Archdiocese of Washington Celebrates Natural Family Planning Awareness
WASHINGTON, D.C. – “Love, Naturally!” is the theme of this year’s Natural Family Planning Awareness Week, a national educational campaign of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) to celebrate God’s design for married love and the gift of life and to raise awareness of Natural Family Planning (NFP) methods.
The Archdiocese of Washington’s Office for Family Life joins with the U.S. bishops in highlighting the benefits of NFP to help married couples live God’s design for their marriages. “The beauty of God’s plan for conjugal love through Natural Family Planning helps couples to observe and interpret their signs of fertility and infertility, and to be open and honest in communicating and respecting each other while co-participating with God in the creation of a new life,” said Carla Ferrando-Bowling, director of the Office for Family Life for the archdiocese.
The dates of Natural Family Planning Awareness Week (July 21–27) highlight the anniversary of Humanae Vitae (July 25), Pope St. Paul VI’s encyclical (letter) on the Catholic Church’s teaching about married love and responsible parenthood, as well as the feast of Saints Joachim and Anne (July 26), the parents of the Blessed Mother.
To learn more about NFP and for a schedule of local NFP classes offered in the Archdiocese of Washington, please visit www.adw.org/living-the-faith/marriage-family/natural-family-planning/. For more information, contact the Archdiocese of Washington’s Office for Family Life at [email protected].
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