Gulf Pine Catholic

6 Gulf Pine Catholic • August 18, 2023 NFP, a ‘skill set’ for showing ‘Christ is involved’ in marriage, family life, say experts BY GINA CHRISTIAN (OSV News ) -- Natural family plan- ning, or NFP, provides “a skill set” to help Catholic and Christian couples “live out their beliefs that Christ is involved” in marriage and family life, a national expert told OSV News . Representing several natural, moral- ly acceptable methods to monitor a woman’s fertility cycle, NFP emphasiz- es “the role of sex in marriage, and the cooperation of husband and wife in procreation,” said Theresa Notare, assis- tant director of the NFP program in the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Secretariat of Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth. Notare’s office spearheads the U.S. Catholic bishops’ National NFP Awareness Week (July 23-29 this year), an annual observance whose dates commemorate the release of “Humanae Vitae,” the 1968 encyclical in which St. Paul VI articulated Catholic teaching on arti- ficial contraception, human sexuality, marital love and parenthood. The week includes the July 26 feast of Sts. Joachim and Anne, the parents of Mary. The theme for this year’s National NFPAwareness week is “Marriage: One Flesh, Given and Received.” “We still believe a primary good of marriage is hav- ing children,” Notare said. “God uses the marital rela- tionship to bring new life into the world. And he uses the couple, in their union as one flesh, to uniquely represent his love in the world.” That message still eludes many, including Catholics. A 2016 Pew Research survey found that even among Catholics who attended Mass weekly, only 13% said artificial contraception is morally wrong, with 45% describing it as morally acceptable and another 42% saying it was not a moral issue. “Believe it or not, it’s been 55 years since the prom- ulgation of ‘Humanae Vitae,’ and I’m not sure there’s a more misunderstood church document,” said Bishop Robert E. Barron of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, chairman of the USCCB Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth, in a video message for the observance. “The church is not making a great ‘thou shalt not’ statement in its teaching on human sexuality, marital love and responsible parenting … (but) pro- claiming the beauty and importance of the marital embrace, whereby spouses express their love for one another and become sharers in God’s creative action.” Notare, whose doctoral research has examined the history of contraception and the church’s response, admits that “we’re good in that we have consistent teaching, but we have (previously) been on the heavy side of the negative, and that has created a caricature to this day where people think the Catholic Church hates sex.” Rather, she said, “the Catholic Church wants you to have the best sex possible, and that is God’s sex.” NFP methods -- which trace their roots to ancient times and were first formally developed during the mid-20th century -- have evolved significantly over the past several decades, said Notare. “It’s not our mother’s calendar rhythm,” she said. All NFP methods, which unlike artificial contracep- tives can be used to either achieve or avoid pregnancy, focus on biomarkers indicating when the female body is most or least likely to conceive. The three key NFP approaches are the cervical mucus (or ovulation) method, which tracks when cervi- cal mucus is most conducive to conception; symptom- thermal methods, which look to basal body temperature as well as cervical mucus and other biomarkers; and the symptom-hormonal method, which adds another bio- marker: the detection of reproductive hormones in the urine. In each of those cate- gories, specific models and methodologies have emerged with their own certified practitioners, as well as mobile apps and devices for tracking the fertility cycle. Among the popular NFP approaches are the Creighton Model FertilityCare System, a cervical mucus method developed at the St. Paul VI Institute in Omaha, Nebraska; the Cincinnati-based Couple to Couple League International’s symp- to-thermal training; and the symptom- hormonal Marquette Model offered by Marquette University’s Institute for Natural Family Planning. NFP practitioner Mikayla Dalton of Fig Leaf Fertility in Boston is certified in the Boston Cross Check method, which relies on all three major fertility markers (cervical mucus, basal body temperature and hormones). Dalton told OSV News that she has recently noticed more non-Catholics eyeing NFP as “a healthy and reason- able option.” “I see increasing awareness … and increased market activity for devices and apps,” she said. “They’re not aim- ing for the small Catholic audience, but a wider group of women.” NFP also works to encourage better overall health care for women, she and Notare said. While NFP practitioners are generally not medical doctors, “we are trained to look at charts for possible red flags,” said Dalton. “We don’t do any diagnosing, but we can say, ‘Look, your chart is showing an unusu- al amount of spotting, or an unusually short luteal phase, which can indicate any number of conditions.’ Some women don’t even realize there’s something wrong until they come to me, and I’m looking at their charts and point out, ‘This is outside of the normal range of experience.’” Because it requires the full participation of both spouses, NFP deepens marital bonds, demanding “a real awareness of your commitment to why you’re doing what you’re doing,” Notare said. Yet she and Dalton said that much work needs to be done in bringing NFP to a more diverse audience. SEE NFP MODERN SCIENCE TECH, PAGE 7 Natural Cycles’ contraception device and smartphone app are seen in this undated photo. Natural Family Planning Awareness Week is July 23-29. OSV News photo/CNS file, Alexander Crispin, Natural Cycles