I remember very clearly sitting with my husband in my Pre-Marriage Seminar, listening to a beautiful couple give a testimony on the use of Natural Family Planning (NFP) in their marriage.  They had five children and a sixth due any day.  My then, soon to be husband, looked at me and said, very clearly, "I will NEVER consider using NFP until you show me a couple that has used NFP effectively and has three children or less." 

Picture by Joseph Ambuul 2018

Below is the incredibly touching testimonial of a young French lady who, with her fiancé, chose abstinence until their wedding.

It didn't come naturally to her, though. After high-school, she had fallen into prostitution to make ends meet. She had been raped several times and was living with her boyfriend, soon to be fiancé.
She now writes to her priest:

Lately, the readings of the liturgical cycle have been focusing on the parable of the sower. And since last week was Natural Family Planning (NFP) Awareness week, I wanted to follow up with some reflections on sowing the seed of NFP.

Some things that are very overwhelming about using NFP are: how much I don’t know how to use it, how much you have to abstain if you are really trying to avoid having children, and how hard it is post-partum. I have talked to many who are in the same boat, and are wishing someone would have warned them on how challenging it is instead of painting it as a romantic walk on the beach during  a sunset. 

Recently TIME magazine published an article titled “The Beta Marriage: How Millennials Approach ‘I Do’”. We were asked by Fathers For Good to discuss the downfalls of the “beta marriage” model, specifically by answering three specific questions. Let's answer the first one today:

We have had a lot of pressure from friends who think that abstinence is silly...