Natural Family Planning

[Theoketos]

[quote name='amarkich' date='Apr 2 2004, 04:22 PM'] As for the time during breast feeding, would performing the marital act be permissible if the woman is unable to become pregnant? [/quote]
Basically the following quotes states that making love during infecud time is good as it is unitive (becuase it is open to procreation still). And the goal of raising childern is not quantaty but quality.

Of coarse quantaty is part of quality.


From Humanae Vitae

[quote]With regard to the biological processes, responsible parenthood means an awareness of, and respect for, their proper functions. In the procreative faculty the human mind discerns biological laws that apply to the human person. (9)

With regard to man's innate drives and emotions, responsible parenthood means that man's reason and will must exert control over them.

With regard to physical, economic, psychological and social conditions, responsible parenthood is exercised by those who prudently and generously decide to have more children, and by those who, [b]for serious reasons and with due respect to moral precepts, decide not to have additional children for either a certain or an indefinite period of time. [/b][/quote]

If you follow the truth then you follow the Church and then you follow the above quotes.

[VeiledAMerici]

Theoketos, I read the bottom of your signature. That is a beautiful way to propose. I've also heard someone speak that proposed in a chapel after saying the Rosary. These are magnificent ways to begin your pife together as a married couple. I think that every Catholic male should take note.

[God Conquers]

Isn't NFP basically well-researched periods of abstinence anyways?

I really am finding it harder and harder to see many situations where NFP would be acceptable, other than the health of your wife.

[marielapin]

Some Church Teachings about Natural Family Planning


Humanae Vitae (Pope Paul VI)

10. Hence conjugal love requires in husband and wife an awareness of their mission of "responsible parenthood," which today is rightly much insisted upon, and which also must be exactly understood. Consequently it is to be considered under different aspects which are legitimate and connected with one another.

In relation to the biological processes, responsible parenthood means the knowledge and respect of their functions, human intellect discovers in the power of giving life biological laws which are part of the human person.(9)

In relation to the tendencies of instinct or passion, responsible parenthood means that necessary dominion which reason and will must exercise over them.

[b]In relation to physical, economic, psychological and social conditions, responsible parenthood is exercised, either by the deliberate and generous decision to raise a numerous family, or by the decision, made for grave motives and with due respect for the moral law, to avoid for the time being, or even for an indeterminate period, a new birth[/b].

Responsible parenthood also and above all implies a more profound relationship to the objective moral order established by God, of which a right conscience is the faithful interpreter. The responsible exercise of parenthood implies, therefore, that husband and wife recognize fully their own duties towards God, towards themselves, towards the family and towards society, in a correct hierarchy of values.

In the task of transmitting life, therefore, they are not free to proceed completely at will, as if they could determine in a wholly autonomous way the honest path to follow; but they must conform their activity to the creative intention of God, expressed in the very nature of marriage and of its acts, and manifested by the constant teaching of the Church.(10)

[b]16. If, then, there are serious motives to space out births, which derive from the physical or psychological conditions of husband and wife, or from external conditions, the Church teaches that it is then licit to take into account the natural rhythms immanent in the generative functions, for the use of marriage in the infecund periods only, and in this way to regulate birth without offending the moral principles which have been recalled earlier."(20)[/b]

Gaudium et Spes (Second Vatican Council)

