My Personal Experience With NFP

 by Lisa Brandon 
This week, the Church is celebrating National Natural Family Planning (NFP) Awareness Week. NFP is the method of family planning approved by the Catholic Church to achieve and postpone pregnancy.  It involves looking for natural signs in order to determine a woman’s fertile period. When implemented correctly, it is over 99% effective for avoiding pregnancy. Couples who use NFP grow in virtue, communication, intimacy and have significantly lower rates of divorce than couples who use contraception.

It wasn’t until the summer before my senior year of college, that I began to learn more about NFP and contraception. A dear friend mailed me a cassette entitled “Contraception: Why Not?”  It was by Janet E. Smith, an international speaker on the Catholic teachings on sexuality. Her talk discussed the negative side effects of using contraception.  I didn’t know that the pill could cause high blood pressure, blood clots, stroke, cancer, heart attack, depression, irritability, weight gain, migraine, loss of libido, infertility and an early abortion if a woman does conceive. She then explained the beauty and benefits of NFP. This began my personal journey of learning more about contraception and NFP.

During our 11 years of marriage, Mike and I have used the Creighton Model.  This NFP method was developed by Dr. Thomas Hilgers, the founder of the Pope Paul VI Institute in Omaha. The first four years of marriage, Mike worked out-of-town each week. NFP challenged us to grow in selflessness, communication, discipline, and chastity. The Creighton Model helped us prayerfully discern God’s call to begin our family. Within a week of Mike getting a job in Omaha, we found out we were expecting our first. Irick (7) was followed by his sister, Emry, 15 months later.

After over a year of trying to conceive again, my NFP charts showed signs of secondary infertility. The Pope Paul VI Institute diagnosed and surgically treated my endometriosis. Our son Kyler was born within less than a year of having surgery. Several months after his birth, I became very anxious, irritable, had irrational thoughts and could not sleep. The Pope Paul VI Institute identified my postpartum depression and treated it with progesterone. I was amazed by its effectiveness.

NFP has helped Mike and I develop a deeper prayer life as a couple and trust in God. With Kyler turning two, we each felt that God was calling us to be open to another little one. After 4 months of praying together, we said yes to God. Baby is due the end of January.

“O Lord of hosts, happy the man who trusts in you” Psalm 84:13. NFP does involve trusting in God’s will for you. Trust in Him. He will bless you in so many ways, for God has beautiful plans for you, your marriage, and your family.

Lisa and Mike Brandon

Why Today?

On this date in 1968 , the Feast of St. James, Pope Paul VI released the encyclical Humanae Vitae.

Often (though not always) the release date of a Church document is significant. For example the Catholic Catechism was released on the anniversary of the start of Vatican II and the Year of Faith will begin in October and marks the 50th anniversary of the start of Vatican II.

So why might the feast day of St. James be a significant time to release a document on Human Life? This is the document that says marital love, as God intended it, is inconsistent with the use of contraceptives.

The encyclical begins with:

The transmission of human life is a most serious role in which married people collaborate freely and responsibly with God the Creator. It has always been a source of great joy to them, even though it sometimes entails many difficulties and hardships.

The fulfillment of this duty has always posed problems to the conscience of married people, but the recent course of human society and the concomitant changes have provoked new questions. The Church cannot ignore these questions, for they concern matters intimately connected with the life and happiness of human beings.

In today's Gospel Jesus says

whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant;
whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave.
Just so, the Son of Man did not come to be served
but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many."

The first reading is about death to one's self and sacrifice so that life will prevail. And the responsaral is about sowing seed (ahem) in tears (or reluctance, perhaps) and reaping in joy. (See the readings here)

Or perhaps Pope Paul VI remembered James' famous line from his letter that "faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead." (James 2:17) In other words, our faith is expressed in our bodies.

 NFP Awareness Week: The US Bishops' Site

A Video of Archbishop Lucas on Humanae Vitae

A flyer from the Omaha Archdiocese

NFP Explained

As this is Natural Family Planning Awareness Week, here's a video which recently won the NFP Mini Contest sponsored by Goodness Reigns.

Wow, This Must Matter

So the Department of Health an Human services made a rule requiring all health insurance companies to provide sterilization procedures, contraception including the “morning after pill” (which can cause spontaneous abortions) and tubal ligation.

In response Cardinal-designate Tim Dolan (president of the USCCB) immediate spoke out against it in video, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops have been publishing things like the six things people ought to know, and our own Archbishop George Lucas had a letter in our bulletin February 5th, will have another this weekend and has said "We will not comply" in his podcast (at the link, look to the bottom right under 'Podcasts' for the 2/3 podcast.) The Army said that a letter written by Archbishop Broglio could not be read at Mass because they thought it sounded like a call to civil disobedience.

