One can explain to their pastor or bishop the many benefits of the right kind of NFP instruction by asking:
How many engaged women know that OCP’s increase the risk of breast cancer?
How many know that breastfeeding reduces the risk of breast cancer?
How many know that breastfeeding reduces the risk of 22 diseases for babies and children and 8 diseases for mothers?
How many engaged women know that Ecological Breastfeeding is a natural baby spacer?
How many engaged couples know that the temperature sign provides the single best indicator of gestational age, i.e., the best indication of the baby’s due date.
How many engaged couples know that the marriage act is, in God’s plan, exclusively a marriage act?
How many of them know that the marriage act ought to be a renewal of the marriage covenant?
How many engaged couples realize that the Nicene Creed that they profess every Sunday is an affirmation of faith in the continued guidance of the Holy Spirit?
How many see the connection between Nicea and the guidance by the same Holy Spirit in the teaching of Casti Connubii and Humanae Vitae?
How many of them have ever read testimonies by former atheists, agnostics, and fertile-time masturbators who became believers because of the content of what’s in the NFPI course?
How many of them have thought that the primary purpose of their relationship is to help each other on the path to heaven?
How many have ever thought of the connection between contraception, the sexual revolution, and some of the huge social and health problems of our day?
Where will they learn these things except in the NFPI course?
One can ask: Father, what is there in the above list that any priest would not want his people to learn?
Where else will they learn so much for so little? We ask for a donation that is about what the bride pays for her bouquet that she throws away at the reception.
I encourage you to be the voice of Pius XI, Paul VI, John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and, I believe, the voice of the Lord himself in asking your pastor to make this course a normal part of preparation for marriage.
I also encourage you and your spouse to read the NFPI manual or take the home study course of NFP International and see how easy it is to teach our form of NFP. The NFPI manual will be 40% off at lulu.com for two weeks starting July 24.
John F. Kippley
Sex and the Marriage Covenant