Natural Family Planning Awareness Week Celebrates God’s Vision for Marriage
WASHINGTON, D.C. –“Live the truth and beauty of God’s plan for married love!” 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 vision for marriage and to promote the methods of Natural Family Planning.
The dates of Natural Family Planning Awareness Week for this year are July 19–25, 2020. These dates highlight the anniversary of the papal encyclical Humanae Vitae (July 25) which articulates Catholic beliefs about human sexuality, marriage, conjugal love, and responsible parenthood.
Natural Family Planning (NFP) is a general title for ethical, natural, safe and effective methods for both achieving and postponing pregnancy in marriage. NFP methods teach couples how to observe and interpret the wife’s signs of fertility and infertility. 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)
The Office for Family Life of the Archdiocese of Washington joins with the U.S. bishops in highlighting the benefits of NFP as ethical methods to help married couples live God’s design for their marriages. Social media awareness about NFP will be promoted throughout the week on all the Archdiocese platforms, to include available NFP on-line classes in English and Spanish.
“The transmission of human life is a most important role in which married couples collaborate freely and responsibly with God. It has always been a source of great joy to them, even though it sometimes entails many difficulties and hardship,” said Carla Ferrando-Bowling Director of the Office for Family Life. “Our pastoral care of newly married couples includes an introductory class to Natural Family Planning. Married couples are encouraged to “Live the truth and beauty of God’s plan for married love! by becoming co-creators with God of a new life.”
To learn more about NFP in the archdiocese, please visit: www.adw.org/living-the-faith/marriage-family/natural-family-planning/, or contact the Office for Family Life at [email protected].
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