Natural Family Planning

[amarkich]

It is clear that the practice of Natural Family Planning, when used within the limits of the Church, can be a valid practice, but the common usage of this practice is certainly a break with Tradition. There are many who claim that NFP can be validly used as a means of spacing children or preventing children altogether. This, however, is forbidden by the Church and cannot be practiced validly. I have created this thread more as a means of discussing the context in which NFP could be permitted rather than as a means of discussing whether or not it is valid at all because I feel that this process will be more informative for all. My question is this: what cases, if any, can NFP be used validly? There are apparently four valid reasons (including monetary, psychological, and two others), but I am unaware as to whether or not these reasons will suffice for the using of NFP (possibly with the exclusion of extreme monetary cases), but because I am not completely educated as to the orthodox view on this issue, I am posing this as a question more than a statement. All comments are welcome. God bless.

[Dave]

Using NFP is only sinful if you misuse it. For example, if another child would put undue financial burdens on you, it would be ok to use NFP. But if you just wanted a new car, that wouldn't be ok.

The Catechism says that we may use NFP for "just" reasons. As to whether or not a couple has just reasons for using it is something that would have to be determined on a case-by-case basis.

[Jake Huether]

[quote name='Dave' date='Apr 2 2004, 02:31 PM'] Using NFP is only sinful if you misuse it. For example, if another child would put undue financial burdens on you, it would be ok to use NFP. But if you just wanted a new car, that wouldn't be ok.

The Catechism says that we may use NFP for "just" reasons. As to whether or not a couple has just reasons for using it is something that would have to be determined on a case-by-case basis. [/quote]
Very well stated.

The fact that NFP is always open to life makes it objectively pleasing to God and His Church (just like the Bible is objectively pleasing to God - it's His written Word).

But just as the Bible can be abused to promote / support heretical views, so too can NFP be used to a sinfull end.

[Theoketos]

Doing what is natural, will of coarse naturaly space you childern.

Also if it does not (by it I mean proper breast feeding) NFP can still work to give women enough time between Childern to recover. After all a healthy pregnancy is just and important!

[amarkich]

As for the time during breast feeding, would performing the marital act be permissible if the woman is unable to become pregnant? Likewise, it has been condemned that NFP is allowed to be used for spacing children. If a woman is worried about recovering fully it would seem that abstinence would aid in this process, so NFP would not be necessary. The fact that it is natural does not seem to be such a concern but rather that it is a break with Tradition as to the [i]purpose[/i] of sex and Marriage, namely procreation. NFP does not support procreation, only natural law. The act of attempting to lessen the chances of a pregnancy, or to prevent it altogether, however, seems to be a break in Tradition concerning the purpose of marriage ("Be fruitful and multiply"). God bless.

[Brother Adam]

The Church has already stated that NFP can be used to avoid pregnancy, so long as the reasons are valid. So it would not be breaking with Tradition. For instance, my wife and I do not have insurance at this point and we don't have the money on hand to adequately feed, clothe, give medical attention to, or adequately take care of the child. Due to finances we are using NFP only for a short time so when we do have a child we can properly care for it. When we are ready for a child, we will use NFP to achieve pregnancy, which should be its main use.

Edited April 2, 2004 by Brother Adam

[Sojourner]

[quote]As for the time during breast feeding, would performing the marital act be permissible if the woman is unable to become pregnant?[/quote]

Many women do experience a time of infertility while they are breastfeeding, but it is variable for everyone. I know several people who have gotten pregnant while breastfeeding.

It is permissible to perform the marital act during times of natural infertility. Otherwise, couples unable to have children or couples in which the woman is past the age of menopause would never be able to do this.

[Norseman82]

I've never been able to get a straight answer to this question. The closest I got was when Joe Scheidler's son said he used NFP in order that the birth of his child would not occur while he was on a pilgrimage to Rome.

