Archive for 2012

The Triple Strand of Natural Family Planning

Sunday, November 18th, 2012

NFP International is the only organization in the United States that teaches the Triple Strand.  What is the Triple Strand of NFP?

The classic content of the Triple Strand consists of three concepts.  We have taught these concepts since 1971.
1.  Ecological breastfeeding as a distinct form of natural baby spacing.  It has now been further standardized as the Seven Standards of eco-breastfeeding.
2.  The covenant theology, which is more completely stated as the renewal-of-the-marriage-covenant theology.
3.  An open-to-choice version of the Sympto-Thermal Method of systematic NFP oriented to reducing abstinence as much as possible according to the evidence.  We teach all the common signs and we teach rules that attempt to maximize the benefits and minimize the limitations of each of the signs.  That’s why we teach a rule that allows us to see the start on Peak Day + 2 when the temperature sign is very strong. Other rules require three or four days of mucus drying past Peak Day.

John F. Kippley
Sex and the Marriage Covenant
Battle-Scarred: Justice Can Be Elusive (memoirs)
Natural Family Planning: The Complete Approach

The Church, Natural Family Planning and the Election

Sunday, November 11th, 2012

In the aftermath of Humanae Vitae in 1968, the American bishops apparently decided not to exercise their teaching authority and thus have largely lost it among rank and file Catholics.  As the old saying goes, “Use it or lose it.”  Despite surveys showing the lack of acceptance of Catholic teaching on birth control by Catholics, our bishops have continued to do almost nothing.  Thus President Obama put them in the uncomfortable position of having to defend what they had been ignoring for the past 44 years.  In 1989, a group of bishops authored a booklet on marriage in which they urged that every engaged couple should be required to attend a full course on natural family planning.  Only six or seven dioceses have implemented that policy in the subsequent 23 years.  In my opinion, if the Church had even half its married couples believing and living out the teaching of Humanae Vitae, there would be a Catholic vote in favor of life and good sexual morality, and the results of Tuesday’s election would have been different.

John F. Kippley
NFP International
www.NFPandmore.org

Evaluations from Couples Taking a Natural Family Planning Course

Sunday, November 4th, 2012

At the end of teaching our NFP course, John and I are told by the couples that they are amazed at how much they have learned.  One of our teaching couples shared their evaluations with us and I would like to share them with you.

Here are the evaluations from one NFPI course:
**We learned how to observe & chart in order that we may plan our family in the most natural way, the way God intended.
**Learned that breastfeeding can slow down ovulation.  Great class; was first against or scared about breastfeeding; now I learned all the benefits and I am all for breastfeeding
**Enjoyed the presentation; discovered how my body reacted after taking the pill for the last 5 years; learned more about my cycles after 2 months off the pill  (She had little mucus and delayed ovulation; then it was more normal with mucus patch and an earlier temperature rise.  She is marrying late and hopes to conceive on her honeymoon.)
**Awesome info!!! great job 🙂
**Talk and stress more on abstinence as 100% birth control especially as this is a “pre-marriage” class!!!
**We have a better understanding as to what NFP is; also, we now know how to prevent pregnancy if we have a serious reason not to conceive; we would have liked more Breastfeeding information, perhaps a whole class!!.  No changes needed; on that note, we enjoyed all the information that was given!

And evaluations from another course:
+ “We learned how to plan our family, and learned how to check when I am ovulating, and it was so fun and exciting when it happened the first time.”  🙂
+ “I loved coming to class.”
+ “We really enjoyed this class with all the information you have given us and we have decided to do NFP.  We love the whole concept about it.”
+ “Very good information on how to chart.  Knowing your body better.  Great information on breastfeeding.  Great information on fertility.”
+ “I believe this is a great class that everybody should know about because there is nothing better than it being natural.”
+ “A vast  knowledge on NFP – it is a different way of planning your family that we did not know of; I think it is good to have taken this class to get a new aspect on how to plan your family.”
+ “We got a lot of useful information on monitoring our bodies so we can prevent pregnancy or cause it.”
+ “This was very informative.  I learned a lot about my body’s natural signs for family planning – thank you.”

Anyone can take the online NFPI home study course.  The course follows the teachings in the NFPI manual and is taken by email.

Sheila Kippley