So why are all of these old, celibate

dudes so excited about this?

It must matter.

While the Wall Street Journal has has called the mandate unconstitutional and illegal, on the underlying principle, a Business Journal has declared it is Time to Admit It: The Church Has Always Been Right On Birth Control. Dr. Janet Smith points out how prophetically accurate Pope Paul VI's encyclical Humanae Vitae was on birth control.

Maybe we ought know

more about this teaching?

While one of the expectations of parishioners at St. Columbkille Parish is to believe the teachings of the Church, we don't say everyone must do this with blind faith. If you question or disagree with this teaching, we encourage you to study it closer. There are resources available for that.

Hidden on the Omaha Archdiocese's website is a video teaching on Humanae Vitae by Archbishop Lucas. Archbishop Lucas said that Pope John Paul II took Humanae Vitae and "put it to music" with his teaching on the Theology of the Body. The teachings that came to be known as the Theology of the Body were not made to counter birth control, but to show the inherent dignity in the Human Being. When understand, it is obvious that birth control contradicts that truth.

In our diocese, the Family Life Office has developed a three hour "come and see” class on the beauty of marital intimacy and responsible love which includes education on the biological basis of NFP and details on charts and usage statistics; all in the context of the Church's care for us.  The class is led by certified teachers from the Couple-to-Couple League and FertilityCare Centers.  Couples attending have the opportunity to ask candid questions of practicing NFP couples as well as spend time in couple prayer and discussion.  The cost is $25 per couple.  For more information, contact Heidi Emanuel at the Family Life Office at 402.551.9003. (Unfortunately there are not dates for it online.)

As you understand this, you may ask:

What should I do

to oppose this?

While the US Bishops have advocated an online petition with pre-written text asking for your Congressman to co-sponsor legislation against it, the reality is that Nebraska Congressman Jeff Fortenberry is THE sponsor of the legislation which he introduced about 11 months ago (well before this rule was made.) So it would be appropriate to write him and say thanks. You could also contact Congressman Lee Terry, Senator Ben Nelson and Senator Mike Johanns, all of whom have expressed their opposition to the HHS mandate. 

What Else?

It is important to know your faith so you can discuss this with others when it comes up. Also, as one woman points out, this is an issue that should be taken up with your doctor. Stacy Trasancos wrote:

 

It is I who should have been decrying this all along. It’s not just unacceptable for the doctor to push it on a Catholic woman, it’s unacceptable for any doctor in any Catholic institution to even make it available, and women have the unique opportunity to say so directly to the doctors they visit. How many do that though?

Think about it. If a doctor is willing to prescribe abortifacient drugs or abortifacient devices, then the doctor is willing to induce abortions. If we wouldn’t let a practicing sex offender examine our children, then why for Heaven’s sake would we let a practicing abortionist deliver them?

Unless I have looked at every doctor along the way for the last three decades in the face and told them why contraception, sterilization and abortion are immoral, and demanded they stop offering it lest I seek new medical professionals to care for my body and my family, then I really have no foundation for any outrage today at all. Yes, I confess, I’ve walked out of doctor’s offices and ignored the contraception ads hanging on the wall, just glad I did “the right thing.” But I failed. I should have spoken up, right then, right there, directly to the medical professionals.

Mea culpa

Couples' Stories

This is National Family Planning (NFP) Awareness Week. The dates of NFP Awareness Week highlight the anniversary of the papal encyclical Humanae Vitae (July 25) which articulates Catholic beliefs about human sexuality, conjugal love and responsible parenthood.

Below are links to the stories of couples who are living NFP:

"My Husband the Gentleman" by Sarah Hammond. A blog-like reflection on a husband’s chivalrous treatment of his wife.

"Be Her Joseph" by Tom Mealey. A husband reflects on his appreciation of NFP and his spiritual journey in striving to be a better husband and father.

"Escape from Fuddledom"  by Sharon and Mike Phelan. A funny and thoughtful reflection on spiritual conversion by an NFP couple.

"Connections" by Jennifer and John Campbell. A young couple shares their experience on how NFP has strengthened their marriage.

"NFP, the Theology of the Body and Our Marriage" by Michael and Alysha Chambers. A couple's witness story.

"How Natural Family Planning changed my Life"  by Dawn Farias. A reflection on the personal and spiritual growth fostered by the practice of NFP by a wife and mother.