[PhatPhred]

Here are some relevant sections from [url="http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-vi_enc_25071968_humanae-vitae_en.html"][i]Humanae Vitae[/i] (THIS IS AN HTML LINK!!!)[/url]:

[quote]11. The sexual activity, in which husband and wife are intimately and chastely united with one another, through which human life is transmitted, is, as the recent Council recalled, "noble and worthy.''  [b]It does not, moreover, cease to be legitimate even when, for reasons independent of their will, it is foreseen to be infertile.[/b]  For its natural adaptation to the expression and strengthening of the union of husband and wife is not thereby suppressed.  The fact is, as experience shows, that new life is not the result of each and every act of sexual intercourse. God has wisely ordered laws of nature and the incidence of fertility in such a way that successive births are already naturally spaced through the inherent operation of these laws.  The Church, nevertheless, in urging men to the observance of the precepts of the natural law, which it interprets by its constant doctrine, teaches that each and every marital act must of necessity retain its intrinsic relationship to the procreation of human life.[/quote]
[quote]16. Now as We noted earlier (no. 3), some people today raise the objection against this particular doctrine of the Church concerning the moral laws governing marriage, that human intelligence has both the right and responsibility to control those forces of irrational nature which come within its ambit and to direct them toward ends beneficial to man.  Others ask on the same point whether it is not reasonable in so many cases to use artificial birth control if by so doing the harmony and peace of a family are better served and more suitable conditions are provided for the education of children already born.  To this question We must give a clear reply.  The Church is the first to praise and commend the application of human intelligence to an activity in which a rational creature such as man is so closely associated with his Creator. But she affirms that this must be done within the limits of the order of reality established by God.

[b]If therefore there are well-grounded reasons for spacing births, arising from the physical or psychological condition of husband or wife, or from external circumstances, the Church teaches that married people may then take advantage of the natural cycles immanent in the reproductive system and engage in marital intercourse only during those times that are infertile, thus controlling birth in a way which does not in the least offend the moral principles which We have just explained.[/b]

Neither the Church nor her doctrine is inconsistent when she considers it lawful for married people to take advantage of the infertile period but condemns as always unlawful the use of means which directly prevent conception, even when the reasons given for the later practice may appear to be upright and serious. In reality, these two cases are completely different. In the former the married couple rightly use a faculty provided them by nature. In the latter they obstruct the natural development of the generative process. It cannot be denied that in each case the married couple, for acceptable reasons, are both perfectly clear in their intention to avoid children and wish to make sure that none will result. But it is equally true that it is exclusively in the former case that husband and wife are ready to abstain from intercourse during the fertile period as often as for reasonable motives the birth of another child is not desirable. And when the infertile period recurs, they use their married intimacy to express their mutual love and safeguard their fidelity toward one another. In doing this they certainly give proof of a true and authentic love.[/quote]

[mamalove]

Okay, about not being able to get pregnant while breast-feeding. It's happend to me...twice. Sadly, I lost the second child very early on. So there's that myth debunked. I think NFP is a great thing, but unforunately it is being widly abused. My views about this come from my experiences in Engaged Encounter. About 60% of the discussions were about how to use NFP to avoid pregnancy. In fact, both of the couples that led the weekend had used birth control in the past and said "NFP just works better." My husband and I were appalled. NFP was being crammed down our throats. We felt so out of place the whole weekend becuase we had decided to just put everything in God's hands (the way it should be). Never once was that mentioned as an option. It seems to me that NFP has become birth control without the pill. I know that sounds harsh, but I have seen so many people I know and love who don't fall under any of the categories of acceptible use that follow it religously. I'm not saying everyone should get pregnant on their wedding night like I did, but if there are no financial, psychological, or physical reasons that it should be avoided, why use NFP?

Another thing that bugs me are the people who use it to space their children, and they space them like 5-6 years apart.

[cmotherofpirl]

Infertility during breastfeeding usually lasts until you introduce any food to baby or reduce your feedings.
NFP like anything else, can be abused.
Intention is everything.
Even bad NFP is better than contraception.

[mamalove]

I'm sure for most breast-feeding mothers infertility ends with a change in feeding patterns, but not for me. No change, and I still got pregnant while nurising my first child and my second. Talk about being fertile!!

