Natural Family Planning Class??

ally1218

I am not Catholic, and I have no idea what I am doing in this.... So help is much appreciated.

My fiance and I visited the priest about two weeks ago, in which he told us all the paperwork we would be required to bring (baptisms, freedom to marry, his annulment papers for his last marriage, etc). He told us about the engaged encounter and the pre-cana class that we would need to take. So, we took the pre-cana one day class yesterday. APPARENTLY, there is another class for us to take, this Natural Family Planning. The father didn't tell us anything about this and there was nothing about it in the pamphlets he gave us. It was quite a shock. We are having a budget wedding, so the extra two hundred dollar price tag looks like a very pretty penny to us. I haven't had the opportunity to talk to the father yet and his parents didn't know anything about it (and they are the all-out Catholics that want this Catholic wedding).

So is this NFP class mandatory? And if it is, is there a cheaper and more budget-friendly way to do this? We live in Jacksonville FL.

Calypso1977

some diocese require it, some dont.

i think the $200 is a good investment.  you will be amazed at what you will learn, and how effective this method is.  there are several of us on here who practice NFP.  i think you will get a lot out of it.

if you can truly demonstrate need, the church might waive the fee.

[Deleted User]

Ditto calypso.

We were not required to take a class on NFP, although I wish we would have. We were required to do an EE (Engaged Encounter) weekend in which there was supossed to be an nurse there to talk about NFP. Well, she had a family emergency, so she wasn't there. I felt a little cheated bc our EE class was $350. One of the couples that ran the class was practicing NFP and shared some of their knowledge and experiences with us.

If you truly can't afford it and it is required, then there may be "scholarships" available.

agapecarrie

Well, using contraception is a mortal sin, (and can cause serious issues in a marriage) so if you plan on spacing births of your children, NFP is the way to do it. Even if you don't plan on using it and leave it to God's providence, there may unfortunately be a time when you must avoid pregnancy because of health or other unforseen circumstances, and it is way easier to learn before marriage than during.

It also provides many health benefits... I have found several issues from my charts that I never would have found otherwise. I believe every woman should be charting to track her own health.

Something to keep in mind is that all hormonal contraception is abortive too.

If it were the difference between learning NFP and having flowers, learn NFP.

Books that explain the benefits by Christopher West:
-Good news about sex and marriage  and Theology of the body for beginners

mica178

You could talk with your priest and explain your situation to ask if there are other options or if you must take that specific class.  There are online tutorials, the book Taking Charge of Your Fertility is awesome, but I'm not sure if reading the book without taking the class would be considered adequate preparation in your parish.

agapecarrie

Oh yea, some health insurance covers it.

ally1218

MissieSue20- There was a woman who did an hour of introduction into the NFP... So that may be enough for our diocese.
Mica178- I'll check that out! Anything I can do to learn some more about this, the better.
Thanks so much ladies! I'll just have to ask him once we get ready to turn in the rest of our paperwork.

Calypso1977

i self taught with the book Mica mentioned.

it is very scientific based which i liked - gave me the confidence i needed to know teh method worked.  however, it doesnt touch on teh spirtual and religious components to the method, which are integral to a catholic marriage.  i do feel we missed out on that.

katetw

It really depends on your diocese, so check with your priest. We just did our one-day Pre-Cana Saturday, in which they talked about intimacy and NFP for an hour. However, in our diocese, we also have to take this one-day class called God's Plan for a Joy-Filled Marriage, which I hear is mainly NFP stuff. However, there is a third class that is just straight-up NFP, which is optional for us. So like with just about everything, check with your own priest / diocese wedding coordinator! Otherwise you might be shelling out for something totally optional.

That said, I was really interested in what the leader couple had to say about NFP (though I will say my fiance is pretty skeptical based on a friend who recently became pregnant while scrupulously following the method), so we might take it anyway now.

bibliophile2010

God's plan for a Joy-Filled Marriage is great; I enjoyed my session. It is mainly about Catholic sexual teachings and proper understanding of them. This includes NFP and why the Church teaches what she does about artificial birth control (intrinsically evil). It includes an introduction to NFP, but does not get into the nitty gritty of practicing NFP effectively.

I would, without a doubt, 100% recommend taking a class. Yes, it is easy to self-teach (TCOFY is great), but having someone to ask questions of, troubleshoot with, etc. is invaluable.

