Natural Family Planning International » NFP Week 2009

Natural Family Planning and the Marriage Covenant

Sheila Kippley — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 07:00:58 +0000

How do we reform the marriage preparation process? Here are a few selected from the steps given in Sex and the Marriage Covenant: A Basis for Morality.
The basic norms of marital chastity must be taught, that it is immoral to engage in masturbation, whether mutual or solitary, complete oral and anal sex, and contraceptive intercourse whether withdrawal-ejaculation, using artificial barriers, or using drugs and other devices.
Engaged couples should be taught the God-given meanings of marriage and of sex within marriage, namely that God intends that the marriage act should be a renewal of their marriage covenant.

For more on the marriage covenant, read Sex and the Marriage Covenant: A Basis for Morality.

For a rebirth of chastity, for a stop to contraception and abortion, and for a culture of life, let us pray.

Sheila Kippley
Natural Family Planning: The Complete Approach, 2009
Breastfeeding and Catholic Motherhood, 2005
The Seven Standards of Ecological Breastfeeding: The Frequency Factor, 2008
Breastfeeding and Natural Child Spacing, 1974 classic edition, 2008

Natural Family Planning and the Marriage Covenant

Sheila Kippley — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 07:00:47 +0000

To return to sexual morality in general, it is essential to return to marital chastity. This entails natural family planning—God’s own way to space babies through ecological breastfeeding or, when there is a sufficiently seriously reason, the use of systematic NFP.
These two natural methods should be understood by every lay person, priest, seminarian, and religious in addition to professional teachers and the medical representative. We do not mean that unmarried women should be charting nor do we mean that priests should be teaching the details. But such persons of influence should be able to convey these concepts of NFP to encourage support of Church teaching in this area. Every married couple should understand NFP even if they desire a dozen or more children.

For more on the marriage covenant, read Sex and the Marriage Covenant: A Basis for Morality.

For a rebirth of chastity, for a stop to contraception and abortion, and for a culture of life, let us pray.

Natural Family Planning and the Marriage Covenant

Sheila Kippley — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 07:00:13 +0000

The comparison between the marital communion and the Eucharistic communion is similar because they are both the results of sacraments, both the result of sacrificial love, both an expression of bodily love, both a renewal of the covenant, both covenants sealed with a death to self. Because of this, just as each reception of the Eucharist is in itself a scared reality signifying complete acceptance of the covenant, likewise each act of married sexual love is a sacred reality. It entails a renewal of the marriage covenant, an acceptance of each other regardless of the circumstances, even if this renewal should lead to sickness or to poorness or even to death itself.
See Sex and the Marriage Covenant: A Basis for Morality, Chapter 4, “Holy Communion: Eucharistic and Marital.” This chapter is at this website.

For more on the marriage covenant, read Sex and the Marriage Covenant: A Basis for Morality.

For a rebirth of chastity, for a stop to contraception and abortion, and for a culture of life, let us pray.