From time to time I am asked about NFP. Is it catholic or not? NFP is our topic today.

First, what is the purpose of marriage? Marriage, naturally speaking, has two goods: children and fidelity of the couple; a sacramental marriage has the third good of being a means of sanctification. But marriage, by its very nature, is primarily directed towards begetting life. Adam and Eve were commanded, "Increase an multiply," which obliges all married couples. Unless children remain the first good of marriage then marriage itself will come into question and it will be believed that Adam could have married Steve just as much as Eve… an absurd idea until our modern era.

Second, what is NFP? NFP or Natural Family Planning, implies the use of matrimonial rights within marriage only during the infertile periods of a woman’s cycle in order to avoid pregnancy. In marriage, man is commanded to increase and multiply; in marriage, NFP is ordered to avoiding pregnancy. Now the question: may a Catholic couple practice NFP without sinning?

Pope Pius XI (Casti connubial #59), 1930, "Nor are they considered as acting against nature who in the married state use their right in the proper manner, although on account of natural reasons either of time or of certain defects, new life cannot be brought forth. For in matrimony as well as in the use of the matrimonial rights there are also secondary ends, such as mutual aid, the cultivating of mutual love, and the quieting of concupiscence which husband and wife are not forbidden to consider so long as they are subordinated to the primary end and so long as the intrinsic nature of the act is preserved."

Pope Pius XII, in an address to midwives given October 29, 1951, "Therefore, to embrace the matrimonial state, to use continually the faculty proper to such a state and lawful only therein, and, at the same time, to avoid its primary duty without a grave reason, would be a sin against the very nature of married life. "Serious motives, such as those which not rarely arise from medical, eugenic, economic, and social indications, may exempt husband and wife from the obligatory, positive debt for a long period or even for the entire period of matrimonial life. From this it follows that the observance of the natural sterile periods may be lawful, from the moral point of view: and it is lawful in the conditions mentioned. If however, according to reasonable and equitable judgment, there are no such grave reasons either personal or deriving from exterior circumstances, the will to avoid the fecundity of their union, while continuing to satisfy their sensuality, can only be the result of a false appreciation of life and of
motives foreign to sound ethical principles."

These pontifical statements are clear: Married couples may use NFP under certain conditions… "even for the entire period of matrimonial life." Pope Pius XII says Catholic couples need "serious motives" to practice NFP. He lists some as medical, eugenic, economic, and social indications.

Moral theologians explain them as: the mother’s real and objective health (women differ in their physical and psychological strength warranting a proportioned application of "serious motives"); serious and incurable hereditary defects in the child; conditions of poverty, unemployment, or homelessness; the incompatibility between a job with a certain usefulness and a new pregnancy. (Christ to the World, 1994, n.4)

Recent popes (Paul VI and John Paul II) have taught the same thing.

Now here I have only laid down some general principles. In practice, if a couple has any doubt or difficulty in deciding whether or not their case satisfies the conditions to practice NFP they should consult a conscientious priest. Such submission will foster a pure intention and will merit grace from almighty God both for each other as well as for their marriage.

But one case I will address. Sometimes I am asked, "Can a young man and woman marry and practice NFP immediately due financial straits, i.e, finishing college?" A strict reading of Pope Pius XII’s criteria would seem to allow this as long as children were eventually desired. Yet to such a question I answer, "Able couples should only marry if they have an immediate and positive will to begin a family." An immediate but remote will for children deviates from the primary good of marriage and , I believe, is a reason many marriages break-up when times get tough. A baby is a visible bond which makes leaving harder. And so my judgment here is mostly prudential.

Of course, it may happen that a newly married couple, fully intent upon having children as soon as possible, fall into unexpected financial ruin; such a surprise situation would more perfectly satisfy the pope’s conditions for practicing NFP.

Finally, there are some who contend that NFP is never justified namely, Strict Providentialists. A Strict Providentialist believes that any married couple who practice any sort of NFP or rhythm or similar method for spacing births is morally equivalent to the use of contraceptives. "No cause justifies NFP; God will provide."

Such a position is not Catholic nor tenable. "Increase and multiple" is a positive command. Positive laws are always obligatory but not always binding to continuous fulfillment; negative laws are always binding and never cease to bind. The positive command to attend Sunday Mass obliges unless one is sick; no cause excuses the negative command against
blasphemy.

As Pope Pius XI and Pius XII stated, married couples are bound by positive law to procreate, but there may be circumstances which excuse from this obligation.

Moreover, such an excuse does not, however, permit the use of contraceptives. Contraceptives are intrinsically evil and bind under negative precept. "Any use whatsoever of matrimony exercised in such a way that the act is deliberately frustrated in its natural powers to generate life is an offence against the law of God and of nature, and those who indulge in such are branded with the guilt of grave sin." (Casti connubii. #56; see also Humanae vitae #11, #12)

In summary, in itself, practicing NFP is not sinful. If the use of NFP were intrinsically evil than married couples would be morally obliged to use their marriage rights only during the woman’s fertile period. Contrary to the Strict Providentialist position, NFP may be used when serious motives warrant; use of NFP without serious motives is a sin. And in all of this we must ever keep in mind "we are not our own." The error of the day is, "I can do what I want with my body." That is a fat lie. We belong to God as does our fertility. And unless we use our fertility according to His will we become liable for punishment.