Natural Family Planning
by Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio
The Annunciation recalls Mary’s response to God’s plan for her to conceive the Son of God by the power of the Holy Spirit. Moved by grace and trusting God, Mary’s response was unequivocal: “Let it be done to me according to your word.” By giving her consent to the Incarnation, Mary put her natural apprehension aside in order to cooperate with God’s will.
It is good to reflect on Mary’s “yes” to God’s plan as we reflect on Natural Family Planning. Before discussing the merits of NFP, it is important to first consider the Church’s view of contraception. I think it is safe to say that nothing is more misunderstood than the Church’s teaching on the issue of contraception. Most everyone has an opinion on the matter, but very few have had the opportunity to seriously consider the Church’s reasons for rejecting contraception as incompatible with the moral life.
Who would invest hard-earned money in the stock market without first studying seriously fund performance and history? Who would consent to a serious medical procedure without first researching the procedure and consulting with specialists and those who have had the procedure before them? In a similar way, we are all seriously obligated to study carefully and reflect prayerfully on the Church’s teaching on issues that have moral dimensions, including that of contraception. For example, in striving for a well-formed conscience, have we availed ourselves of the wisdom of Pope Paul VI’s landmark encyclical on the matter, Humanae Vitae (“Of Human Life”), and other teaching documents of the Church?
While this space does not permit a full examination of the issue, the moral impermissibility of contraception is affirmed not simply because the Church has decided so, but because it is contrary to Divine Law. The Church could not dispense with this prohibition any more than it could change God’s law forbidding murder, because it is contrary to His Will.
Why is contraception contrary to God’s plan for us? Scripture reveals that we have been created in God’s own image for the purpose of communion with God Himself and each other, which is made possible through the grace of the sacraments. In the sacrament of marriage, a man and a woman are joined in a special covenant of love that mirrors God’s love for us and Christ’s love for the Church.
In this marriage covenant, a man and woman commit themselves to participate in the blessings for which marriage was intended. The marriage act in particular has both unitive and procreative aspects: total self-giving draws couples closer together while married men and women cooperate with God’s creative impulse by being open to the procreation of offspring.
Contraception, whether “natural” or “artificial,” deprives the marriage act of its life-giving purpose by impeding conception. With contraception, one is not simply declining to promote the good of procreation, but taking direct, deliberate steps against it. Contraception, then, is saying “no” to God’s plan for married life.
The Church, however, realizes that there may be compelling reasons for families to regulate the size of their families. Natural Family Planning (NFP) achieves this purpose by promoting responsible parenthood in a morally acceptable way. In practicing NFP, a couple may refrain from the marriage act during fertile times if there are serious reasons for avoiding a pregnancy (because it helps identify the optimum time for conception, NFP can also be used to achieve pregnancy). Natural Family Planning, then, is not contraception. Note the important difference here. With contraception, one engages in what one knows to be a potentially procreative act while also acting to ensure that its procreative potential is not realized. With NFP, the couple refrains from acting in order to space pregnancies. Today, NFP, which should not be confused with the old rhythm method, is safer and more reliable than any other means of family planning. Couples who have used NFP also discover that it fosters an appreciation for the gift of fertility and strengthens the marriage bond.
As you may know, Bishop McHugh was a major proponent of NFP and special advisor to the U.S. bishops as they developed the program for dioceses all across the country. Our own diocese’s Family Life Office has an NFP department headed by Cecilia LeChevallier.* This department is dedicated to bringing the riches and benefits of NFP to couples throughout the diocese. We pray that married couples will grow in greater love for each other and embrace, as our Blessed Mother did, God’s plan for their lives.
- Note: Cecilia LeChevallier and her husband, Mark, are a CCL Teaching Couple.
— From The Catholic Star Herald, the newspaper of the Diocese of Camden, NJ, March 23, 2001.
