March 2024 - Natural Family Planning | Fertility Awareness

Laying the Groundwork for Lasting Marriage

CCL interviewed newlywed couples to discover common practices. When lived during engagement and early marriage, they will lay the groundwork for lasting, fruitful, and joyful marriages. Taylor and James had the quintessential high school romance and have been “inseparable” since meeting as competitors in water polo. They credit learning strong communication skills, having regular prayer…

St. Joseph, Husband of Mary

March 19th, Feast Day of St Joseph On March 19th, the Church celebrates St. Joseph, spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary. He is one of CCL’s patron saints because he is a role model for husbands, fathers and anyone trying to live a chaste life. There is a beautiful painting that hangs in the National…

Abstaining from Frustration

NFP couples talk a lot about the blessings abstinence brings. Some talk about SPICE (using the times of abstaining to pursue Spiritual, (non-sexual) Physical, Intellectual, Creative, and Emotional intimacy) and there is something to this. Couples who know how to manage Phase II abstinence well are masters of SPICE. They enjoy many benefits to the…

Habits for a Strong Marriage

CCL interviewed newlywed couples to discover common practices that, when lived during engagement and early marriage, will lay the groundwork for lasting, fruitful, and joyful marriages. Building on friendship and shared faith, trusting in the Church’s teaching authority, increasing the habit of prayer, and relying on the wisdom of a sponsor couple, Samantha and Daniel…

Laying the Groundwork for Marriage

By Martha Haenni CCL interviewed newlywed couples to discover common practices that, when lived during engagement and early marriage, will lay the groundwork for lasting, fruitful, and joyful marriages. Foundational Elements For Elsie & Juan Carlos Hernandez, their shared Catholic faith, having an actively engaged parish priest preparing them for the sacrament of marriage, and…

Start Giving Early in Your Marriage

Sacrifice and Self Denial It’s tempting to not put our envelope in the basket at Mass during those seasons. God will understand. Maybe next week we’ll have extra. However, we committed to always putting God first, even when it’s hard or it hurts. Saint John Paul II said, “Love between man and woman cannot be…

Thoughts on IVF, Infertility & Miscarriage

CCL hosted a webinar where Clergy had the opportunity to ask a panel of Catholic doctors questions about NFP and fertility. The doctors answered in light of the latest medical and scientific information. Dr. Lauren Rubal shares answers to questions about IVF, infertility and miscarriage from that webinar. Q: Catholics who have lingering difficulty with…

Evidence That NFP Is Good For Marriage?

By Mike Manhart, MD I’d wager that every couple believes and hopes their wedding day is the first day of a lifelong relationship. Today however, one out of every two adults encounter divorce in their family or of a close relative. I suspect many see a lifelong marriage as more an unrealistic ideal rather than…

Creating Catholic Traditions

By Susan Hoefer for Family Foundations magazine. In the musical, Fiddler on the Roof, Tevye, the father of 5 daughters who are looking to get married, speaks of the importance of tradition. “Traditions, traditions. Without our traditions, our lives would be as shaky as—as—as a fiddler—on the roof!” Given our society’s current infatuation with progress,…