50.2 Parents should regard as their proper mission the task of transmitting human life and educating those to whom it has been transmitted. They should realize that they are thereby cooperators with the love of God the Creator, and are, so to speak, the interpreters of that love. Thus they will fulfill their task with human and Christian responsibility, and, with docile reverence toward God, will make decisions by common counsel and effort. [b]Let them thoughtfully take into account both their own welfare and that of their children, those already born and those which the future may bring. For this accounting they need to reckon with both the material and the spiritual conditions of the times as well as of their state in life. Finally, they should consult the interests of the family group, of temporal society, and of the Church herself. [/b]The parents themselves and no one else should ultimately make this judgment in the sight of God. But in their manner of acting, spouses should be aware that they cannot proceed arbitrarily, but must always be governed according to a conscience dutifully conformed to the divine law itself, and should be submissive toward the Church's teaching office, which authentically interprets that law in the light of the Gospel. That divine law reveals and protects the integral meaning of conjugal love, and impels it toward a truly human fulfillment. Thus, trusting in divine Providence and refining the spirit of sacrifice,(12) married Christians glorify the Creator and strive toward fulfillment in Christ when with a generous human and Christian sense of responsibility they acquit themselves of the duty to procreate. Among the couples who fulfill their God-given task in this way, those merit special mention who with a gallant heart and with wise and common deliberation, undertake to bring up suitably even a relatively large family.(13)

Marriage to be sure is not instituted solely for procreation; rather, its very nature as an unbreakable compact between persons, and the welfare of the children, both demand that the mutual love of the spouses be embodied in a rightly ordered manner, that it grow and ripen. Therefore, marriage persists as a whole manner and communion of life, and maintains its value and indissolubility, even when despite the often intense desire of the couple, offspring are lacking.



John Paul II, 14 Dec. 1990:

Through this sense of responsibility for love and life, God the Creator invites the spouses not to be passive operators, but rather "cooperators or almost interpreters" of His plan (Gaudium et Spes, no.50). In fact, they are called out of respect for the objective moral order established by God, to an obligatory discernment of the indications of God’s will concerning their family. [b]Thus in relationship to physical, economic, psychological and social conditions, responsible parenthood will be able to be expressed "either by the deliberate and generous decision to raise a large family, or by the decision, made for serious moral reasons and with due respect for the moral law, to avoid for the time being, or even for and indeterminate period, another birth" (Humanae Vitae, n. 10).[/b]


John Paul II, 17 July 1994:

[b]Unfortunately, Catholic thought is often misunderstood on this point [about "responsible parenthood], as if the Church supported an ideology of fertility at all costs, urging married couples to procreate indiscriminately and without thought for the future. But one need only study the pronouncements of the Magisterium to know that this is not so (italics in original).[/b]
Truly, in begetting life the spouses fulfill one the highest dimensions of their calling: they are God’s co-workers. Precisely for this reason they must have an extremely responsible attitude. In deciding whether or not to have a child, they must not be motivated by selfishness or carelessness, but by a prudent, conscious generosity that weighs the possibilities and circumstances, and especially gives priority to the welfare of the unborn child.

[b]Therefore when there is a reason not to procreate, this choice is permissible and may even be necessary. However, there remains the duty of carrying it out with criteria and methods that respect the total truth of the marital act in its unitive and procreative dimension, as wisely regulated by nature itself in its biological rhythms. One can comply with them and use them to advantage, but they cannot be "violated" by artificial interference.[/b]



Gospel of Life; (John Paul II)

97. The work of educating in the service of life involves the training of married couples in responsible procreation. In its true meaning, responsible procreation requires couples to be obedient to the Lord’s call and to act as faithful interpreters of his plan. This happens when the family is generously open to new lives, and when couples maintain an attitude of openness and service to life, even if, for serious reasons and in respect for the moral law, they choose to avoid a new birth for the time being or indefinitely. The moral law obliges them in every case to control the impulse of instinct and passion, and to respect the biological laws inscribed in their person. It is precisely this respect which makes legitimate, at the service of responsible procreation, the use of natural methods of regulating fertility. From the scientific point of view, these methods are becoming more and more accurate and make it possible in practice to make choices in harmony with moral values. An honest appraisal of their effectiveness should dispel certain prejudices which are still widely held, and should convince married couples, as well as health-care and social workers, of the importance of proper training in this area. The Church is grateful to those who, with personal sacrifice and often unacknowledged dedication, devote themselves to the study and spread of these methods, as well to the promotion of education in the moral values which they presuppose.