One of the (many, many) pamphlets I have about NFP compares the financial costs of NFP and birth control -- the initial cost of NFP might be higher, but the long-term cost is much, much lower.

clearheavens

I ditto the calypto, the requirements are different from each archdiocese.  You would best ask your parish.

Even though FI and I are both students and with very little budget, we decided to take two extra classes because it was an investment.  We signed up for "God's Plan for a Joy-Filled Marriage," which was a non-overnight weekend program, and the Couple to Couple League's NFP program, which met 3 times in 3 months.  They were very eye-opening for even the biggest skeptics in our class.  We learned so much about how to take care of our marriage and how to love each other the fullest as possible that I can't imagine anyone not wanting the same for themselves.

For those who are very motivated and don't have access to NFP teachers, it's possible to self-teach yourself NFP using the Taking Charge of Your Fertility book, a non-Christian book.

http://www.tcoyf.com

You could also teach yourself Theology of the Body using many of Christopher West's education aides.  But being in  a classroom with an instructor gives you structure and a way to ask questions as you have them.

http://www.ascensionpress.com/shop/Scripts/prodList.asp?idCategory=48

GeorgiaPeachMarie

If it helps, I live about an hour from Jacksonville and our parish is having a series of NFP class beginning in the middle of the month for $50. Let me know if you'd like the information. It was advertised in our church bulletin on Sunday. 

savvy_savs

I have taken NFP and highly recommend it. My best friend was not as eager to take the class as she was on the pill, but now does NFP and is OFF the pill. It works wonders for your relationship and helps you figure out what's going on with your body early on. You are so much in tune with your body. It is a struggle at first because it's a new routine, but like everything else it becomes clockwork. Dedicated NFP-ers can probably tell you which day is their peak day and when they're ovulating. I hope you take the class and see what a wonderful gift it is!

-I'm off my soap box now

NOLAbridealmost

Something to keep in mind is that all hormonal contraception is abortive too. 

Sorry, but no. That's incorrect.  Obviously hormonal contraception is not permitted by the Church. Not going to argue about that.  But most birth control pills contain a combination of progestin and estrogen that fool the body into thinking it is pregnant so that NO OVULATION occurs. 

No ovulation = no egg. No egg = no fertilization. No fertilization = no pregnancy.  No pregnancy = no abortion. 

While there are less commonly used pills (no estrogen, progestin-only pills) that work by not allowing a fertilized egg to implant in the uterine lining, that does not mean that ALL oral contraceptives are abortive. 

agapecarrie

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/cultural-wedding-boards_catholic-weddings_natural-family-planning-class?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Cultural%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:615Discussion:ec9783b1-3ef4-472e-a9eb-3b928711aa40Post:794a4db7-f3ce-4412-b7f9-27ffa0354d5f">Re: Natural Family Planning Class??</a>:
[QUOTE]Something to keep in mind is that all hormonal contraception is abortive too.   Sorry, but no. That's incorrect.  Obviously hormonal contraception is not permitted by the Church. Not going to argue about that.  But most birth control pills contain a combination of progestin and estrogen that fool the body into thinking it is pregnant so that NO OVULATION occurs.  No ovulation = no egg. No egg = no fertilization. No fertilization = no pregnancy.  No pregnancy = no abortion.  While there are less commonly used pills (no estrogen, progestin-only pills) that work by not allowing a fertilized egg to implant in the uterine lining, that does not mean that ALL oral contraceptives are abortive. 
Posted by NOLAbridealmost[/QUOTE]

No, you are wrong. All of them have secondary ways of working...all of them can accidentally allow breakthrough ovulation.

Read the inserts. See how the terminology has been changed in medical journals to define "pregnancy" and "fertilization" and "implantation". The uterine lining is weakened by birth control pills, so that if breakthrough ovulation occurs, it has a difficult time implaninting. Remember, the quoted 99% effective statistic, that means breakthrough ovulation does happen, and thats when the embryo can implant. There are 5-7 septic abortions from birth control pills  for every 1 surgical abortion performed.

agapecarrie

From:   http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/meds/a601050.html

They also change the lining of the uterus (womb) to prevent pregnancy from developing....

mica178

Carrie's right.  The progestin in the pills prevents the uterine lining from growing to be able to support implantation and successful retained pregnancy (that's why women's periods are lighter when they're on the Pill).  So in the unlikely case that ovulation and fertilization happen, the fertilized egg would not be able to implant.  That would be considered an abortion (chemical, not therapeutic).