There are so many resources out there to help you LEARN ABOUT NFP and to help you LEARN A METHOD.
These are two separate things!
Many years ago, I was at a party with the mother of a newlywed who had attended an engaged couples retreat at which my husband and I gave a promotional talk ABOUT NFP. The mom approached me and joyfully reported to me that her daughter was pregnant after only a few months of marriage. I congratulated her on the happy news. Then, she loudly added the joke: “Do you know what they call people who use NFP? PARENTS! HAHAHAHAHAH!”
The joke was just too easy. I even laughed. The Christmas punch probably helped the situation.
I also further inquired. . .Had they taken a course? What method? Were they trying to conceive or avoid a pregnancy?
The mother responded that her daughter told her that she had learned NFP from my husband and me.
Hence, the problem. They hadn’t.
They learned ABOUT NFP from us during a 1 hour presentation given among other talks about finances, communication, intimacy, parenthood, the Sacrament of Marriage, etc. They did not take a class as one of our students which typically is over 6 hours of in-person teaching in the course of 3 months to learn the method we teach. There is a BIG difference between learning about NFP and learning NFP.
We, since, have learned to begin each promotional talk with the disclaimer. . . “To be clear, we are not here to teach you NFP today!”
But, that shouldn’t discourage anyone from learning more about NFP! In fact, there are some excellent resources out there that both give you more information to make a good choice on a method to learn and give you a better idea of what NFP looks like in practice. I’d like to recommend just a few:
Contraception: Why Not?(a transcript of one the best NFP talks ever!)
Taking Charge of Your Fertility(secular fertility awareness book)
The Sinner’s Guide to Natural Family Planning(book on living an NFP lifestyle)
Fertility, Cycles & Nutrition(book on how nutrition affects fertility)
The Art of Natural Family Planning(textbook on a Sympto-thermal method of NFP)
The Art of Natural Family Planning: Transitions Student Guide(textbook on postpartum and premenopausal Sympto-thermal guidelines for NFP)
The Billings Method(guide on the Billings Ovulation method of NFP)
Natural Family Planning: A Catholic Approach(a booklet introducing NFP)
The Napro Technology Revolution(a book on fertility irregularities)
Creighton Model FertilityCare(a method of NFP that is a standardized modification of the Billings Ovulation Method)
Marquette’s Institute for Natural Family Planning(a guide for Marquette’s method of NFP—using Clear Blue Easy Monitors)
The Couple to Couple League(Sympto-thermal Method of NFP with links to in person and online classes)
Your Love Story(book compilation real life stories on living an NFP lifestyle)
I know that there is SO much more out there, y’all! That’s just a start. . .share with us your favorite NFP resources! Spread the good news!