Catechism of the Catholic Church

[b]2368 A particular aspect of this responsibility concerns the regulation of births . For just reasons, spouses may wish to space the births of their children. It is their duty to make certain that their desire is not motivated by selfishness but is in conformity with the generosity appropriate to responsible parenthood. Moreover, they should conform their behaviour to the objective criteria of morality:[/b]

When it is a question of harmonizing married love with the responsible transmission of life, the morality of the behaviour does not depend on sincere intention and evaluation of motives alone; but it must be determined by objective criteria, criteria drawn from the nature of the person and his acts, criteria that respect the total meaning of mutual self-giving and human procreation in the context of true love; this is possible only if the virtue of married chastity is practised with sincerity of heart.<155>

Footnote:

155. GS 51 § 3.

2369 "By safeguarding both these essential aspects, the unitive and the procreative, the conjugal act preserves in its fullness the sense of true mutual love and its orientation toward man's exalted vocation to parenthood."<156>

Footnote:

156. Cf. HV 12.

2370 Periodic continence, that is, the methods of birth regulation based on self-observation and the use of infertile periods, are in conformity with the objective criteria of morality.<157> These methods respect the bodies of the spouses, encourage tenderness between them and favour the education of an authentic freedom.

[Dave]

[quote name='God Conquers' date='Apr 23 2004, 01:21 PM'] Isn't NFP basically well-researched periods of abstinence anyways?

[/quote]
No, as it can also be used to get pregnant.

[quote]I really am finding it harder and harder to see many situations where NFP would be acceptable, other than the health of your wife.[/quote]

Well, there are some circumstances that would cause it never to be acceptable to use NFP, but as I said earlier in this thread, there are others that would have to be determined on a case-by-case basis.

[marielapin]

The Church has never said that spacing births is forbidden; see above.

I would like to add that NFP is not only for spacing births, it is also used as a way to more efficiently achieve them.

Other reasons besides health of the mother that may have an effect on child spacing may include:

-the loss of the primary source of income, or bankrupcy
-the upcoming absense of the spouse (military, relocation, etc)
-current stressful schedules of one or both spouses which would make the pregnancy difficult

I must point out though that each couple, if spacing children should prayerfully consider their reason and discuss it with a priest to make sure it is valid. I know that is what my husband and I did even before we were married.

[marielapin]

[quote name='amarkich' date='Apr 2 2004, 05:22 PM'] As for the time during breast feeding, would performing the marital act be permissible if the woman is unable to become pregnant? [/quote]
Yes, it is permissible.

Remember, there are some marriages where one or both spouses are unable to produce children, because of infertility problems. Also, after menopause women are not able to have children, and during a specific time of her cycle a woman cannot become pregnant

If you follow the logic of your question, then having sex after menopause, during the infertile period or if one or both spouses are sterile should also be banned. The Church clearly does not teach this (again, see official Church documents above).

[IcePrincessKRS]

Marielapin to the rescue! hehe I love when you come in with your sources on NFP, its very clear that you have done alot of research on the subject and talked to priests so you know what you're talking about.

[marielapin]

[quote name='IcePrincessKRS' date='Apr 23 2004, 02:03 PM'] Marielapin to the rescue! hehe I love when you come in with your sources on NFP, its very clear that you have done alot of research on the subject and talked to priests so you know what you're talking about. [/quote]
Does that mean I can be a Church Militant now?

[IcePrincessKRS]

You should be!

[marielapin]

[quote name='IcePrincessKRS' date='Apr 23 2004, 02:19 PM'] You should be! [/quote]
I've been feeling very militant lately! (maybe its the little feet pressing into my ribs and lungs - it has a big effect on me!)

[cmotherofpirl]

You are a militant to me!!

[IcePrincessKRS]

lol Yeah, that made me pretty militant, too.... and whiny..... what a combo... a whiny militant....

[God Conquers]

[quote]a whiny militant[/quote]

dUSt should create a new icon and status for this!

[IcePrincessKRS]

lol Maybe I should change my title....