I my view, contraception has made innocent babies the "enemy." People talk about the need to be "protected" from getting pregnant. It seems to me that, lately, NFP is being marketed as a form of contraception under this same mentality. Pretty much all of the Catholic people that I have talked to about NFP aren't even aware that the Church has restrictions on the use of NFP. Don't get me wrong, I think NFP is a beautiful thing. But the church needs to keep the faithful reminded of the restrictions. Right now I hear people saying "Well the Church still won't let women use contraception, but you can use NFP. It works just as good."
We need to change the mentality. You are right, intention is everything.

[yiannii]

I think the bottom line is that you are to be open to the gift of a child. There is still abstinence in marriage.

[yiannii]

We should leave it up to God. I think a lot of us still have doubt in God's Will. He will never give us too much to handle. If we are in a situation where we think we can't afford another child, surley it should be left up to God, seeing he knows everything.

[Laudate_Dominum]

If a couple has well formed consciences, and make an act of discernment with the grace of their Sacrament, they are not abusing NFP, and its hard for an outsider to judge this and its not their place really.

Ideally a couple's decision to abstain periodically is fundamentally an act of love. Love of God, each other and their family, as good stewards of the gifts and resposibilities God has given them. It is fidelity to their calling, not based on selfish motives or principles contrary to the moral law. And periodic abstinence is hardly contrary to tradition.

Artificial contraception provides a license to have sterile sex at will with no responsibility or consequences. The practice of NFP requires a mutual commitment, respect and fidelity and can be a profound expression of each others mutual love. Of course abuses are possible, as with anything.

If NFP is approached with a contraceptive mentality the Church's teaching may not be comprehensible, and there would be an abuse. NFP should not be an end in itself, its use should correspond to the ends of marriage and the meaning of marriage, one of these being life giving love. And spouses are called to a radical generosity. Conjugal love which is the source and heart of the family is self-donative by nature and is greatly harmed by a mentality which is at enmity with the fruitful dimension of sexual love. This fecundity is perhaps the greatest expression and concretization of the meaning of human sexuality. NFP, properly discerned, does not in any way distrupt this sublime vestige, or rather image, of the Most Holy Trinity.

I suppose the point I'm trying to make is that NFP should not be approached in isolation from the totality of the Church's teachings on human sexuality. It is only with this foundation that NFP can be understood in a way that is not only in conformity with the moral law and the nuptial meaning of the body, but in a way that is complimentary to, and expressive of, authentic spousal union.

[Theoketos]

[quote name='amarkich' date='Apr 2 2004, 04:22 PM'] As for the time during breast feeding, would performing the marital act be permissible if the woman is unable to become pregnant? [/quote]
Basically the following quotes states that making love during infecud time is good as it is unitive (becuase it is open to procreation still). And the goal of raising childern is not quantaty but quality.

Of coarse quantaty is part of quality.


From Humanae Vitae

[quote]With regard to the biological processes, responsible parenthood means an awareness of, and respect for, their proper functions. In the procreative faculty the human mind discerns biological laws that apply to the human person. (9)

With regard to man's innate drives and emotions, responsible parenthood means that man's reason and will must exert control over them.

With regard to physical, economic, psychological and social conditions, responsible parenthood is exercised by those who prudently and generously decide to have more children, and by those who, [b]for serious reasons and with due respect to moral precepts, decide not to have additional children for either a certain or an indefinite period of time. [/b][/quote]

If you follow the truth then you follow the Church and then you follow the above quotes.

[VeiledAMerici]

Theoketos, I read the bottom of your signature. That is a beautiful way to propose. I've also heard someone speak that proposed in a chapel after saying the Rosary. These are magnificent ways to begin your pife together as a married couple. I think that every Catholic male should take note.

[God Conquers]

Isn't NFP basically well-researched periods of abstinence anyways?

I really am finding it harder and harder to see many situations where NFP would be acceptable, other than the health of your wife.

