To stir souls: on planning families naturally & morally: Part II.

Natural Family Planning (NFP)

NFP is a method of birth regulation which, as its name suggests, is natural; that is, it does not add to or detract from our created nature. It is often asked if one isn't splitting hairs to designate some methods "natural" and some "artificial." To state that birth control is wrong because it is "artificial" is rightly to be called simplistic and perhaps anti-modern or even anti-human. Rather, artificial methods are those which take something away from, or re-design, the created nature of man; the natural methods respect our sexual systems either by leaving them be or by understanding them better so as to function within them more effectively. NFP is not birth control and can accurately be called a "family planning" method since it is used to plan for conception, not only to delay it.

While "Rhythm" could be listed among the natural methods, its lack of scientific backing excludes it from this current discussion. It was developed around 1930 and has a significantly lower success rate since its calculations are based simply on averages. It should be noted that the Rhythm Method is only one of the natural methods. Almost no one employs it today.

Two of the most common natural methods today are the Sympto-Thermal Method and the Billings Ovulation Method. Each has been scientifically based on the fact that a woman's reproductive cycle goes through a number of detectable stages, with both fertile and infertile times. With knowledge of these times couples can plan their families (compare Eccles 3:1,5 and 1 Cor 7:5). "Surprise pregnancy" rates due to the method range from 0.3 to 5%.

Of course, Natural Family Planning has not been without criticisms. The most common is that NFP requires periods of sexual abstinence during each cycle if the couple is seeking to avoid pregnancy. The complaint is that such abstinence "kills spontaneity."

It would be difficult to argue that full sexual licence is truly desired in society, or even for any particular couple. In every marital relationship there are times of abstinence whether a natural method is employed or no. Sickness, fatigue, travel, children, guests, each of these can easily become a reason to avoid intercourse. Nor should spontaneity, or its impetus - the sexual drive - be considered as an absolute. If it were, no wife could ever refuse her husband and streets would be congested with men driving home to satisfy intermittent desires. Parents could never convince their children to save sex for marriage; after all the adolescent sex drive is markedly stronger than that of adults. Rather than all this, we believe self-control is natural and desirable (cf. Galatians 5:22,23). As John and Sheila Kippley put it in The Art of Natural Family Planning,

This is not to say that NFP use is always easy. Probably it is least so at the very beginning when a couple is getting used to the novelty of full sexual expression or is trying to be freed from the physical, mental, and spiritual bondages of the artificial methods. Still, no matter the obstacles, "man should respond to the challenges of life in ways that are not destructive of authentic human values." When we believe that God is the author of all creation we know that "a true contradiction cannot exist between the divine laws pertaining to the transmission of life and those pertaining to the fostering of authentic conjugal love" (Hv, #24). In his great goodness God provides us with many helps along the journey. We can and must make frequent use of prayer, Eucharist, and Confession (Hv, #25).

It should not seem that NFP is only a struggle. God's mercy has also allowed that conformity with His will can produce benefits. There are many such for the natural methods.

* They work! Their method rates meet or beat those of the most effective artificial methods.

* They are based on ongoing scientific research.

* They are inexpensive, requiring no prescriptions or special devices.

* They are easy to learn through qualified teachers.

* They are healthy and safe with none of the side-effects of the other methods.

* They can be used at any time of a woman's life.

* They allow women to understand their bodies and can help detect health problems earlier.

* They are excellent health records.

* They encourage couples to understand sexuality in a broader context, involving more than genital activity.

* They raise the sexual act above mere routine.

* They cause chastity and fidelity to grow, since authentic love is instilled, not simply marital lust.

* They cause couples to grow in their trust of each other. (Kippley, quoted above, showed a divorce rate of less than 1% among couples using NFP.)

* They promote communication within marriages.

* They are methods shared by the couple, with neither being "the one" who is responsible for whether another child is created or not.

* They allow couples to have true choice in planning their families at each stage of their marriage.

* They can be used both to achieve pregnancy and to avoid it.

* They promote both a physical and a mental openness to and support of all human life.

* Since they are counter-cultural, they encourage couples not to take for granted assumptions about life, common to others around them (cf. Romans 12:2).

* They allow God to become more fully present in the relationship.

* Many religious traditions (e.g., Catholicism, Islam, Orthodox Judaism) consider them to be the only morally acceptable means to family planning.

