WASHINGTON, D.C. – “Natural Family Planning. Love, Mercy, Life. Opening the Heart of Marriage” is the theme of this year’s Natural Family Planning Awareness Week, a national educational campaign of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to celebrate God’s design for married love and the gift of life and to raise awareness of Natural Family Planning methods.
Growing in popularity as a healthy, safe and moral alternative to contraception, Natural Family Planning methods represent a unique form of fertility education.
The Church supports NFP methods because they respect God’s design for married love and the gift of life. In fact, NFP represents the only authentic approach to family planning available to husbands and wives because these methods can be used to both attempt or avoid pregnancy. These methods are based on observation of the naturally occurring signs and symptoms of the fertile and infertile phases of a woman’s menstrual cycle. No drugs, devices or surgical procedures are used to avoid pregnancy.
The practice of NFP can help a couple open the heart of their marriage to all the gifts that God wishes to provide. It reflects the dignity of the human person within the context of marriage and family life, promotes openness to life, and recognizes the value of the child.
By respecting the love-giving and life-giving natures of marriage, NFP can enrich the bond between husband and wife, providing them with the tools to help them live in harmony with God’s divine plan for human sexuality, marriage, conjugal love and responsible parenthood.
The slogan for this year’s NFP Awareness Week was inspired by the Holy Father’s call for a Jubilee Year of Mercy, a special time of grace in the Church in which everyone, including married couples and families, are invited to open their hearts more fully to the unconditional love, mercy and life Christ and the Church offer us.
The dates of Natural Family Planning Awareness Week (July 24-30) highlight the anniversary of the papal encyclical “Humanae Vitae” (July 25) which articulates Catholic beliefs about human sexuality, conjugal love and responsible parenthood. The dates also mark the feast of Sts. Joachim and Anne (July 26), the parents of the Blessed Virgin Mother.
At Catholic Charities’ website, www.ccdoc.org/nfp, you can find information in English and Spanish about NFP under the Services/Family Enrichment tab on the home page. Included are: a schedule of free, one-day NFP courses around the diocese; video testimonies from couples, a physician and a diocesan priest about the many benefits of NFP; a list of NFP supportive physicians in North Carolina; plus detailed information about the various NFP methods and other basics.
For details, contact Batrice Adcock, MSN, Natural Family Planning Program Director for Catholic Charities Diocese of Charlotte, at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
— USCCB