[marielapin]

Some Church Teachings about Natural Family Planning


Humanae Vitae (Pope Paul VI)

10. Hence conjugal love requires in husband and wife an awareness of their mission of "responsible parenthood," which today is rightly much insisted upon, and which also must be exactly understood. Consequently it is to be considered under different aspects which are legitimate and connected with one another.

In relation to the biological processes, responsible parenthood means the knowledge and respect of their functions, human intellect discovers in the power of giving life biological laws which are part of the human person.(9)

In relation to the tendencies of instinct or passion, responsible parenthood means that necessary dominion which reason and will must exercise over them.

[b]In relation to physical, economic, psychological and social conditions, responsible parenthood is exercised, either by the deliberate and generous decision to raise a numerous family, or by the decision, made for grave motives and with due respect for the moral law, to avoid for the time being, or even for an indeterminate period, a new birth[/b].

Responsible parenthood also and above all implies a more profound relationship to the objective moral order established by God, of which a right conscience is the faithful interpreter. The responsible exercise of parenthood implies, therefore, that husband and wife recognize fully their own duties towards God, towards themselves, towards the family and towards society, in a correct hierarchy of values.

In the task of transmitting life, therefore, they are not free to proceed completely at will, as if they could determine in a wholly autonomous way the honest path to follow; but they must conform their activity to the creative intention of God, expressed in the very nature of marriage and of its acts, and manifested by the constant teaching of the Church.(10)

[b]16. If, then, there are serious motives to space out births, which derive from the physical or psychological conditions of husband and wife, or from external conditions, the Church teaches that it is then licit to take into account the natural rhythms immanent in the generative functions, for the use of marriage in the infecund periods only, and in this way to regulate birth without offending the moral principles which have been recalled earlier."(20)[/b]

Gaudium et Spes (Second Vatican Council)

50.2 Parents should regard as their proper mission the task of transmitting human life and educating those to whom it has been transmitted. They should realize that they are thereby cooperators with the love of God the Creator, and are, so to speak, the interpreters of that love. Thus they will fulfill their task with human and Christian responsibility, and, with docile reverence toward God, will make decisions by common counsel and effort. [b]Let them thoughtfully take into account both their own welfare and that of their children, those already born and those which the future may bring. For this accounting they need to reckon with both the material and the spiritual conditions of the times as well as of their state in life. Finally, they should consult the interests of the family group, of temporal society, and of the Church herself. [/b]The parents themselves and no one else should ultimately make this judgment in the sight of God. But in their manner of acting, spouses should be aware that they cannot proceed arbitrarily, but must always be governed according to a conscience dutifully conformed to the divine law itself, and should be submissive toward the Church's teaching office, which authentically interprets that law in the light of the Gospel. That divine law reveals and protects the integral meaning of conjugal love, and impels it toward a truly human fulfillment. Thus, trusting in divine Providence and refining the spirit of sacrifice,(12) married Christians glorify the Creator and strive toward fulfillment in Christ when with a generous human and Christian sense of responsibility they acquit themselves of the duty to procreate. Among the couples who fulfill their God-given task in this way, those merit special mention who with a gallant heart and with wise and common deliberation, undertake to bring up suitably even a relatively large family.(13)

Marriage to be sure is not instituted solely for procreation; rather, its very nature as an unbreakable compact between persons, and the welfare of the children, both demand that the mutual love of the spouses be embodied in a rightly ordered manner, that it grow and ripen. Therefore, marriage persists as a whole manner and communion of life, and maintains its value and indissolubility, even when despite the often intense desire of the couple, offspring are lacking.



