The many benefits of NFP over contraception

An air of curious confusion met Anne and Matt McClure’s talk given to a women’s health class at DePaul University in Chicago on Monday May 23.  Anne and Matt are a Couple to Couple League (CCL) certified Teaching Couple. The roughly seventy students listened intently with tilted heads and furrowed brows.  “There was no overt hostility,” said Anne.  “The general tone was, ‘Huh.’”

The students seemed genuinely interested in the Sympto-Thermal method of Natural Family Planning (NFP).  Anne and Matt outlined the physical, emotional, and spiritual disadvantages of artificial contraception and conversely the physical, emotional, and spiritual benefits of NFP.   They then followed up, at the request of the teacher, with a brief overview of the Church’s moral teaching on birth control. The McClures had been invited by DePaul professor and registered nurse Jennifer Eisenstien.  According to Anne, the teacher was very complimentary at the end of their talk and wanted them to come back next semester.

Tough Questions

The questions from the students showed genuine interest.  One girl wanted to know if she could learn it now as a single woman.  Another wanted to know if the Couple to Couple League provided support to a lot of women who couldn’t conceive.  The most difficult question the McClures encountered asked if they were recommending  this for all couples, married and unmarried, Catholic and non-Catholic.   Anne explained that such a question opened other issues, and that as Catholics, the marital act is for marriage only, and therefore NFP is only for marriage.  NFP can be used by a single woman, however, to become better informed about her own reproductive cycles.

Such questions can be obstacles in communications with people whose world view is so different from those of us involved in CCL.  “This was good experience for us because it was our first experience talking to a large group of people who were unfamiliar with NFP,” noted Anne.

Looking to the Future

The McClures seemed to have opened a very positive channel to a more secular community than CCL might normally reach.  They are looking forward to giving another talk in future semesters, and are already thinking of ways to tweak their approach for next time. “We hope it serves the chapter’s long term goal of raising awareness,” comments Anne.  Though DePaul is a Catholic college it draws students of many backgrounds and beliefs.  Such a channel of communication could do a lot to spread the word among the larger population about NFP, and through NFP the Truth of the Church.

by Kathleen Ballard, CCL Teacher