2 minute read
Natural Family Planning: Knowledge, Communication and Empowerment for Catholic Couples
The Catholic Church’s teachings often don’t align with what society teaches. One topic over which society and the Catholic Church are at odds is contraception. But for Catholic couples, Natural Family Planning — or NFP — stands as a natural and moral way to either achieve or postpone pregnancy. As the United Conference of Catholic Bishops says, “Since the methods of NFP respect the love-giving (unitive) and life-giving (procreative) nature of the conjugal act, they support God’s design for married love!”
Matt and Rose Cabeen teach the Sympto- Thermal method of NFP through the Couple to Couple League — and we are blessed to have Matt and Rose teaching NFP for St. Francis Xavier.
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“Our favorite part is meeting young couples and empowering them to observe and understand their own fertility and then to make responsible decisions using that power,” Matt says.
NFP has been a gift to Matt and Rose’s marriage and they love having the opportunity to share that gift with other couples. The groundwork was laid for them to teach when they gave an informal NFP introduction as an engaged couple at their marriage preparation weekend. Then a few years later, after meeting another teaching couple at a Baptism, they went on to begin training to teach. They started classes in Boston and continued the training when they moved to Stillwater.
The method uses daily temperature and symptom observation to determine fertile times in a woman’s cycle. Matt and Rose like this method because of the multiple signs, which makes tracking fertility a bit easier.
“It’s very pro-woman,” Matt says. “It empowers a woman and her husband with knowledge to understand and appreciate her fertility, rather than treating fertility like a disease to be avoided.”
The couple feels blessed to have the opportunity to teach NFP to others.
“We are blessed by seeing faithful young couples whose marriages and future families will be the future of the Church and a beautiful witness to the world,” Matt says.
Matt and Rose often open their own home for the classes, which are typically offered in a threepart series with one class per month. They enjoy welcoming people to their home to see what life is like for a Catholic family, as a powerful form of evangelization. They want to share what a blessing practicing NFP has been to their marriage.
“NFP includes a lot of communication about intimate things,” Matt says. “We find that it has really impacted our ability and desire to communicate about anything! We can solve problems, strategize about making our marriage and family life a faithful and attractive witness, and reveal our intimate feelings to one another.”
Matt and Rose Cabeen with their children — the couple feels blessed to teach Natural Family Planning classes.
In addition to the regular NFP classes, offered about three times per year, they also teach premenopause and postpartum classes, which are designed for couples who have already completed the main class series. These times include unique fertility signs, which are covered in class. These classes are offered about once per year or by request.
The NFP classes not only cover the science of the Sympto-Thermal method, but also the theology behind it.
“The theology teaches us why practicing NFP is important and is consistent with authentic, Christlike, life-giving love,” Matt says.
