What is NFP and why is it permitted?

[jmcrae]

I think that if a couple practices NFP with a contraceptive mentality (with the idea that kids are, at best, an inconvenience) then they’ll be in just as much trouble as a couple that actually uses contraception.

In fact, I’ve seen a few instances even on CAF itself where couples who were practicing NFP with a contraceptive mentality gave it up and started using actual contraception, because NFP was “too hard.”

However, if it is practiced with the idea that, every month, you make a decision - are we having a kid this month, or not? (Rather than a blanket whole-life plan of “no kids”.) Then, it is useful, because you can conceive a child when you want to conceive (rather than waiting six months to detox from the Pill, or going off of condoms and trying to guess when the fertile days might be without the help that NFP methods give you) - it puts the couple in control, and requires them to communicate about sex and about children. And they are also free to just ditch the whole thing and go with what I like to call the “winging-it method,” which is where you have sex any time you’re both in the mood, and let God take care of whether you are having a kid, or not.

 

[itsjustdave1988]

… a blanket whole-life plan of “no kids”

To be clear, according to Catholic moral theology, for “serious reasons” “a blanket whole-life plan of ‘no kids’” is morally premissible, so long as the three conditions for using NFP to avoid pregnancy are met.

 

[Dtmccameron]

Thank you all, again.

This question is a little off topic, so…Have any of you heard of Josephite marriages? It’s when the married couple don’t engage in sexual relations (It’s name refering to the marriage between Joseph and Mary). Would that couple (Erm, not the historical one, mind you) be failing in their duty?

Ooo! Another question, could the couple, feeling they are able to support a child, decide to adopt one? Well, of course they could, but the question is, Would that child count towards ‘duty done’?

 

[itsjustdave1988]

This question is a little off topic, so…Have any of you heard of Josephite marriages? It’s when the married couple don’t engage in sexual relations (It’s name refering to the marriage between Joseph and Mary). Would that couple (Erm, not the historical one, mind you) be failing in their duty?

While I’ve not seen the term “Josephite marriage” in any of my theology texts, this was among the examples I provided in the post above…

So, there have been many Catholic couples who, for serious reasons, live a life of permanent celibacy, for the sake of the Kingdom of God (a proportionate good). They have no sex, and therefore NO children in their entire marriage. This is morally licit according to Catholic doctrine.

According to the Catholic Encyclopedia (1909):

The agreement to abstain from the use of conjugal rights…does not nullify the marriage contract. The parties to the marriage fully consent to transfer to each other the conjugal rights, but, by agreement or vow, oblige themselves to abstain from the actual use of those rights…Such a condition, though possible, is not frequent nor even permissible except in cases of rare virtue. [under article, “Moral and Canonical Aspect of Marriage”]

Pius XI describes this as permissible within matrimony:

“virtuous continence (which Christian law permits in matrimony when both parties consent)” Casti Connubii (1930), no. 53]"

…could the couple, feeling they are able to support a child, decide to adopt one?..Would that child count towards ‘duty done’?

The primary purpose of matrimony is procreation and upbringing of children. Interestingly enough, the word “matrimony” derives from the Latin word “Mater” which means mother. For the morally licit use of periodic or even permanent continence within marriage to avoid pregnancy, all three conditions stated above would still have to be met, to include “serious” or “proportionate” reasons. Adoption doesn’t remove the obligation to meet those three condition for the licit use of deliberate periodic or permanent continence within marriage.