Natural Family Planning
Catholics must work together for strong, God-centered marriages
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This is the second of two introductory articles about Natural Family Planning:
No one ever said marriage and family life would be easy.
But for those who are called to it, nothing this side of heaven can bring more joy and satisfaction.
The key is for husbands and wives to remain focused on God and offer themselves up in sacrificial love to Him through each other.
Again, well worth it, but much easier said than done.
Christ has commissioned His own bride, the Church, to help — through the sacraments, meaningful preparation for couples planning to enter holy matrimony, and ongoing fellowship and support to help make it all work.
Too often overlooked is the Church’s support for Natural Family Planning (NFP).
NFP refers to any of several natural methods of spacing the birth of children without the use of chemical contraceptives, which are harmful to a woman’s body and contrary to God’s design as revealed in the natural law and the teachings of His Church.
Sanctioned NFP methods are backed by scientific research and are aeffective for spacing births as well as overcoming obstacles to conceiving a child.
They are rooted in understanding and recognizing the natural signs a woman’s body gives her at the most and least fertile periods in her reproductive cycle.
The Church approves of these methods because in using them, the couple remains open to the gift of life.
Father Anthony Viviano, moderator of marriage ministries for the diocese, noted that the sacred institution of marriage has taken a beating in recent years.
“It’s becoming increasingly obvious that marriages and families built on the shifting sands of our society’s contraceptive culture are more vulnerable at the very least,” he said. “We have to be different. We have to put God back at the center of married life. We have to reassert the dignity of husbands and wives in the complementary roles they hold in bringing children into this world and raising them to know and serve the Lord.”
“Natural Family Planning is built on that dignity and the beauty and wonder of God’s creation,” he said.
As a pastor, Fr. Viviano understands the need for parishes and their pastors to introduce couples to NFP as an integral part of their preparation for marriage.
“Strong families are the foundation of our parishes, our Church and our society,” he said. “Natural Family Planning is one of the tools we have been given to help build healthy, holy marriages. It helps couples understand from the beginning that God is calling them to lives of total self-giving with Him at the center.”
He said that by practicing NFP in a selfless, Christ-centered manner, “husbands and wives experience deeper intimacy, become more attentive to one another, and remain open to God’s plan for them to assist Him in creation.”
It’s much easier for husbands and wives to commit to NFP and carry that commitment out with the open, prayerful encouragement of their priests and a network of support among couples of all ages in the parish.
“Good marriages seldom occur in a vacuum,” he said. “Part of our role as Catholics, as followers of Christ, is to support and encourage one another through all of life’s joys and difficulties.”
He said husbands and wives and people preparing for the sacrament of marriage need access to concrete, understandable information from properly trained NFP practitioners.
Furthermore, he said, Catholic couples need to be open to answering questions and encouraging fellow parishioners to stay to true to their commitment to practicing NFP, even when it is difficult.
Finally, said Fr. Viviano, priests and deacons need to preach confidently from the pulpit about the benefits of NFP and the perils of artificial contraception, and young people need to be introduced in a positive, age-appropriate manner to the ideals of sacrificial, total self-giving in marriage.
“This is what God wants for His people,” said Fr. Viviano. “When we present holiness and sacrificial love as the highest ideals for all aspects of Christian living, we are laying the groundwork for marriages and families that stand the test of time.”
A new pamphlet on Natural Family Planning from the diocesan Office of Family Life and Intercultural Ministries was included as an insert to the April 19, 2019, print edition of The Catholic Missourian and is available from the diocesan Office of Marriage and Intercultural Ministries.
Click here to visit the NFP page on the Jefferson City diocese’s website for more information.
