Meaningful Volunteer is a volunteer placement organization currently operating in Uganda and Philippines. They place volunteers. They also teach the Standard Days Method of NFP as part of Project Lifecycle, their effort to provide family planning options in accord with the religious and ethical needs of the countries they serve. Yay, you’re thinking.
Well, except for the fact that they don’t really know that much about NPF, and evidently resent it.
They posted on the their Facebook & Twitter account Tuesday at link to an article about the Church in the Philippines, who’s been in a long, long fight against secularist pressures to mainline contraceptive methods into their country,
“Why Project Lifecycle is forced to used natural family planning methods and not modern methods like the pill and condoms.”
Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t NFP a modern method? (We can have a discussion about the downfalls of SDM another time. Additionally, SDM is not the only method available in the Philippines.) Also, according to MV’s description of Project Lifecycle, this program was established to respect the regional religious and ethical preferences where they serve. Yet, this type of attitude flies in the face of the respect they supposedly trying to show.
So, if you could, please stop by MV’s Facebook page and/ or reply to their recent Tweet on this topic, letting them know that 1) NFP is a modern method and it’s amazing (your own words–whatever), and 2) Respect the countries they serve; Nobody’s forcing them to do anything–if they don’t want to teach SDM, let Project Lifecycle go. In order to comment on their FB page, you have to become a fan of MV (you can undo this later if you want), and if you want to reply to a Tweet, I believe you need to follow first. Small price to let them know.
Update: Here’s Meaningful Volunteer’s reply to me on Facebook (Please do jump in on FB if you disagree with this!):
oops. I stand corrected. SDM is obviously a modern method.
I would disagree that _natural family planing_ is a modern method though. People have been avoiding having babies by natural means ever since humankind got the whole “sperm + egg = babies” concept.
I would also wholeheartedly disagree with the link on njnfp.org that states natural family planning methods are 99% effective.
Why is it that people take about 10 seconds to look at something–not being as scientific as they claim they are–then decide that NFP is still what they incorrectly judge it to be? What really gets me is that they think SDM is more effective than NFP (Ovulation and Sympto-thermal).
Matthew Archibold at Creative Minority Report, one of my fav funny, faithy commentary blogs, discovers first-hand how ironic contracepting organic folks are.
Prologue: I’ve updated the Think Again Thursdays Update with my comments on Rachel Bereit’s letter to NFPers.
The organization that got its name from family planning has at least one franchise exec who’s actually aware of planning *and* families. Laura Wershler is evidently progressive and gutsy enough not only to promote NFP as a real family planning option, but to lament its constant sidelining by prejudicial, unprogressive and unscientific foes,
The continued popularity of the pill doesn’t indicate it is the best form of birth control for women, said Laura Wershler, executive director of Sexual Health Access Alberta in Calgary. Instead, she said, it indicates women don’t know enough about their options.
“What I see in our communities is an absolute failure to move beyond the idea that hormonal birth control is the be-all and end-all,” Wershler said. “What’s happening is we’re not developing support programs and advocacy for women looking for non-hormonal methods.”
Natural family-planning methods, or fertility-awareness methods, whereby a woman determines the fertile and non-fertile times of her monthly cycle, aren’t often taken seriously by physicians, she added.
“There’s this lack of knowledge and understanding within my own field,” Wershler said. “Women are going to sexual health clinics and being laughed off by the doctors and clinics for looking for alternatives.”
Alison Cross, of Canwest, a sort of Canadian Associated Press, wrote this fantastic article, “Women Look Behind the Pill,” which told the wider world what NFPers have known all along: the Pill, the Patch & Shot are not panaceas, and even can do a lot of harm. Women and families want something else, something better.
I was excited to see a FAM advocate I’d previously featured in a post, but couldn’t believe it when Wershler, whom I later found out is the Exec Director of what is apparently a Planned Parenthood franchise, said so many sane, sensible, scientific and frankly pro-woman things about NFP/FAM She wasn’t exactly signing off on Humanae Vitae, but that fact that she was so intelligent, well spoken and that she frankly advocated NFP/ FAM and chastised medical professionals, rocked one big Boo-ya for NFP/ FAM advocates.
I wonder if Rachel Bereit would be interested in applying to Wershler’s clinic? Better yet, what would Weshler’s response be?
Em, I'm looking for more correct information on NFP. Anyone?
Here’s the belated Think Again Thursday post, and one I’ve wanted to do for a couple weeks since I read about Cherie Blair’s latest verbal blunder regarding family planning.
