Natural Family Planning
Have you heard about Fertility Awareness Based Methods of NFP?
Even with the advances of modern science and medicine, there is much about our human bodies that remain mysterious. We know that the miracle of life begins at the moment of conception when sperm and egg meet, but what causes the spark of life? As Catholics, we recognize that God is the source of all life.
While still cloaked in mystery, what happens in a male body to create sperm; what takes place within a female body to develop and nurture an egg; and what assists the efforts of egg and sperm to meet are certainly knowable, and that is the science of modern Fertility Awareness Based Methods (FABMs) of NFP.
Reflecting on the amazing ways God created male and female bodies to complement one another to create life helps couples to gain an appreciation of their fertility and understand how God designed them to cooperate with him in life-giving ways. Practicing NFP is a way of viewing life and your marital relationship through the lens of God’s life-giving nature. It empowers a couple to develop ways to share intimacy besides sex, and to communicate on a deeper, more personal level because both husband and wife are involved in monitoring their fertility together and making decisions about their sexual sharing. It also unites the couple in shared trust and discernment of God’s plan for their relationship and their family.
Through sexual intimacy, spouses share a profoundly deep and spiritual physical communion of mutual self-gift that strengthens their love. The CCC describes it this way: “[Conjugal love] aims at a deeply personal unity, a unity that, beyond union in one flesh, leads to forming one heart and soul” (CCC:1643). In the moment of physical and emotional communion, spouses most perfectly reflect the image of God because it is in loving union that they enter most fully into God’s divine life-giving love, where God invites them to share with him in the miracle of creating new life.
Couples who incorporate NFP into their lives report experiencing may benefits, including:
- Improved communication and deeper intimacy.
- Increased respect for one another
- Peace of mind, heart, and body.
- Renewed awe and wonder at the potential of fertility.
- A deeper appreciation for children as gifts of God’s love.
Natural Family Planning also:
- Provides comparable rates of effectiveness to artificial means for postponing pregnancy when learned with a trained instructor and followed properly.
- Has no harmful side effects. It is green, all natural, and safe to use.
- Empowers a woman to better understand her overall health.
- Offers a morally sound way to grow your family that is consistent with the teachings of the Catholic Church, and reverences God’s life-giving nature.
- Effectively assists couples to achieve pregnancy, even in cases of infertility.
- Is cost effective to learn and use.
- Works throughout a woman’s reproductive years including post-partum, when breastfeeding, and peri-menopause.
- Is tailored to each individual woman’s cycle, regular or irregular.
Methods
- Couple to Couple League
- Billings Ovulation Method
- Family of the Americas Ovulation Method
- Creighton Model Fertility Care System
- Marquette Method
VIEW THE ARCHDIOCESAN NFP SCHEDULE AND REGISTER FOR A COURSE
Celebrate NFP Awareness Week!
Pursue a lasting love…
MARRIAGE
Create hope for the future!
“Pursue a lasting love … Marriage. Create hope for the future! Natural Family Planning, Supporting God’s gifts of love and life in marriage” is the theme of this year’s national Natural Family Planning Awareness Week.
Natural Family Planning Awareness Week, July 20–26, 2025, highlights the anniversary of the papal encyclical Humanae Vitae (July 25) which articulates Catholic beliefs about human sexuality, marriage, conjugal love and responsible parenthood.
The Catholic Church invites all the faithful to embrace God’s plan for married love and the gift of life. Learn more about these beautiful teachings which support the use of NFP in marriage at usccb.org/topics/natural-family-planning/church-teaching.
Click this link for additional resources and to learn more about National NFP Awareness Week!
Couples who incorporate NFP into their lives describe being grateful for:
- Deeper intimacy and greater unity as a couple
- Improved skills in communicating and resolving conflict.
- Enhanced understanding of and respect for each other.
- More cohesion and peace in body and spirit
- Increased awe and wonder at sharing in God’s creative love.
- Cherishing their children as gifts of God’s love in their family.