Diocesan Resources
Requiring A Course of Natural Family Planning in Marriage Preparation from the Diocese of Wichita (2016)
Requiring A Course of Natural Family Planning in Marriage Preparation from the Diocese of Wichita by Becky Knapp, Program Coordinator of Natural Family Planning, Diocese of Wichita, Office of Marriage and Family Life
Prior to the current Marriage Preparation Policy for the Diocese of Wichita, there was a common policy for the four dioceses in Kansas. In recent years, the concern over the decline in marriages and the increase of couples living together without the benefit of the Sacrament of Marriage prompted a response and increased efforts from our local church, the Catholic Diocese of Wichita.
In 2013, recognizing the need for an updated Marriage Preparation Policy, then Wichita Bishop, Most Rev. Michael Jackels, tasked Jake Samour, the recently hired director of the newly formed Office of Marriage and Family Life, to assist with the development of a Marriage Preparation Policy for the Diocese of Wichita. As part of this development, Jake then formed the Marriage Preparation Policy Task Force which included various members of the diocese with a special interest in marriage preparation. This included teachers of Natural Family Planning (NFP), Engaged Encounter couples, and couples who had specifically responded when asked for input. This Task Force met for the next year on a regular basis to develop and discern the components of a great marriage preparation program.
Part of the components discerned and agreed upon by Task Force members was that engaged couples need more than just an introduction to NFP if they are to incorporate the values of Church teaching on responsible parenthood into their marriages. If NFP is to become a “way of life,” then couples would need training and solid education. Since the Diocese of Wichita offers both the Sympto-Thermal Method through the Couple to Couple League (CCL) and cervical mucus methods through Family of the Americas, Billings Ovulation Method™, and the Creighton Model Fertility Care System™, it was determined that an NFP Task Force should be created to develop a brochure that would be used throughout the diocese to promote NFP and to contribute to the language of the marriage preparation policy.