Now Mrs. Blair’s no rookie in the Church teaching disobedience department. She’s a regular on the the-Church-should-change-her-teaching-on-contraception circuit, grinding her axe at every turn. In fact, the article prompting this latest edition of Think Again Thursday is a perfect example. It’s evidently a piece about her attitude about money, lifestyle and don’t miss this segueway, “Mrs Blair also says in the interview, in the January edition out on Thursday, that MPs have been pilloried over their expenses. ‘They saw it as an allowance, which is not the same thing.’…An ardent Catholic, she says she hopes that the Church will change its view on contraception.” I’m sorry, what does one have to do with the other? Journalism has gone as far downhill as faith.
Theological misinformation and journalistic disability aside, my beef is largely with this statement, which I believe my readers (of all faiths/ political viewpoints) will have a problem with (the money line in bold):
The Church says that sex is not just for procreation and does allow the natural form of contraception. Personally, I think it is better to go for contraception that works, which is quite different from abortion.
In this letter writing campaign, I’d like to find out if this is the correct quote, as the syntax here isn’t exactly the well-worded style of an experienced barrister.
That aside, it’s clear that legal education and worldly knowledge don’t exactly equal understanding and certainly not wisdom. Would you help me in blogging about this, and in particular by contacting Mrs. Blair to correct and clarify the statement that NFP doesn’t work?
This is a little late in the day for the Think Again Thursdays feature, but I’ll give it a go…I write and comment, and you, my readers, rally to defend the point in question.
I came across this blog entry, an open letter for a job working for a major birth control peddler. I won’t repost it here, as the entry is no literary repast, full of uncouth condom references and ludicrous claims of “science.” Bottom line, the blogger may, in fact (as her bio says) be opinionated, and perhaps educated in the technical sense, but I invite her to THINK AGAIN.
After her licentious litany referring to various forms of “unreliable” family planning methods–chief of which is withdrawal (the only correct thing in her entire post), she says,
Please know that this rant also applies to Natural family planning/The Rhythm Method (no relation to Rhythm Nation), which are simply other terms for Pull-Out-and-Pray.Those who can’t afford birth control are more likely to resort to methods from before the advances of science and medicine.
Where to begin?
1) It’s not the %#$@! Rhythm Method. Though she refers to science and medicine repeatedly, it’s clear she has no idea what modern Natural Family Planning is, how it works, and the medical professionals who developed it. Though she’s making an effort to be witty and sassy, she ends up looking salicious, daft and dense. Sadly enough, most M.D.’s are about as informed as our dear uninformed blogger.
2) NFP, when used for postponing pregnancy, is 98-99% effective. Yes. Really. Where did she get her stats? Wait, she didn’t refer to any stats. I get mine from clinically approved studies published in international peer-reviewed journals, to start. If you have any studies under your belt, I could guarantee they were funded by Big Pharma and/ or executed poorly (as is most of the data on NFP quoted by her beloved purveyor of carcinogenic pills).
3) The users of NFP are not uneducated, ignorant people. Right, readers? Wait, you can read, can’t you? 
It seems she thinks that you can’t, and that we’re all backwoods people who di’nt git our learn on ’cause we’s spendin’ too much time getting pregnint on acceedent. I’d be willing to bet most users of NFP have college degrees, if not advanced degrees, and are busy and accomplished, though family-oriented, people. You?
I’m sure Rachel would love to get your feedback on her post.
Update: So far my comment has not been approved/ posted, yet a favorable one posted after me has been…Hmm….
Update: Not surprisingly, our anti-fertility bumpkin is not only not posting comments, but consistently posting adolescent replies to my comments. Therefore, I will post the comments/ replies in the combox.
In your blogroll, you’ve probably come across themed days, like “Quick Take Fridays,” “Wordless Wednesdays,” etc. I had an idea for my own: Think Again Thursdays!
It happens quite often that I will come across some blog, some news story, some “informational” web page that totally dishes on natural methods of family planning, calling it ineffective, the Rhythm Method (it’s not the $#%! Rhythm Method!), or worse, something blasphemous about the church community and people of faith whose religion endorses NFP, family, children, and doesn’t buy into population control and the overpopulation myth.
Well, I can’t ask you all to write a letter or make a comment every day of the week, or every time I run across some misinformed person, which is often, but I thought it would be great to choose one day a week to bring to your attention someone who’s got the wrong idea about NFP, and to rally the pro-fertility troops to comment away, blog away, and email the unfortunate persons who frankly, need to THINK AGAIN.
