Natural Family Planning: The Right Kind of Course
The right kind of course in natural family planning needs to be faithful to what God has done for us. The greatest thing he has done for us is his work of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. This is not just pious talk to fill a column. Truly Jesus is the ultimate reason for being faithful to your spouse, for loving your parents and your children, and for living a chaste and generous married life. That means that the right kind of NFP course will include evangelization in the sense of placing the scientific aspects of NFP in the context of Christian discipleship, regardless of who is attending the course. Protestants and every form of non-Catholic as well as uninformed and/or unbelieving Catholics deserve to know why faithful Catholics believe what the Church teaches.
Another great thing God has done for us is the wonderful way he had made us. People coming to an NFP course, especially one offered under Catholic auspices, deserve to learn all the common but still wonderful ways of bodily human nature.
God Himself made woman in such a way that the frequent suckling by her baby from her breasts normally postpones the return of her fertility for more than a year in most cases. Every man and 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 and also causes physical changes in the cervix. Both the mucus and the cervix changes can be detected and evaluated by informed women. Every man and woman deserves to know these aspects of God’s creation.
God Himself made woman in such a way that post-ovulation progesterone causes her waking temperature to rise enough that it can readily noticed and evaluated by the informed person. Every man and woman deserves to know this part of God’s creation.
Evangelization, ecological breastfeeding, the common signs of fertility and infertility—why would any bishop or priest want to exclude any of these elements from NFP courses taking place in his jurisdiction?
Tomorrow: Natural Family Planning: The Time Has Come
John F. Kippley
Sex and the Marriage Covenant
Natural Family Planning: The Complete Approach