The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops celebrates Natural Family Planning Awareness Week July 21-27. This year, the theme is “Love Beyond Measure” and reflects on church teaching on marriage, responsible parenthood and living married love authentically.
NFP is an umbrella term for various fertility aware methods to chart a woman’s biological signs of fertility so a married couple may achieve or postpone a pregnancy.
Tracking signs of fertility, or charting, can assist a woman at any stage of life better understand her health. Some of the NFP methods include the Creighton Model FertilityCare System, the Marquette Model, the Billings Method and the Sympto-Thermal Method.
After having success with the Marquette NFP method, Katie Muñoz, a nurse and parishioner of St. Theresa Church in Ashburn, enrolled and was later certified an NFP instructor with Whole Mission, an online Catholic organization that hosts virtual classes on.
For Muñoz, one of the most rewarding aspects of teaching NFP is observing couples’ spiritual growth. “They feel more generous to God, more willing to allow his will in their lives, which is beautiful,” she said.
NFP is most clearly outlined in the 1968 encyclical, issued by Pope Paul IV, “Humanae Vitae,” which reasserts church teaching on marriage, conjugal love and the sacredness of all human life. NFP awareness week began as a response to “Humanae Vitae” to encourage couples to support God’s gifts of love and life in marriage.
Women interested in learning NFP methods can find both local in-person and online resources.
Catholic Women & Couples NFP is a lay-Catholic organization that teaches about fertility awareness and the Billings Method of natural family planning to adult Catholic women and couples at no cost. During the application process, CWCNFP will also connect patients with insurance to doctors from MyCatholicDoctor.
Couple to Couple League is an international, Catholic non-profit organization that promotes and teaches fertility awareness to married and engaged couples. CCL teaches the Sympto-Thermal Method, a method combining three key signs of fertility through in-person, online and self-paced learning modes for NFP classes, and coaching with experts across the country. The Northern Virginia chapter is at St. Leo Church in Fairfax.
Tepeyac OB/GYN is a faith-based pro-life obstetrics and gynecology practice serving the Washington area for more than 25 years. Tepeyac’s physicians, certified nurse midwives and NFP instructors provide training in several methods including the Marquette Model, Creighton Model FertilityCare System, and the Sympto-Thermal Method.
Emily Frase, a parishioner of All Saints Catholic Church in Manassas, is the co-founder and president of the nonprofit organization Fertility Awareness Database, or FAbM Base, a fertility awareness database. She also provides coaching services to help women navigate all stages of fertility and topics surrounding marriage and family planning.
Leah Hatton is a registered nurse and certified pediatric nurse who specializes in fertility awareness in Alexandria. She is a fertility awareness instructor and teaches the Marquette Method. Hatton’s services include introductory courses, postpartum courses and consultations.
Therese Rodriguez is a Creighton-trained RN/FCP who supports couples in the Washington area in both English and Spanish.
Fertility Care Centers of America is a nonprofit corporation with an international database of approved centers that was founded by the developer of the Creighton Model FertilityCare System. FCCA promotes the Creighton Model and has approved practitioners at every center.
Find out more
For more about NFP and fertility awareness methods, go to bit.ly/3Y2XRIm.
A comprehensive list of NFP resources across the country may be found at bit.ly/3xDunX6.