WHAT CAN YOU DO?
- Check out the featured post of each Thursday, and comment/blog/ write away. Please be charitable, even in the face of disrespect.
- Tell other people about Think Again Thursdays at NFPworks–use the share button on this entry for your social networking site of choice, or send out an email.
- Find something ridiculous? Send it to me, and I’ll take a crack at it and post if it’s related.
Stay tuned for todays premier post!
Mark Shea, devotee of the Apostle of Common Sense, has birthed a mini-conversation at his blog, inviting conversation on the NFP witch hunt taking place here (with NFP being the witch hunted for–not myself, except for approximately two days per my cycle).
Some of my favorite comments (there are more):
Do you belong to the “NFP cult”?
Blogger and Seattle acquaintance Mark Shea recently gave NFPworks a little nod in a post, which has attracted a clergyman in the combox who snarkily calls (and implies that I think this) NFP the “8th Sacrament” and a sympathetic commenter implies that NFP fans are (or can be) “worshippers” of the “NFPcult.”
Now [taking a deep breath]. If you listen to this homily by Fr. Chad Ripperger, FSSP, which isn’t the priest in the combox, but it seems that they must be on the same page. (I’d really like to hear Fr. Perroni affirm this.)
Anyhow, the homily, unlike most watered-down, feel good verbosity is actually catechetical, and really quite decent. I appreciate the frank approach to catechesis that doesn’t underestimate his congregation. (Though I have a feeling this homily wasn’t given in the average suburban parish–I’d like to see that!)
“Contraception is against every category of ‘natural inclination’.” [Amen.]
I like how he begins by explaining the natural law, quoting St. Thomas, giving examples, and then speaks at length about Holy Matrimony and the Nuptial Act. I like what he has to say–even the part where he strongly emphasizes that NFP is only to be used for just, serious and grave reasons! Despite what Fr. Perroni and friends might think of this, I agree! I may not hit people over the head with my “grave reasons stick” when I begin a conversation with a Catholic (or non-Catholic) on contraception, but I believe what HMC teaches, and stick to it.
“Provided you have the right intention…it’s a morally licit thing.” [Amen.]
Then he goes on to articulate that artificial insemination and In Vitro Fertilization violate the unity of meaning of the nuptial act, meaning that they separate the unitive (by diminishing or eliminating the need for a physical union) from the procreative (the openness to children and hopefully conception).
“Some Catholics mistakenly believe that because the Church is pro-family and pro-children, that somehow that means that any means whatsoever is okay to attain having children, and that’s not true. The Church doesn’t allow us to do that precisely because she does not want us to violate the rule of God, and ultimately for us to lose our souls as a result of it.” [Amen.]
But he quickly transitions to his discussion of the Church’s only approved method of postponing pregnancy (as well as achieving pregnancy and diagnosing women’s wellness issues, the latter which he omits, either for brevity or lack of knowledge on this): NFP. Here’s where we transition to a more reactionary slippery slope:
“It is a mortal sin to use NFP without a sufficient reason.” [Well...yes and no. Debatable.]
Diocesan Family Life Offices & NFP Instructors: OUCH.
“The teaching of NFP , however, has become a bit problematic as of late. In addition to the fact that some people treat it like it’s the 8th Sacrament, and somehow or another if you’re not practicing NFP when you’re married that you’re committing sin–it’s silly, and quite frankly, it’s insulting to people’s intelligence.”
“It’s okay to teach philosophy or the philosophical and theological dimensions to NFP in a common group–I don’t have any problem with that; it’s a good thing. (And by common group we mean mixed company, and things of that sort.)”
“But there are practices that have arisen in virtually every diocese in this country in which detailed anatomical descriptions and even pictures of the two genders is given to people in mixed company. Now let me set this up as a scenario: you have people who are about to get married. The struggle for chastity is extreme already. And then they put pictures in front of them, and then they wonder why they’re fornicating. Hello!? The fact of the matter is that this is putting people in the proximate occasion of sin. It’s mortally sinful to be doing this….But to actually give anatomical details to people before they’re married in mixed company is utterly inappropriate.“
“It’s mortally sinful to be doing this [giving NFP classes to couples before they're married in mixed company]…It’s a sin against modesty!”
Soo…..where to begin?
First, I don’t think being part of the NFP Movement–either by using it, promoting it or teaching it, that it makes one a de facto member of the “NFP cult.” (See my newly revised “About” section to know where I stand on this.)