Morality

Relationship with God is a personal reality but not a private one. He loves each of us individually, but we are also members of a body and part of the family of faith. The body does not condemn its members but it can and should instruct and guide them, even declaring some actions objectively wrong and contrary to our faith. Catholics believe the Church's authority came from Jesus and we believe Jesus received his authority from the Father. No matter how difficult any teaching may be, if it is truth we should seek it (John 8:32) because we have no other options if we truly believe (John 6:60,67-69).

Though Christianity was split about the first millennium (the Orthodox schism) and again about five hundred years ago (the Protestant revolt), until 1930 it was the shared teaching of all of our separated brethren that contraception was wrong. It is difficult to believe that the Church was wrong in this belief from the early first century until 1930 (when the Anglicans adopted the contrary view). Referring to the teaching on birth control Pope Paul wrote:

Of such laws the Church was not the author, nor consequently can she be their arbiter; she is only their depository and their interpreter, without ever being able to declare to be licit that which is not so by reason of its intimate and unchangeable opposition to the true good of man. (Hv, #18).

Without doubt the Church teaches us to follow a sure conscience in moral matters. However, following one's conscience does not mean simply doing what one desires. There is a profound obligation upon the individual to form his conscience according to the realities of objective truth and reality, the use of reason, and with proper attention and understanding given to Church teaching.

Married people should realize that in their behaviour they may not simply follow their own fancy but must be ruled by conscience - and conscience ought to be conformed to the law of the Church, which is the authentic interpreter of divine law (Vat. II, Gaudium et spes, #50).

Blind obedience is not asked for, but responsible faith is. If one's conscience firmly states something that is in violation of a teaching of the Church there are two obligations: (1) Follow your conscience, and (2) Seriously investigate how your well-formed conscience arrived at a decision different from that of the Church founded by Christ. Remember, Humanae vitae did not come from out of nowhere; it simply reaffirmed what Christianity had long known and believed, if not fully lived. If we take seriously our faith we need to make sure all our actions are consistent with our beliefs.

Action

Accepting the wisdom of God's design for human sexuality as explained by his Church is not an easy task. Nonetheless, once we have realized its goodness we are duty-bound to share it with others (Ezekiel 33:7-9). This will be even harder to do than "simply" living a natural method as humanity has an aversion to hearing truth (Isaiah 30:10,11).

Each of us has the ability to support Humanae vitae and the natural methods it affirms. First and foremost we must pray for wisdom, strength, and charity to live as we are called to do. Couples must centre their marriages in the One who called them to the Sacrament. When this is done it is frequently found that

Among the fruits which ripen forth from a generous effort of fidelity to the divine law, one of the most precious is that married couples themselves not infrequently feel the desire to communicate their experience to others (Hv, #26)

Those with the ability can contribute to the formation and implementation of sound pre-marriage courses which accurately describe the methods and their benefits, as well as the authentic moral issues and teachings related to human sexuality. We should all be acquainted with NFP so as to be able to present it faithfully when opportunity arises. Support those who use or teach NFP, even as simply as saying a few words of encouragement.

We must not underestimate the value of support, either for ourselves nor for others. Joining associations of like-minded individuals or subscribing to sympathetic publications are other ways to support and assist the methods. These may be actually NFP-related, pro-life, or simply concerned with promoting the faith.

Deacons, priests, and bishops must be faithful to their call to minister and support the Church who is their Mother. As Humanae vitae puts it,

"The [priests'] first task ... is to expound the Church's teaching on marriage without ambiguity. [They must] be the first to give, in the exercise of [their] ministry, the example of loyal internal and external obedience to the teaching authority of the Church" (#28)

In meetings with engaged couples, when counselling the married, in confession, and through homilies, each of these presents a valid opportunity for a pastor to follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit in shepherding his flock more perfectly (cf. John 10:1-13).

Institutions which call themselves "Catholic" (e.g., schools, hospitals) must have the integrity to live what that name implies, no matter how much misguided public opinion and so-called experts may disagree. Those who work in such places must show a commitment to the values of the faith and a willingness to honestly try to live and express them.

It is important that those who agree with this message act to support our Mother the Church and our own families. There are a great number of ways to live and advocate God's plan for the family - as many as the number of families and their individual members. Using the strength, charity, wisdom, and creativity God has given, it is now necessary to act, as God stirs their souls.

Wayne Ottenbreit, a high school teacher at Bishop McNally High School in Calgary, teaches the Billings method of NFP, along with his wife. Part I of this article appeared in the July/August 1997 issue.