP is completely different from contraception when used as a means to space your babies. 1) NFP respects God's plan. Contraception does not. 2) NFP respects human fertility, and never turns against it. Contra (against) ception does not respect your fertility. Instead, it sterilizes it, either temporarily of permanently. 3) NFP regards fertility as something good and natural. Contraception regards it as a disease. 4) NFP requires self-sacrifice and self-giving. Contraception wants instant gratification. 5) NFP compels a couple to take their relationship seriously. Contraception focuses everything on orgasm.

6) The divorce rate among users of NFP is less than 5%. For users of contraception it is 50% plus.

7) The Pill causes alls sorts of problems for a woman's body. Read a list of all the counter indications that come with the prescription. NFP is completely natural. It is God’s way, and nature’s way for spacing pregnancies responsibly in a morally good way.

I suggest that you read the encyclical HUMANAE VITAE.

Let's spread the good word about NFP, so that it can benefit everyone.

Cordially yours,

Fr. Matthew Habiger OSB

Is NFP sinful?

I’ve been asked about these objections by a friend – that NFP is “sinful”. Please refute.

Pope Pius XI taught that married couples could use their marriage rights in the infertile periods of the wife (or when there is a defect of nature or age which prevents new life from being conceived). But he did not teach that they could designedly restrict the marriage act to the infertile periods to avoid a pregnancy, as in Natural Family Planning.

No reason, however grave it may be, can bring it about that something that is intrinsically evil can become good. NFP subordinates the primary purpose of the conjugal act (the procreation and education of children) to other things and is therefore forbidden.

NFP is condemned because it subordinates the primary PURPOSE of marriage and the conjugal act to other things. This makes the fact that NFP does nothing to obstruct the marriage act itself irrelevant, since the primary purpose is being frustrated. Natural Family Planning is sinful birth Control.

God bless,
Peter

Dear Peter,

Here are some things for your friend to consider.

1) Pope Paul VI’s encyclical Humanae Vitae completely endorses NFP as a morally good form of family planning, and condemns abortion, sterilization and contraception as intrinsically evil. The people who reject HV do so, not because they find NFP to be immoral, but because they do not accept the self- discipline that goes with periodic abstinence.

2) Pope John Paul II also endorsed NFP completely, when used for the right reasons.

3) So also does Benedict XVI. They all recognize that NFP, when used for good reasons, respects God’s plan for marriage and spousal love.

4) Your friend does not entirely understand Pius XI’s encyclical Casti Connubii. Paragraph #53 reads: 53. And now, Venerable Brethren, we shall explain in detail the evils opposed to each of the benefits of matrimony. First consideration is due to the offspring, which many have the boldness to call the disagreeable burden of matrimony and which they say is to be carefully avoided by married people not through VIRTUOUS CONTINENCE (which Christian law permits in matrimony when both parties consent) but by FRUSTRATING THE MARRIAGE ACT. Some justify this criminal abuse on the ground that they are weary of children and wish to gratify their desires without their consequent burden. Others say that they cannot on the one hand remain continent nor on the other can they have children because of the difficulties whether on the part of the mother or on the part of family circumstances. “Virtuous continence” = NFP; “frustrating the marriage act” = contraception.

Paragraph #54 explains further the evil of contraception: 54. But no reason, however grave, may be put forward by which anything intrinsically against nature may become conformable to nature and morally good. Since, therefore, the conjugal act is destined primarily by nature for the begetting of children, those who in exercising it deliberately frustrate its natural power and purpose sin against nature and commit a deed which is shameful and intrinsically vicious.

Paragraph #59 reaffirms periodic abstinence and NFP: …. Nor are those considered as acting against nature who in the married state use their right in the proper manner although on account of NATURAL REASONS EITHER OF TIME OR OF CERTAIN DEFECTS, new life cannot be brought forth. For in matrimony as well as in the use of the matrimonial rights there are also secondary ends, such as mutual aid, the cultivating of mutual love, and the quieting of concupiscence which husband and wife are not forbidden to consider so long as they are subordinated to the primary end and so long as the intrinsic nature of the act is preserved. “Natural reasons of time” = infertile periods; “or of certain defects” = after menopause or natural infertility.

