National NFP Awareness Week

July 22 through the 28 is National NFP Awareness Week! Because of this I thought I would list some sites I find useful in learning more about NFP.

Some of these sites have also helped me feel like my husband and I are part of a larger community. This is important because as individuals, we’ve come across a lot of misunderstanding, negativity, and even downright cruelty toward our beliefs and teachings. Getting on Facebook and seeing that someone else believes in the power and joy that NFP can open doors to helps us in our efforts to keep promoting NFP where it might not be as generously accepted.

First off, as a Couple to Couple League teaching couple in training, I have to promote CCL and their website. On the website you can find what type of NFP they promote, Sympto-Thermal Method, a little bit about the method, and why they teach it. The website also deconstructs some myths about NFP, gives reasons to use NFP as opposed to contraceptives, and includes testimonials from couples who use NFP for a variety of reasons.

CCLI.org is where I first learned more about NFP and how Ben and I enrolled in classes so we could apply it to our lives.

Since contraception is considered a grave sin in the Catholic Church, NFP is the obvious choice if you are avoiding a pregnancy, and it 100 percent supported by the Church. As such, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has some good information on their site. It is a very comprehensive list of all the Church documents and scripture that supports the teaching against contraception. Think of the documents as really intense sermons. There are even some MP3s if you don’t feel like reading. And if you are just dying for more, there is also a list of current medical research on the topic of contraception and NFP.

NFP and Me is a blog written by Katie, a young, married, medical student. It was also one of the first places online I found that helped support my decision to switch from contraceptives to NFP. I’m happy to say she didn’t stop there. There is now a Facebook page and a brand new website (literally a few days old) called IuseNFP. The website is designed to be a comprehensive and fun site. It is non-religious and promotes knowing your body, respect of all life, and strong families. I’m so excited this is out there and highly recommend you check it out today and in the future as it will be growing.

Another brand new site (they are popping out of the woodwork! Wonder why…) is 1flesh.org. This site was created to encourage married couples to discontinue contraceptives and to take up NFP. Again this site is not religiously affiliated and has some of the coolest graphics. They encourage visitors to spread these graphics as a way of promoting NFP, but they are just downright, cool art as well. So if you like it, print it, pin it, and promote it.

Living the Sacrament, A Catholic NFP Community has both a website and Facebook page (but really, who doesn’t nowadays). It was created in 2010 by women who felt there needed to be a Catholic NFP Support Forum. Since that time they have been answering questions about NFP and life as a wife, mother, or human being in general. They have some pretty good links to the various types of NFP methods as well, so check those out.

So those are just a few of the sites out there that help promote NFP through education and community building. I hope you’ll take the time to browse them, comment, and expand your own knowledge base concerning NFP. I know I did thanks to each of these sites, and I truly appreciate all the hard work and continual effort it takes to maintain them and keep positive.