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Mission
“Helping married couples to deepen conjugal love and achieve responsible parenthood is part of the Church's total pastoral ministry to Catholic spouses. Fulfillment of this ministry includes both education and pastoral care. This means "instilling conviction and offering practical help to those who wish to live out their parenthood in a truly responsible way" (Familiaris consortio, 35).
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What is natural family planning?
- Natural Family Planning (NFP) is an umbrella term for certain methods used to achieve and avoid conception.
- These methods are based on the observation of the naturally occurring signs and symptoms of the fertile and infertile phases of a woman's menstrual cycle.
- Married couples using NFP to postpone conception abstain from intercourse and genital contact during the fertile phase of the wife's cycle & couples who use NFP to attempt a pregnancy make use of the fertile window--the optimum time when conception is likely.
- No drugs, devices, or surgical procedures are used to avoid pregnancy.
- If NFP is followed consistently and correctly, it can be up to 99% effective in avoiding pregnancy (1 to 9 women in 100 who use natural family planning will get pregnant in 1 year). But if natural family planning methods are not quite followed correctly, more women will get pregnant. It takes commitment, communication, and practice to use NFP effectively.
- NFP reflects the dignity of the human person within the context of marriage and family life, promotes openness to life, and recognizes the value of the child.
- By respecting the love-giving and life-giving natures of marriage, NFP can enrich the bond between husband and wife
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Natural Family Planning Methods
- Secretion Observations methods (a.k.a. Billings Method & Creighton Method) - is based on understanding and interpreting changing cervical secretions and charting observations.
- Hormonal Method (a.k.a. Marquette Method): Uses an electronic fertility monitor, a device a woman uses at home to measures hormone levels in her urine to estimate the beginning and end of the fertile time in a women’s cycle.
- Symptothermal Method (a.k.a. Serena Method) - is a combination system based on observing changes in the cervical secretions, along with changes in the basal body temperature, and the position and feel of the opening of the cervix
- FEMM for Infertility and Womens Health: FEMM is another type of Restorative Reproductive Medicine, and stands for Fertility Education and Medical Management. It is a specific way to treat reproductive and endocrine disorders in women’s reproductive abnormalities and includes specific approaches to diagnosis and treatment of the underlying condition.
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Learn More and Book an Instructor
1. Serena
Website: www.serena.ca
Book an Instructor: serena.ca/locate-a-teaching-session/ontario/2. Creighton Model | FertilityCare System
Website: www.creightonmodel.com
Book an instructor: www.fertilitycare.ca / www.fertilitycarelondon.ca3. Marquette Method - Vitae Fertility Education Natural Family Planning
Website: www.marquette.edu/nursing/natural-family-planning-model.php
Book an Instructor: www.vitaefertility.com
Totally Yours family Medice - Dr. Stephanie:
https://www.totallyyoursfamilymedicine.com/
4. Billings Ovulation Method
Website: www.woomb.ca
Book an Instructor: www.toronto.naturalfamilyplanning.ca5. Archdiocese of Detroit
Website: https://www.aod.org/nfp
Book an Instructor: https://info.aod.org/articles/register-for-a-nfp-class
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Frequently Asked Questions and Resource Links
What does the Catholic Church say about the purpose of marriage and sex? http://www.foryourmarriage.org/marital-sexuality
Why does the Catholic Church prohibit birth control pills and other contraception methods? https://www.catholic.com/tract/birth-control
How does Natual Family Planning differ from contraception? https://www.catholic.com/magazine/online-edition/answering-a-classic-birth-control-argument
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For further support, or if you have questions
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Catherine Darlowcdarlowdol.caPastoral Worker &
Coordinator of Outreach and Ministries
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