5) The language of “primary ends” (procreation and education of children) and “secondary ends” (mutual aid, cultivating of mutual love, and the quieting of concupiscence) has undergone a legitimate development of doctrine. Gaudium et Spes #50 gives greater importance to the unitive, or personal, values of marital love: “Marriage to be sure is not instituted solely for procreation; rather, its very nature as an unbreakable compact between persons, and the welfare of the children, both demand that the mutual love of the spouses be embodied in a rightly ordered manner, that it grow and ripen. Therefore, marriage persists as a whole manner and communion of life, and maintains its value and indissolubility, even when despite the often intense desire of the couple, offspring are lacking.”

Thus, the importance within marriage for the mutual love between the spouses endures even after the nest is empty, and the children have all left. This mutual love endures even if the couple is sterile, unable to have children. And this mutual love is meant to grow and deepen all throughout the marriage. Children do not replace this mutual love of spouses. Rather, they are the natural fruit of that love.

6) NFP is not an evil, or sinful. It is God’s gift to these times for parents who need a morally good means to help them plan their family responsibly. NFP can be misused, abused, if there are no compelling reasons for delaying the next pregnancy. But the fault there lies, not with NFP, but with the wrong intentions of the couple.

Cordially your,

Fr. Matthew Habiger OSB

Is NFP Catholic contraception?

Dear Fr. Matthew

I am writing all the way from Sri Lanka. My daughter who studies in New Zealand is with us on holiday. She is doing a degree in Law and Computer Science. She will be 21 and has a very intelligent mind. She does not believe in abortion but was debating with me that natural family planning is another form of contraception.

I am afraid that I just could not convince her that it was not. She seems to have the opinion that natural family planning is only good in so far as it helps couples who are trying to have children understand the best time for pregnancy. But if it was to avoid pregnancy, it was another form of contraception. So why can’t other contraceptive aids, e.g., condoms, be used? Could you help me enlighten her please?

Love and prayers, Marianne

Dear Marianne,

Greetings! NFP is not "Catholic" contraception. The Church endorses NFP (as seen in Humanae Vitae), and condemns contraception as harmful. Why? Because NFP, when used correctly and for good motives, is a morally good expression of responsible parenthood. NFP is one of God's gifts to us in these times to help us space our children. Everyone knows that there are times when couples must space, or delay, a new pregnancy.

NFP is always open to the gift of life. Contraception turns against our fertility and tries to sterilize it. NFP recognizes God as the Author and Sovereign of all life, and during the woman's fertile period allows Him to decide if a new person shall be conceived. Contraception pushes God out of the picture, and attempts to take complete control over the possible procreation of a new person who will live forever. NFP takes advantage of the natural rhythms of fertility and infertility. Contraception suppresses and manipulates fertility, and refuses to practice periodic abstinence.

NFP couples must practice self-mastery and self-possession for the sake of the other. They understand that real love is always self-sacrificial. They learn to express their love with a full repertoire of acts of tenderness, verbal expression and demonstrate an appreciation for the presence of the other. Contraception ignores most of these, and concentrates upon the genital dimension of spousal love.

What is NFP?

First, with so much confusion abounding, a word on what Natural Family Planning (NFP) is not: It is not the antiquated and often-ineffective rhythm method. Modern NFP (also known as the Ovulation Method, the Sympto-Thermal Method, or the Creighton Model) is a thoroughly researched, safe, medically effective and family-supportive method of fertility regulation which can be used either to avoid a pregnancy or to achieve one. It has been used effectively worldwide for over 20 years.

NFP is completely natural and does not use drugs, devices or surgery. It is simply a method of recognizing and charting the easily observable signs of fertility exhibited by a woman's body. Then by applying a few simply guidelines, these observations can be used by a couple to avoid a pregnancy or to assist in achieving one. Studies by the World Health Organization have concluded that couples who learn the Ovulation Method from a certified instructor and apply the guidelines conscientiously can achieve a 98.6-99 percent effectiveness rate in avoiding pregnancy.