Natural Family Planning Offers a Pure and Fresh Alternative

DETROIT: Modern methods of Natural Family Planning (NFP) are
pure, organic, healthy and risk-free, and are deserving of more attention. To
that end, the Couple to Couple League (CCL) joins the U.S. Conference of
Catholic Bishops in celebrating NFP Awareness Week July 20-26, 2014.

The dates of NFP Awareness Week are significant in that they
include the anniversary of Pope Paul VI’s encyclical Humanae Vitae (July
25), which reaffirmed Catholic beliefs about human sexuality, marriage,
conjugal love and responsible parenthood. That week also marks the feasts of
Saints Joachim and Anne (July 26), the parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Because NFP does not rely on artificial hormones, chemicals
or barriers, it has no side effects. Women who practice NFP report less
irritability, depression, weight gain, and headaches, plus they completely
avoid the increased risks of blood clots, strokes and certain cancers that are
associated with hormonal birth control methods.

NFP methods teach couples how to observe and interpret the
woman’s natural signs of fertility and infertility, uncontaminated by drugs and
devices. It leaves the woman whole and complete, which is why women leaving
artificial methods for NFP often experience an increased sex drive, and feel
empowered through having a better understanding of their own body and dignity.

A natural approach to family protects and enhances the
purity of the marital relationship. In the words of the Catechism of the
Catholic Church, NFP methods “respect the bodies of the spouses, encourage
tenderness between them and favor the education of an authentic freedom” (CCC,
no. 2370).

Couples today are increasingly looking for natural and
organic alternatives wherever possible. Their choice of family planning method
should be no different. CCL urges couples to “keep it pure…your body…your
water…your marriage.”

With over 600 certified
volunteer teaching couples, CCL is the largest provider of NFP services in the
United States and its programs are approved under the U.S. bishops’ Standards
for NFP. CCL provides a main NFP course, as well as postpartum and premenopause
classes, in a classroom setting, through live online classes, and through a
home study program, all in both English and Spanish. Mobile charting app,
ongoing follow up, and their award-winning magazine, Family Foundations,
are also available.

To learn more about the CCL
organization and the Sympto-Thermal Method of NFP, visit www.ccli.org.

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