You're off the grid with Natural Family Planning

No pills, drugs or prescriptions. Big Pharma doesn’t make any money from the sales of Natural Family Planning (NFP). Profits? Zilch. The only gain is your integrity as a woman.

Natural Family Planning — it’s 100% natural, in a way that respects your body. Oh, and there’s no fine print with a long list of troublesome side effects.

A woman from Virginia who switched to NFP says,

I want to thank you for what you have brought into my life. I was on the Pill, and while I was happy with its effectiveness, something was missing. I now feel so much healthier — physically and spiritually.

There’s something here that will never please pharma stockholders. But that’s not what you and your body is all about.

The Sympto-Thermal Method of Natural Family Planning (NFP) involves detecting changes in your fertility on a daily basis. When used properly, it is 99% effective in avoiding pregnancy.

Why not sign up for a class in Natural Family Planning today? A series of three classes begin soon in the Chicago area on the below date.

Sympto-Thermal Method of Natural Family Planning

NFP classes at Resurrection Medical Center

3 classes start Sun., May 20, 1:30 pm
Resurrection Medical Center
7435 West Talcott Avenue, Chicago IL 60631

Taught by Certified Teaching Couple Dave and Mona Cattapan, 847-437-3136

The class is sponsored by the Chicago Chapter of the Couple to Couple League Intl. (CCL) , the nation’s largest provider of Natural Family Planning services.

Register for this class today

Or take a Virtual Class

A great sense of freedom

Respect yourself. Respect your spouse. Sure — these are tried and true sayings. Now that you’re getting married soon, you’ll see firsthand how important it is to accept each other for who they are in their masculinity or femininity.

Many women feel a new respect when they switch from artificial birth control methods to Natural Family Planning (NFP).

A woman from Chicago said,

I can’t tell you enough about the powerful ways that NFP has worked in our marriage. We have definitely experienced a great sense of freedom since leaving the pill behind.

The Sympto-Thermal Method of Natural Family Planning (NFP) involves detecting changes in your fertility on a daily basis. When used properly, it is 99% effective in avoiding pregnancy.

Why not sign up for a class in Natural Family Planning today? A series of three classes begin at the date below in the Chicago area.

Sympto-Thermal Method of Natural Family Planning

3 classes beginning Sat., May 19, 9:00 am
St. Stephen’s Church
17500 S 84th Avenue, Tinley Park IL 60487

Taught by Certified Teaching Couple Jeffrey and Laura Watzke, 708-633-7392

The class is sponsored by the Chicago Chapter of the Couple to Couple League Intl. (CCL), the nation’s largest provider of Natural Family Planning services.

Register for this class today

Or take a Virtual Class

Today's Natural Family Planning. Your doctor might not know much.

“Oh, you don’t want that!”

Did your ob-gyn pooh-pooh your question about wanting a safe, natural form of family planning? It may seem surprising, but many doctors today are unaware of the modern forms of natural family planning. Sure, they know about fertility, but not about detecting its signs in a methodical way.

The Sympto-Thermal Method of Natural Family Planning (NFP) involves detecting changes in your fertility on a daily basis. When used properly, it is 99% effective in avoiding pregnancy.

Why not sign up for a class in Natural Family Planning today? A series of three classes begin at the date below in the Chicago area.

Sympto-Thermal Method of Natural Family Planning

NFP classes at Resurrection Medical Center

3 classes start Sun., May 20, 1:30 pm
Resurrection Medical Center
7435 West Talcott Avenue, Chicago IL 60631

Taught by Certified Teaching Couple Dave and Mona Cattapan, 847-437-3136

The class is sponsored by the Chicago Chapter of the Couple to Couple League Intl. (CCL), the nation’s largest provider of Natural Family Planning services.

Register for this class today

Or take a Virtual Class

Often hostile toward conservative views, the Post offers, in its April 15 article, ”Young Catholic women try to modernize the message on birth control,“ the story of Ashley McGuire, a blogger who “fell in love with the Catholic Church” and became a Catholic after reading its teaching on birth control.

The Post article, which links to the 1968 encyclical Humanae Vitae, which explains Catholic teaching on birth control, states,

McGuire, 26, of is part of a movement of younger, religiously conservative Catholic women who are trying to rebrand an often-ignored church teaching: its ban on birth control methods such as the Pill. Arguing that church theology has been poorly explained and encouraged, they want to shift the image of a traditional Catholic woman from one at home with children to one with a great, communicative sex life, a chemical-free body and babies only when the parents think the time is right.

Clunky website

Some of these converts, the article says, say that the Church?s marketing today draws too close a connection between NFP and having children.

On her website, McGuire says,

It’s no shocker to me that so few Catholic women and couples have joined the NFP bandwagon. First, it’s poorly branded, if branded at all. Do a quick Google search and you get anything from a clunky website with a picture of the Vatican and the bolded words “ecological breastfeeding” to pictures of cheeky babies everywhere. Lesson number one in marketing: If you are trying to sell to women who are seeking to avoid a pregnancy, maybe baby pictures aren’t the best tactic.

And the recent HHS mandate that Catholic organizations carry insurance with abortion-causing birth control drugs and devices has brought a renaissance of the long standing discussion of birth control. “More priests have given sermons on this in the past few weeks than in the last 50 years,” said Janet Smith, a long-time supporter of Humanae Vitae and theologian who teaches at the Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit.

You will learn how to:

• Take the mystery out of “the change.”
• Learn to recognize the hormonal changes of the transition time.
• Know the effects of this transition of fertility.
• Learn how to apply NFP during the premenopause transition.

Read more about the class on the CCLI website.

Set up a date by first contacting Monica through email.

