Religious/Personal

Research Led Couple to NFP Away from the Pill

The following article, by Nick and Monica Warren, is from the July-August 2010 issue of “Family Foundations,” the publication of the Couple to Couple League International (CCL). The Warrens teach Natural Family Planning (NFP) for CCL.
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The Warrens began using NFP out of obedience to Catholic teaching.

Monica: Right before we got married we attended the Engaged Encounter where we learned that the Catholic Church recommended NFP. Nick’s parents had used NFP (the mucus-only method) but I had never heard of it. So we went ahead and took a NFP class. It was the Creighton method. Even though we had a doctor meeting with us to teach us, we never fully understood it and were not confident using it. We were concerned about the limitations it placed on when we could have sex and we didn’t want anything to interfere with the spontaneity.

A Moral Test in the Darkest Times

The following is an article by Theresa Thomas, and is from the May-June 2010 issue of Family Foundations,”the publication of the Couple to Couple League International (CCL).

Theresa wondered how she would cope with it all.

I was diagnosed with cancer in April 2005, just two weeks after the birth of my ninth baby and days after my youngest brother’s death in a car accident.

I stopped breastfeeding immediately as I needed many tests, including an MRI and CT scan, the latter of which required the ingestion of radioactive material. What’s more, chemotherapy was next to come. A mother simply couldn’t nurse with those toxins pumping through her body.

Catholics Singles Aim to Grow in Faith, Fall in Love

By Meg McDonnell

The following article is excerpted from the May-June 2010 issue of “Family Foundations,” the publication of the Couple to Couple League International (CCL).

Dating should come from a foundation of prayer and a sense of commitment.

A record number of American Catholics are single - more than 22 million, according to a 2008 study by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.

It’s not surprising, then, that the subject of singles, dating, and vocation are cropping up more and more in books, magazines, and conversations among Catholic circles.

Advice varies, along with approaches to dating, but the goal is inevitably the same: helping singles embrace their call to love and serve God and others in the manner He desires for them.