John Paul II, 14 Dec. 1990:

Through this sense of responsibility for love and life, God the Creator invites the spouses not to be passive operators, but rather "cooperators or almost interpreters" of His plan (Gaudium et Spes, no.50). In fact, they are called out of respect for the objective moral order established by God, to an obligatory discernment of the indications of God’s will concerning their family. [b]Thus in relationship to physical, economic, psychological and social conditions, responsible parenthood will be able to be expressed "either by the deliberate and generous decision to raise a large family, or by the decision, made for serious moral reasons and with due respect for the moral law, to avoid for the time being, or even for and indeterminate period, another birth" (Humanae Vitae, n. 10).[/b]


John Paul II, 17 July 1994:

[b]Unfortunately, Catholic thought is often misunderstood on this point [about "responsible parenthood], as if the Church supported an ideology of fertility at all costs, urging married couples to procreate indiscriminately and without thought for the future. But one need only study the pronouncements of the Magisterium to know that this is not so (italics in original).[/b]
Truly, in begetting life the spouses fulfill one the highest dimensions of their calling: they are God’s co-workers. Precisely for this reason they must have an extremely responsible attitude. In deciding whether or not to have a child, they must not be motivated by selfishness or carelessness, but by a prudent, conscious generosity that weighs the possibilities and circumstances, and especially gives priority to the welfare of the unborn child.

[b]Therefore when there is a reason not to procreate, this choice is permissible and may even be necessary. However, there remains the duty of carrying it out with criteria and methods that respect the total truth of the marital act in its unitive and procreative dimension, as wisely regulated by nature itself in its biological rhythms. One can comply with them and use them to advantage, but they cannot be "violated" by artificial interference.[/b]



Gospel of Life; (John Paul II)

97. The work of educating in the service of life involves the training of married couples in responsible procreation. In its true meaning, responsible procreation requires couples to be obedient to the Lord’s call and to act as faithful interpreters of his plan. This happens when the family is generously open to new lives, and when couples maintain an attitude of openness and service to life, even if, for serious reasons and in respect for the moral law, they choose to avoid a new birth for the time being or indefinitely. The moral law obliges them in every case to control the impulse of instinct and passion, and to respect the biological laws inscribed in their person. It is precisely this respect which makes legitimate, at the service of responsible procreation, the use of natural methods of regulating fertility. From the scientific point of view, these methods are becoming more and more accurate and make it possible in practice to make choices in harmony with moral values. An honest appraisal of their effectiveness should dispel certain prejudices which are still widely held, and should convince married couples, as well as health-care and social workers, of the importance of proper training in this area. The Church is grateful to those who, with personal sacrifice and often unacknowledged dedication, devote themselves to the study and spread of these methods, as well to the promotion of education in the moral values which they presuppose.


Catechism of the Catholic Church

[b]2368 A particular aspect of this responsibility concerns the regulation of births . For just reasons, spouses may wish to space the births of their children. It is their duty to make certain that their desire is not motivated by selfishness but is in conformity with the generosity appropriate to responsible parenthood. Moreover, they should conform their behaviour to the objective criteria of morality:[/b]

When it is a question of harmonizing married love with the responsible transmission of life, the morality of the behaviour does not depend on sincere intention and evaluation of motives alone; but it must be determined by objective criteria, criteria drawn from the nature of the person and his acts, criteria that respect the total meaning of mutual self-giving and human procreation in the context of true love; this is possible only if the virtue of married chastity is practised with sincerity of heart.<155>

Footnote:

155. GS 51 § 3.

2369 "By safeguarding both these essential aspects, the unitive and the procreative, the conjugal act preserves in its fullness the sense of true mutual love and its orientation toward man's exalted vocation to parenthood."<156>

Footnote:

156. Cf. HV 12.

2370 Periodic continence, that is, the methods of birth regulation based on self-observation and the use of infertile periods, are in conformity with the objective criteria of morality.<157> These methods respect the bodies of the spouses, encourage tenderness between them and favour the education of an authentic freedom.

[Dave]

[quote name='God Conquers' date='Apr 23 2004, 01:21 PM'] Isn't NFP basically well-researched periods of abstinence anyways?

[/quote]
No, as it can also be used to get pregnant.

[quote]I really am finding it harder and harder to see many situations where NFP would be acceptable, other than the health of your wife.[/quote]

Well, there are some circumstances that would cause it never to be acceptable to use NFP, but as I said earlier in this thread, there are others that would have to be determined on a case-by-case basis.