What does the Catholic Church teach concerning family planning?

"Marriage: Love and Life in the Divine Plan"

To find out more, click the link above that leads to the USCCB document. With this document the bishops seek to provide explanation of Catholic teaching on conjugal love and responsible parenthood in an easy-to-read question and answer format.  As you will see, its style is informal and engaging.  The intended audiences are engaged couples, married couples, and others who do not understand these Church teachings.  It is meant to open the door to the hearts of couples so that God's truth can take seed.

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Released in July 2022, this is a complete introduction to the science, methodology, theology and lived experience of Natural Family Planning. The video covers the following elements:

• Defining terms associated with Natural Family Planning
• A complete overview of the female fertility cycle
• Detailed information on the following four NFP Methods
  • The Billings Ovulation Method
  • The Creighton Model
  • The Sympto-Thermal Method
  • Using Fertility Monitors to Track Key Hormones
• Theological foundations of Natural Family Planning
• Testimony from couples answering the following questions:
  • How did you discover NFP?
  • Is it easy to learn?
  • Does NFP benefit your health?
  • How does it impact intimacy?
  • Can you trust NFP?

Vitae Fertility Education

Vitae teaches in one-on-one teaching sessions using a secure online video platform—our services are available to clients all over the world. Daytime, weekend, and evening appointments are available — whatever suits your schedule best, regardless of what timezone you’re in.

You can register for an online class directly or get a preliminary consultation to see what would work best.

Vitae Fertility - Clergy Education and Parish Materials

LA Planificacion Familiar Natural - clases EN español En línea

laudate family planning

MYCATHOLICDOCTOR.COM

Couple to Couple League and the Sympto-Thermal Method

Couple to Couple League and the Sympto-Thermal Method: Attend a course and learn a natural method of family planning that is safe, effective, morally acceptable and good for your marriage through the Sympto-Thermal method. Great for achieving as well as postponing pregnancy. Classes are available in person and online. If you are interested in becoming a Natural Family Planning instructor or official promoter, CCL offers these opportunities as well for free. Couple to Couple League also offers NFP courses live online with a teaching couple or at your own pace with a supervising teaching couple. Live classes in our diocese are offered in Pensacola, Niceville, and Panama City.
The Couple to Couple League "PeakDay" app is available on the Apple app store and via Google Play!

The Creighton Model

The Creighton Model is a reproductive science that teaches couples about their fertility and offers natural medical treatment for infertility and other woman's health issues in a holistic manner.  The Creighton model relies on a woman's cervical mucus symptoms to closely track fertility signs via charting. After an introductory class, Creighton users receive private, one on one instruction from their instructor over the course of one year. Follow-ups occur regularly following the initial 12 month period of instruction. Classes for The Creighton Model are now being offered in Milton and Panama City.

The Billings Ovulation Method

The Billings Ovulation Method: Couples using the Billings Ovulation Method® track the woman's natural and unique signs of fertility and infertility each day. Based on the primary observation of sensation, four simple rules are applied within the woman's cycle (the first three rules are used before ovulation and the fourth rule is applied once the fertile phase is over) based on a couple's desire to achieve or postpone pregnancy. Contact Deacon Santiago Molina in the Tallahassee/Quincy area at [email protected] for more information on this method.

Teacher Training for Billings Method contact Deacon Santiago Molina [email protected] for more information 

The Marquette Model brings 21st-century technology to NFP by using urine fertility biomarkers collected at home that measure hormone levels. These biomarkers can be used in conjunction with cervical mucus or basal body temperature and an algorithm to confidently determine the woman’s fertile window. The Marquette University College of Nursing Institute for NFP has been providing professional NFP services since 1985. In 1998, a new NFP method using the ClearBlue Easy Fertility Monitor. Today the method has advanced to include several different biomarker devices to detect urinary biomarkers (estrogen, LH, and progesterone).

FEMM Model

FEMM is a comprehensive women’s health and wellness program for optimal fertility health. Their natural, breakthrough, science-based program helps women learn more about their bodies, and how to identify daily hormonal shifts to achieve their health and fertility goals.  Providers offer comprehensive physical and lab workups to diagnose and treat the root cause of health conditions, rather than simply managing symptoms. 1 on 1 support is readily available via telehealth options or here locally in our diocese. In our diocese you can reach out to Julie Baltz, PA-C at [email protected] for instruction in this model.

Each year the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops commemorates Pope St. Paul VI issuing the encyclical Humanae Vitae (On Human Life) during Natural Family Planning Awareness Week. If you haven't yet, take some time to read this brief document and be enriched by its vision for married love rooted in Christ. Fertility Based Awareness Methods are wonderful tools for married couples seeking to live chastely, fruitfully, and prudently in accord with the vows they made on their wedding day. We encourage all Catholics to make use of the resources listed below to learn more about these methods and promote a greater understanding of God's design for married love across our society.

• Couples' stories about the benefits of NFP

• Videos on couples embracing NFP

• A priest's testimony about the benefits of NFP

• NFP Related Prayers and Scriptural Resources

Updated July 30, 2025

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