Bravo to Bishop Thomas Olmsted of Phoenix. He is one of three US bishops who requires natural family planning classes for anyone wanting to get married in the Church. The other two are Archbishop Chaput of Denver and Bishop Aquila of Fargo, North Dakota.
Melanie and I are both big proponents of NFP, not just because of the child spacing issues, but because if it’s done properly it helps the future wife and mother learn more about her own body and her fertility, it helps the future husband and father learn about his fiancee’s fertility, it helps them both start thinking of marriage as intimately related to family, it makes fertility a shared responsibility, and it places it all in a context of spirituality, faith, and the Church’s teachings.
NFP is not a magic bullet nor is it guaranteed that the classes will be taught well, but it’s certainly better than what most couples get now, which is next to nothing.
Now if only they could ensure that something along the lines of Theology of the Body is incorporated in the classes…
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