The National Natural Family Planning Awareness Week is slated this year for July 23-29, prompting efforts at the diocesan level to help provide resources to parishes and families.
“Our efforts for NFP Awareness Week will call attention to the importance of NFP in marriage in terms of strengthening trust and communication in the marital relationship, understanding the notion of openness to life and responsible parenthood, and enhancing the reproductive health of Catholic wives and mothers,” said Peg Hensler, associate director of diocesan Marriage Ministries and NFP.
According to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, NFP is “an umbrella term for 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.”
Natural Family Planning Awareness Week is a national educational campaign sponsored by the USCCB to build awareness of all aspects of responsible parenthood and fertility-based awareness methods of family planning that uphold Catholic values and protect the dignity of marriage and family according to God’s design. Individual dioceses offer a variety of educational formats in the local Church to focus attention on Natural Family Planning methods and Church teachings which support their use in marriage.
The dates of Natural Family Planning Awareness Week highlight the anniversary of the papal encyclical Humanae Vitae (July 25) which articulates Catholic beliefs about human sexuality, conjugal love, and responsible parenthood. The dates also mark the feast of Sts. Joachim and Anne (July 26), the parents of the Blessed Mother.
“We offer a complete set of NFP resources for parishes and families [and] a number of local NFP instructors in the Diocese of Trenton to provide NFP instruction to couples, speak at marriage enrichment and Pre-Cana events, and provide formation for clergy, teachers and catechists,” Hensler emphasized.
All resources are available upon request of the Department of Evangelization and Family Life. Email Hensler at phensler@dioceseoftrenton.org.
Resources for parishes and families:
www.dioceseoftrenton.org/natural-family-planning