First, they can learn what the issue is really about, and not that of the government/media spin. Then they can take action. Here are some suggestions to counter the government mandate issued Jan. 20 that will force health insurance companies serving nearly all Christian church groups to provide contraception and abortion-causing drugs in their health plans.

Educate yourself

1. Birth control is not preventive medical care. See the excellent CCL Talking Points about the HHS mandate.

2. Oral contraceptives contribute to significant disease and dysfunction.

3. Contraception doesn’t prevent abortions. The Guttmacher Institute’s own data show that increases in contraceptive use lead to increased demand for abortions. See the Catholic Medical Association’s, “President Obama’s HHS Mandate Is Bad for Women’s Health and the Practice of Medicine.”

4. “Free contraception” is not free-it will mean higher insurance premiums for everyone.

5. In gutting the conscience protection rule of 2008, the government will be more emboldened to order doctors to participate in providing contraception, sterilization, and abortion even if it violates their ethical and professional judgment.

Take action

6. Women are encouraged to sign the online Open Letter to President Obama, Secretary Sebelius and members of Congress, prepared by Helen Alvare, who worked for ten years with the Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities at the National Council of Catholic Bishops.

7. Petition your Congressional representative to pass S.R. 1467, the Respect for Rights of Conscience Act.

8. Contact your pastor and let him know how this issue has shown the need for letting couples in your parish learn about NFP. Use the ideas in CCL’s Letter to Bishops, which was sent to each bishop in the U.S.

9. Write a short testimonial on our CCL of Chicago Facebook page. Or send a letter to the editor, using the CCL Talking Points.

10. Pray that our leaders will learn and follow the moral law in carrying out actions intended for the common good.

Many of these points are taken from the Catholic Medical Association. Read also CCL International’s press release, “CCL Supports U.S. Bishops on Religious Liberty and Offers Healthy Alternative to Mandate.”

Suzanne Padgett. Her doctor-husband never trusted the pill.

“Fiat: A Catholic Response to the Healthcare Debate,” tells the heartwarming story of Suzanne and Pat Padgett who jettisoned the pill from their marriage after coming to treasure the gift of their fertility.

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Click to watch YouTube video, “Fiat.”
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“I’m not scared to tell people that I’ve been there and done that,” Suzanne states at the beginning of her testimony. Susan talks about her relationship as a young college woman who began to have sex with her future husband, a medical student. They got married and although she started using the pill, her husband never trusted it. She stopped using it and the couple began to have children.

Love Being Pregnant

“I always loved being pregnant,” Suzanne said. “It’s such an incredible blessing, to cooperate with God in the creation of life - that’s incredible!”

The seven-minute video is well made, with scenes of the birth of one of their children, as well as from everyday family life. It has been viewed nearly 1,500 times in its first two weeks.

Fr. Joshua McCarty, producer at Lolek Productions, which produced the video, said that, “Due to the news and everything going on, we felt it imperative to release this video in order to show the other side of the debate.” Last month the Health and Human Services Department issued a directive to force all employers, including Catholic institutions, to provide free contraception and abortion-drug coverage.

Fr. McCarty has suggested that viewers “take an active role in the Church’s conversation with the federal government” about the mandate.

Lolek Productions was begun in May 2011 to create high quality media as a part of the New Evangelization called for by John Paul II. Lolek was the childhood nickname of Bl. Pope John Paul II, and literally means “son of freedom.”

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Click to watch YouTube video, “Fiat.”

Join us for a special day with other like minded women and mature teen girls. There will be time for Mass, Confessions, Lenten talks, Meditation, Rosary, and Stations of the Cross. A Priest of the Miles Christi Religious Order will be the speaker and Confessor in the Morning.

Fr. Charlie Becker will offer Mass, an afternoon talk, and Confessions.

Registration begins at 8:00 am. The retreat day will begin at 8:30 and end at 3:00 pm. You may bring your own lunch or eat in the hospital cafeteria. Babies are welcome.

Cost: $10 per family. Please pay at the door. Seating is limited.

Register at: virginia.mann@sbcglobal.net If you have questions, call Virginia Mann, 847-392-2964.

A bullet pass for NFP

(Jan. 27, 2012) While much journalistic ink has been spilled on quarterback standout Tim Tebow for publicly sharing his Christian faith recently, it’s good to hear that another football star is complimenting Natural Family Planning and other solid values.

San Diego Chargers’ quarterback Philip Rivers is passing not only the pigskin, but also his faith and family values. Although the Chargers finished with an 8-8 record this season, Rivers says he is learning through adversity.

“We didn’t make the playoffs, and I didn’t have my best season, personally. However, I’m thankful for the adversity we experienced because if we take it in the right way, it can help us next season,” he told the National Catholic Register recently.

Bond in the Faith

Rivers, who grew up in the Bible Belt, also talks about his Catholic faith. “Our bond in the faith is the foundation of our marriage. San Diego has a very solid Catholic community, which has been great for my wife and kids to make friends and be supported in the faith.

“This is very encouraging, especially when it comes to living out teachings of the Church that are not as popular as others. The most noticeable of these is being open to life, or what is commonly known as natural family planning (NFP). When you see others making the same commitment to the faith as you are, it can only strengthen you.

Children Do Grow Up

“Because of the commitment that’s required, a lot of people are particularly afraid of the baby stages of raising children,” Rivers says. “It’s easy to talk yourself into thinking you just can’t handle all the work that it takes. What I tell people, though, is that the children do grow up; they aren’t going to be in need of constant supervision and assistance forever.”

Rivers and his wife Tiffany have six children.

Read the Register article (limited time availability), “Catholic Quarterback Philip Rivers Passes On the Faith.”