Tag: "natural family planning"

Natural Family Planning as Self Defense
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Natural Family Planning as Self Defense

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My comment was met with a blank stare, a look of confusion. Fortunately, it only lasted a few awkward seconds. I was visiting my nurse practitioner for a nagging abdominal pain. Having concluded that I should have a CT scan (a detailed, in-depth x-ray) she had asked me if there was any chance I might […]

Theology of the Body Revolutionized My Marriage
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Theology of the Body Revolutionized My Marriage

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I can’t fully explain it, because it wasn’t what my parents tried to teach me. But this is what I learned as a child: sex is dirty. I knew, in my head, that this wasn’t true, and that sex, in its proper context, was a blessed, holy thing. But even for good Catholic girls who […]

The Meaning of Human Sexuality
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The Meaning of Human Sexuality

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As the concept of gender grows ever more fluid (you can pick any one of 58 gender options on Facebook), it’s worth asking why God created humans as male and female. Bacteria have no gender and reproduce mostly by dividing their cells. Some species of fish are sequentially hermaphroditic, changing genders throughout their lifetime. Angels, […]

Your Number One Job as a Wife: It's Not What You Think
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Your Number One Job as a Wife: It’s Not What You Think

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This past February, my husband and I started planning the family trip to Las Vegas that will commemorate our 20-year wedding anniversary in two years. We spent a week in Sin City for our honeymoon, and think it’s only fitting that we return two decades later with our kids, having “beaten the odds” when it […]

Contraception and the Reality of a Woman's Cycle
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Contraception and the Reality of a Woman’s Cycle

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Springtime in my fourth grade year, they lined us up, boys on one side, girls on the other. The boys got shuffled off into one classroom, while we girls got ushered into another. Giddy and curious, we whispered and fidgeted while the teacher set-up her materials. That was the day I first heard about periods. […]

Dear Anthony: Natural Family Planning
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Dear Anthony: Natural Family Planning

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Dear Anthony, I’m getting married soon and I wanted to find out exactly how NFP works, since that’s what the Church recommends.  I have saved myself for my husband and remained pure.  I want to enjoy sex without the worries of getting pregnant right away.  I want my husband to enjoy sex too, so NFP […]

Melinda Gates Wants to Help Women Around the World
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Melinda Gates Wants to Help Women Around the World

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So Why is the Wife of Microsoft Founder Raising Billions to Inject Them with Depo-Provera? Surely, Mrs. Gates would not have chosen this course if she knew the serious risks of Depo-Provera and if anyone—her Catholic parents, her Catholic high school teachers at the Ursuline Academy in Dallas or her parish priests (she attends Mass […]

African Women Turning to NFP; Turning Down Contraceptives
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African Women Turning to NFP; Turning Down Contraceptives

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Anne Morse also contributed to this article. It seemed like your typical family planning conference: it was sponsored by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the World Health Organization’s Department of Reproductive Health and Research. It had the typical title: “Is access enough? Understanding and addressing unmet need for Family Planning.” It even […]

<em>The Sinner’s Guide to Natural Family Planning</em>: I Hate NFP, But I Love This Book
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The Sinner’s Guide to Natural Family Planning: I Hate NFP, But I Love This Book

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Can I be honest here for a sec? This is a review about a book about NFP –Natural Family Planning- and in the interest of disclosure, I feel like I need to tell you something up front – I hate NFP. My husband hates NFP. Hate. It. Oh, but the bluebirds of sunshine say, think […]

Great Expectations
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Great Expectations

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The Huffington Post must have known the publication of “My Wife Is Expecting Twins and I Am Not Happy About It” would cause waves. Tsunami-level waves, where people were aghast to read paragraphs like this one: Two blessings, two bundles of joy. How could you not be happy, you ask? Of course I’m sympathetic to […]

Better Communication = Better Sex
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Better Communication = Better Sex

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Dustin, before we get started talking about the conjugal act of marital intercourse, why don’t you introduce yourself for a moment. Are you married? How many kids do you have? How do you bring home the bacon? What is Engaged Marriage? DR: Thanks for having me! I’m 33-year-old Midwestern who’s been married to my high […]

Marquette Method of NFP
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Marquette Method of NFP