However, Father does have a point that some people become so devoted to Natural Family Planning, and are so eager to “convert” contraceptive users, that they pitch NFP in such a way as to present it as “Catholic Birth Control” or “Catholic Contraception.” This is wrong, and I hint at this a bit in my “7 Habits” post. It’s true. Sometimes in our enthusiasm for the Church’s teaching against contraception, we give the impression that NFP is a requirement to be holy, and that it’s a given in marriage, when, in fact, NFP (if you’re Catholic), is to be used only to achieve pregnancy, postpone pregnancy for just, serious or grave reasons, or to identify, diagnose and treat women’s wellness issues, including infertility.
Second, I also believe modesty is a vital virtue, one that’s lost on our generation nearly completely. However, to essentially equate an NFP class (and therefore–GASP! Anatomy diagrams!) to pedalling pornography IS RIDICULOUS! Further to accuse nearly every diocesan program (and therefore the individuals running the program, and their bishops!) who sponsors NFP Instruction for the engaged (for most it’s optional, and a few mandatory) OF MORTAL SIN WITHOUT EXCEPTION OR MITIGATION scandalizes me, frankly.
Father clearly leans towards concupiscence with his mention of the “scandal of NFP instruction,” but it seems to me he may not be aware of who the average couple getting married in the Church is. (Now that I think about it, he probably does know and wouldn’t witness the vows of most of the people getting married today.) Diagrams which enable them to learn about and appreciate God’s gift of fertility most likely don’t scandalous those going through NFP Instruction, and certainly wouldn’t scandalize the average couple who frankly are largely already sexuality active and cohabitating.
Prudence is the key to chastity and modesty. Obviously, if a couple has a sensitivity to things sexual or a tendency to lust, and their purity is strong and sensitive, then heck no–stay away from the NFP classes! But by and large, these are not the couples who are going through Engaged Formation in Diocesan programs.
Kyrie Eleison. I’ve gone on long enough. There’s a balance between the “cult of NFP” and the reactionary extremism of aforementioned brands of providentialism as fostered by certain clergy.
What do you think the balance is?
Dustin over at Engaged Marriage did a blog entry on the TIME piece, “Green Sex, anyone?”, which has yielded more than a couple comments, most profusely visited upon by commenter named crow who, among his many words, recommends natural abortafacients to his pro-life audience, copies and pastes from 4th-hand source web sites for his evidence and proof, and manages not to address the problem of falling fertility rates that are imploding the world’s economies.
I’d be much more interested in “dialogue” (generous term, Dustin–listening to crow is like trying to drink out of a fire hose spewing rocks) if commenters like crow 1) cited actual scientific sources, 2) addressed the issue of falling fertility rates, and 3) acknowledged that pro-fertility and pro-family people might actually know something about environmental causes and care about them.
Dustin’s more patient than I am. At this point, crow’s just being a combox rioter, throwing his links like rocks over the fence, not really caring what’s happening on the other side or who he’s inflicting with his myopic opinions. Hey, I’m all about recycling, buying locally grown food, sustainable construction, new fuel technologies, saving water and everything associated with being a good steward, but when you can’t even address what people are saying to you and listen–human beings, like yourself, born of a woman–that’s the end of the conversation and the continuation of prayer and fasting.
I guess I should do a little research before I joke...
A reader tipped me off that the TIME piece caught the attention of Jay Leno’s writers, evidently. Was he making fun of how…wait for it…how NFP is green, but be warned that your pregnancy test will be blue! People making fun of natural methods of family planning…both shocking and original. NOTE TO JAY: NFP IS NOT THE RHYTHM METHOD! Well, three cheers for the mention. All press is good press, right Nicole?
Join me if you wish in emailing the producers if you like once you see the video. Let it load for a sec, and the punchline’s at the 10 minute mark.
I’d like to draft a little script–a satire of of his segment Jaywalking, where he interviews average people and ask them easy questions (“What color is the White House?” or “Who’s the President?”), and they feature the people who can’t manage to get it right. Well, this version would be called J-Walking (play on my first name), and I would interview average talk show hosts about their jokes about NFP, and they would get it totally wrong!
The funny thing is that he used a badly-written article to fuel his punchline, but the joke’s on him! The Rhythm Method isn’t NFP! Hello? We’ve got a lot a work to do, friends, but in the mean time, have a laugh at Jay, and let his producers know he’s the worse case of J-walking yet!
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