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 (NOTE: These scientifically-based methods are not the outdated and ineffective “Rhythm method” of several decades ago.)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.
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