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madisondiocese.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=84YRbIWrOWc%3D&So priests and theologians use the phrase “NFP with contraceptive mentality” too? If so, there might be precedent for the phrase somewhere official.
If they don’t use the phrase, however, then I see no point in asking them what they mean by a phrase they do not use.
Page 5 explains what the Diocese of Madison means by using NFP with a contraceptive mentality. At least some US Bishops do use this phrase, so it isn’t just made up by lay Catholics to shame other Catholics. It isn’t from the anti-NFP crowd as stated, it is actually used in the NFP office in some diocese.
Also from the Diocese of Rockford:
At the end of this month, many Catholic churches throughout the country will be highlighting Natural Family Planning Awareness Week, including many in our diocese. Natural Family Planning Awareness Week has always coincided with the anniversary of the release of the prophetic encyclical Humanae Vitae.
In that encyclical, Pope Paul VI accurately predicted the pitfalls man would fall into with the proliferation of artificial contraception, such as higher rates of divorce and sexual exploitation of women. The late Holy Father also discussed in his encyclical the idea of responsible parenthood from a Catholic perspective, relying heavily on how observing the signs of our bodies by utilizing Natural Family Planning is an important part of responsible parenthood.
Since that prophetic encyclical, there has been a rift in the Church laity regarding artificial contraception and Natural Family Planning (NFP). In fact, many surveys show that 80 percent of the laity are accepting of artificial contraception. It is because of this that NFP Awareness Week takes on special importance. While the current fight over the HHS mandate is being rightly focused on the larger issue of religious liberty, the mandate does allow us a unique opportunity to better understand the Church’s teaching regarding artificial contraception and better understand the difference between it and NFP.
God’s plan for marriage and the marital embrace is ordered towards two goods, union of spouses and the procreation of children. These two goods are revealed by the act of the marital embrace itself. With artificial contraception, the couple using it ends up harming both of these goods.
First, the couple puts a physical or chemical barrier between them during the time of their most intimate union, not allowing that true union. Secondly, the couple using artificial contraception is actively intervening to prevent the procreation of children, closing themselves in a way from trusting in God. It is for these reasons that the Church has taught that artificial contraception is intrinsically evil, because it goes against the very nature of the marital embrace and by extension the very nature of marriage itself.
On the other hand, Natural Family Planning relies on communication between couples and does not put any physical or chemical barriers between them. NFP has no harmful side effects and generally orders a couple to being more open to the gift of new life. If a couple has a grave reason for postponing having a child, it requires sacrifice on their parts through the practice of periodic abstinence. This is very different than a couple who uses artificial contraception, which leads to the possibility that the spouses see themselves as sexual objects always available for their own selfish pleasures.
While a couple may have a grave reason to postpone pregnancy, and may use Natural Family Planning to do this, NFP provides a built in monthly mechanism for the couple to reevaluate this decision through the charting of the woman’s fertile signs. This is also very different than artificial contraception, which does not require communication between the spouses.
NFP uses knowledge of our bodies to determine when a woman may or may not be fertile. Church teaching maintains that the marital embrace is a gift of self to one’s spouse with four components: free, total, faithful and fruitful. When using NFP, if a couple has a grave reason to avoid a pregnancy, the couple simply abstains from the marital embrace on days when conception could occur. This ensures that each time a couple does engage in the conjugal act, their gift is free, total (not withholding anything), faithful and fruitful (open to the possibility of new life, however rare it might be).
A couple utilizing contraception does not exhibit the components — free, total, faithful and fruitful. Now, a couple can certainly use NFP with a contraceptive mentality. If a couple chooses to use NFP in order never to have children, without a just reason, then they are also going against God’s design for marriage. Therefore, not only are the means which we use important but also the mentality we carry with it.
Let us take more time this month to educate ourselves on the Church’s teaching regarding artificial contraception and the difference between it and NFP. Let us also help to spread the message. Participating in Natural Family Planning Awareness at the end of this month will help in these endeavors.