To most people, this conversation at WDTPRS blog (by Fr. Z) is a bunch of churchy jibber-jab. But to me (and perhaps a few of you), it’s a fascinating read. You see, the Diocese of Phoenix just took their Marriage Preparation program to the next level—or perhaps the level after that, by increasing the amount of formation needed to complete their marriage preparation program and marrying in the Church in the diocese of Phoenix. There’s also a new component for marriage formation classes after the wedding.

Now this new policy has been in the Church and secular news for the last week or so, but I’ve not actually read Bishop Olmstead’s Letter, Covenant of Love, or the new policy. I’ll have more commentary on the policy, which includes mandatory NFP classes, once I get a better look at the documentary. However, until then, here’s a little preview of the 150+ comments over at Fr. Z’s blog:

Is natural family planning really something that should be stressed during marriage preparation? Does it really foster an openness toward procreation and a harmony between the unifying and procreating aspects of marital relations? I’m sorry, but there is no form of birth control (or “family planning”) that is in harmony with a natural-law concept of marriage: (1) you must have relations to prove/preserve the marriage bond and (2) said relations must always remain opened to the possibility (blessing) of children.

Natural family planning puts constraints upon the marriage act that intend to mitigate the possibility of pregnancy. Maybe all of this NFP is a curse upon the marriage preparation and formation in the Catholic Church in the U.S.A. There’s no getting around it: If you’re married you must… engage. If you’re… engaging… you must be open to children.–Choirmaster

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…I have also taught NFP. This must be taught to engaged couples and if one of those two do not want to go to classes, I see this as an impediment to marriage. Strong feelings against NFP, unless the couple is open to not practicing any family planning, indicate a resistance to the teaching of the Church and mutual respect. I know of one annulment where the woman changed her mind after marriage and told her husband she really did not want children. If they had been in NFP classes before marriage, this may not have happened. She may have seen the beauty of children in the process…–Supertradmom

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requires a full NFP course.

And I wonder how much of that NFP course covers truly grave scenerios for it’s use to avoid children? All of the couples I know outside of our Traditional circle understand NFP to mean avoiding children for any reason under the sun.

More emphesis should be placed on the sacrament of Marriage and less on the “how to avoid children” aspect. All of the people that actively use NFP to avoid children (that I know personally) are not happy couples. The male friends of these couples let on that their wife never wants to be intimate unless it is “that safe time” as dictated by a calendar. This seems to drive a wedge between people.

As Father Rocky said today on relavant radio, in marriage each spouse gives permission to the other to welcome children at any time. The ability comes from God, the openness from each other.

NFP as taught to many of my friends is nothing other than “Catholic Birth Control”. I sure am glad that our instruction was given by a priest on the proper way to welcome children into this world and not by some guy at the NFP pre-cana class telling us how to avoid children.–moon1234