Dear Fellow Parishioners,

Hi, my name is Sarah Bartel. My husband, Nathan, and our four daughters are so blessed to be part of this community! You may recognize my name from the article about religious freedom that appeared in last week’s bulletin. This week I am writing to you at the beginning of Natural Family Planning Awareness Week (July 20-26).

The U.S. Bishop’s theme for this year’s Awareness Week is It’s Worth It: Join the Revolution! It really does take a revolution in thinking to reject the current common acceptance of artificial birth control. July 25 marks the anniversary of the 1968 church document Humanae vitae, which affirms the Catholic Church’s consistent teaching that artificial means of contraception are mortally sinful and to be rejected. Rather than a “no” to sex, this teaching represents a great “yes” to the goodness of sexual intimacy in God’s plan for man, woman, and marriage. It protects the integrity of this act—and of our hearts.

In Humanae vitae, Pope Paul VI affirmed that there is a profound link between the unitive and procreative aspects of sex in God’s plan. In simple terms, this means that bonding and babies go together. Every sexual act of total, intimate self-giving between husband and wife must respect the awesome power the act has to allow God to work through it to create a new human life. You cannot damage one aspect of sex without harming the other. If we sterilize marital intimacy—through the Pill, barrier methods, vasectomy, or tubal ligation, for example—at a deep level, we damage the unitive aspect of our relationship with our husband or wife, even if we do not intend to.

We are stewards of our fertility. Using modern methods of Natural Family Planning, husbands and wives identify the time each month that the wife is fertile (it varies, but on average, five days or so). If they have discerned together that they have a serious reason to avoid a pregnancy, they avoid intercourse during the wife’s fertile period. NFP is more effective than the Pill at avoiding pregnancy, and it is amazingly helpful for couples struggling to conceive, as well. There are many different methods of NFP that measure various fertility signs in the wife’s body, including the symptom-thermal method, Billings, Marquette (which uses a fertility monitor device), and the Creighton model. You can also use a method of nursing called ecological breastfeeding to space babies. (NOTE: These scientifically-based methods are not the outdated and ineffective “Rhythm method” of several decades ago.) You can use paper charts, online programs, even apps on your phone to keep track of fertility cycles.

Nathan and I have used NFP ever since we were first married. I am going to conclude this letter with a few of the (many!) reasons we love it.

1. It challenges us to trust God profoundly with the most intimate aspect of our marriage. It makes us let go of the false idea that we are totally masters of our bodies, in control of everything. NFP helps Nathan and I have the attitude of being reverent stewards of the gift of life.
2. NFP requires and nurtures good, frequent communication about really important things! Love, children, our future, our relationship . . .
3. The husband and wife are “in it together”—they are both responsible for fertility, and if they are avoiding pregnancy, they sacrifice together. The burden of artificial birth control most often rests on the wife alone.
4. No side effects! Unless you count: greater knowledge and reverence for the wife’s body and her authentic reproductive health. (NFP helps early detection of problems like PCOS, endometriosis, thyroid problems, and more. Trained physicians can use information from NFP charts to help heal these issues.) By contrast, the Pill, for example, is a Class 1 carcinogen, known to cause several types of cancer, dangerous blood clotting, depression, and low libido (ironically). All the artificial methods have harmful physical side effects in addition to harmful spiritual side effects.
5. Children are seen as a blessing flowing from our love (and God’s), rather than as a dangerous threat to avoid. NFP is 100% pro-life, whereas the IUD and hormonal contraceptives such as the Pill and Patch can sometimes work by causing abortion before the new baby implants in the womb.
6. The knowledge from NFP allowed us conceive two of our four precious children when we were having fertility difficulties.
7. The joy and bonding of marital intimacy expands incredibly when God’s creative love is part of the celebration!
8. NFP is pro-woman. It encourages respect and dignity in intimacy. Wives report feeling cherished, rather than used.
9. NFP couples report greater satisfaction (and even frequency) in their intimacy.
10. NFP is Catholic divorce insurance. Only between .02% and .5% of NFP couples divorce.

To learn more about NFP, the Archdiocese of Seattle’s web site lists local instructors. The USCCB’s website has more resources relating to NFP Awareness Week (www.usccb.org)

Many blessings to all of you!
Love, Sarah Bartel