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All methods of modern Natural Family Planning (NFP) rely on observation of changes in a woman’s body as it makes its way through the monthly menstrual cycle. These observations determine when sexual intercourse can/should take place – depending on whether one is trying to achieve or postpone pregnancy. Two of the primary signs are cervical […]

MyFertilityMD App Review
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MyFertilityMD App Review

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I’ve been looking for an app to chart my body’s fertility for quite a while. Remember my begging? No? Well, I assure you, I even used this space to try to find something, and never had any luck. My days of searching are over, though, and I’m excited to share a brand-new app with you: […]

Disinviting God
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Disinviting God

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We are now in the midst of  National NFP Awareness Week (Jul 22-28), during which the U. S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is asking American Catholics to “celebrate God’s design for married love and the gift of life” by learning more about natural family planning (NFP). Catholic teaching on contraception has roots in the natural […]

Why You Don’t Have to Use NFP
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Why You Don’t Have to Use NFP

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{disclaimer: I realize that NFP is not always used to avoid pregnancy, but can also be used for medical awareness and to help achieve pregnancy. For purposes of this article I am referring to NFP used as “periodic continence”, that is, to avoid pregnancy.} There is a faction of Catholics who, in their desire to […]

Is NFP Effective?
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Is NFP Effective?

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Although there is less skepticism with regard to NFP’s effectiveness these days, Natural Family Planning still gets a bad rap from many in secular society. I’ve heard more than a few people say, “NFP didn’t work for us.” When the rules are followed, NFP can be 99 percent effective in avoiding pregnancy and works well […]

Learning the Hard Way About the Empowering Benefits of NFP
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Learning the Hard Way About the Empowering Benefits of NFP

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Recently, as I was nursing my three-month-old son, I came across another writer taking yet another swipe at the Church and its position on the HHS health care mandate business. Just the week before, I also had seen an image, courtesy Planned Parenthood, which pictured five religious leaders, all men, as they testified before Congress […]

The New Face of Natural Family Planning
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The New Face of Natural Family Planning

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It was a month before she had to decide her specialty in medical school, and Brooke Jemelka found herself at a crossroads. She had been concentrating on pediatrics during her studies at Texas A&M University, but by the end of her third year, she was starting to question what she wanted to do with her […]

The Catholic Church is No Enemy of Science or the Infertile
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The Catholic Church is No Enemy of Science or the Infertile

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Because of her opposition to third party reproduction, the Catholic Church is often accused of being anti-science and insensitive to those who suffer the pain of infertility. Last year’s CNN Belief Blog op-ed from  Sean Savage calling on the Catholic Church to reverse her opposition to IVF is a good example of the anger that […]

Kenyan Pro-Lifers Kickoff Natural Family Planning Program
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Kenyan Pro-Lifers Kickoff Natural Family Planning Program

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Couples in Kenya are embracing Natural Family Planning (NFP) with the help of a new clinic opened by the pro-life group Human Life International (HLI) Kenya in collaboration with the Catholic Church. The St Mary Mother of Charity and Consolation Clinic for NFP opened last November in Nyeri, Kenya as part of the pro-life outreach […]

The Power of Stories in Teaching NFP
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The Power of Stories in Teaching NFP

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After being married for almost two and a half years, I’m not sure men really “get” the power of stories. Perhaps it’s that difference in our brains ­— you know, the women’s-brains-are-like-spaghetti, men’s-brains-are-like-waffles theory. Whatever the cause, all I know is that when my husband has something to report to me, he generally does so […]

I Can't Believe I Almost Missed This
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I Can’t Believe I Almost Missed This

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I woke up this morning to the most glorious sound.  Well, first I woke up to someone throwing a laundry basket at my door before he went downstairs,  but after that I woke up to the squeals and giggles of an (almost) 12 week old baby girl – our tenth baby (on earth).  As I […]

Raising a Culture of Life
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Raising a Culture of Life

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As I pulled the minivan into our garage late one night my 14-year-old son came out to help me carry in the bins and boxes of materials I had used at a talk I gave that evening at church.  I knew the real reason he was being so helpful:  I had promised to bring home […]

How is Weight Watchers Like NFP?
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How is Weight Watchers Like NFP?

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In the late summer of 2000 I entered the doorway of the nearest Weight Watchers and tipped the scale at a little over 200 pounds.  After having two little boys within two years of each other, health issues from the first birth experience, and the death of my mother just days after my second son […]