Natural Family Planning follows God’s design

Simon and Christina Purnell of Corpus Christi are firm believers in the teachings of the Catholic church and have embraced Natural Family Planning as a way of honoring God’s design. They recommend its use for other couples planning their families. Contributed Photo

It is important for couples today to embrace God’s design for human sexuality.

Natural Family Planning provides couples with the tools they need to plan their family while respecting God’s plan for marriage, said Deacon Stephen Nolte, director of the Office of Family Life for the Diocese of Corpus Christi.

One couple that has taken up the call for sanctification of sexuality in their marriage is Simon and Christina Purnell of Corpus Christi. They have invited God into their lives and are open to his will concerning the gift of children and they have been rewarded with four boys and a girl.

“The message of NFP is to honor or respect God’s design for married love,” said Theresa Notare, PhD, assistant director for the Natural Family Planning Program of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

The bishops’ conference points out that “NFP reflects the dignity of the human person within the context of marriage and family life, promotes openness to life, and recognizes the value of the child. By respecting the love-giving and life-giving natures of marriage, NFP can enrich the bond between husband and wife.”

A couple discerns together when it is a good time to try to achieve a pregnancy or not. “They are doing nothing to shut God out,” Notare said.

She said NFP is a tool to achieve a healthy, mindful and logical way of working with God’s design.

“You have to remember that sexual intercourse is coming together in your union because of your love for each other in a worthy way of bringing new life into the world. It gives couples a means to live out a life that God wants them to live out,” Notare said.

“Contraception on the other hand,” she said “harms His design, harms the body and does nothing to support God’s design. It pretty much locks out the Lord. They are objectively immoral devices that harm God’s design.”

“If women–and men–knew how much damage is caused to their bodies and to the environment by hormonal contraceptives, every couple, including non-Catholics would seek to learn and utilize natural, healthy methods of family planning,” Nolte said.

The Purnell children—Gareth, 14; Gabriel, 12; Kolbe, eight; Christopher, six; and Juliana, four—attend Mass daily. Contributed Photo

The Purnells, parishioners at St. Pius X, came to realize the harm of contraception early on. Not being fully aware of church teaching on the subject, they used contraception in the early years of their marriage. After their first two boys were born and losing two other babies to miscarriages, they turned to God and to His church.

Their two miscarriages were “really eye openers.” The experiences led them to be “more open to life.”

Christina Purnell was raised in a Catholic home but, like many Catholics, was not exposed to in-depth catechesis. She was committed to the aspects of the faith that she knew, but did not know enough to embrace all aspects of her faith.

Simon Purnell grew up in Venezuela in a Protestant home. After making a retreat on the “Journey to Damascus,” he decided to convert to Catholicism.

As a couple they began to mature in their faith.

Once they first learned about NFP, it “felt in my heart really easy,” Christina Purnell said. “It just felt right, going back to contraception felt wrong.”

This epiphany changed everything; their sexuality, their attitude to each other and their relationship with the children.

Several different methods of NFP are available to couples. They can use NFP to both achieve and avoid pregnancies. The methods require observing the naturally occurring signs and symptoms of the fertile and infertile phases of a woman’s menstrual cycle. Couples using NFP to avoid pregnancy abstain from intercourse and genital contact during the fertile phase of the woman’s cycle. No drugs, devices or surgical procedures are used to avoid pregnancy.

“What is surprising to me is how many people are unaware of the decades of medical research which have led to the various forms of NFP today. When a couple is seeking to avoid a pregnancy and practice NFP according to the rules, it is 98-99 percent effective–virtually the same percent of accuracy as the most effective artificial birth control,” Nolte said.

NFP requires communication, and works best when the husband is aware of what going on, Christina Purnell said.

It is easy to practice; it requires keeping track of things more diligently. The couple gets into a regular pattern of doing things, of tracking the wife’s cycles, she said.

Simon Purnell said that, like most things in our modern lifestyle, there is a phone app for NFP. Couples can also take an online course on NFP at www.online.nwfs.org.

“I in no way find it negative. This is very important for people to understand. It’s openness to life rather than planning a family ‘two years apart’,” he said.

The Purnells recommend that couples start NFP by making the effort to incorporate it as part of their ordinary life.

“If you get pregnant even if you were trying to do NFP, it should be seen as a gift,” Christina Purnell said. “NFP is also helpful for couples that are having trouble conceiving.”

NFP involves trust.

“There are many benefits to NFP that are unexpected, most especially the deep bond that couples experience through the total, complete and sacrificial gift they offer each other in the marital embrace,” Nolte said. “In contrast, when couples use contraceptives, there is an underlying message that says ‘I don’t trust you with my fertility; therefore I have to protect myself from you’.”

The Office of Family Life with the Diocese of Corpus Christi sponsors qualified persons trained to teach NFP to other local couples. They are in need of couples interested in teaching NFP at their parish. Anyone interested in joining the Office of Family Life, Natural Family Planning program as a parish representative or NFP instructor, should call Kristie Rutledge at (361) 463-8182 or email [email protected].

“Be open to God’s will; every child is a gift,” Christina Purnell said.