The Executive Committee of the Australian Council of Natural Family Planning (ACNFP) held one of its three face-to-face meetings for the year in Parramatta on the weekend of 14-15 April.
The ACNFP is the peak body in Australia which is responsible for training and accreditation of educators in the Sympto-Thermal Method (STM) of Natural Family Planning and Family Life Education.
Australian Council of Natural Family Planning.
It was 50 years ago this year that Pope Blessed Paul VI issued his encyclical “Humanae Vitae” in which he urged the medical community, the Bishops and the laity to promote, study and implement programs to develop methods of family planning which would be in tune with nature, effective, safe and open to life.
As a response to this call, the Australian Catholic Bishops, through the ACBC, encouraged the establishment of Natural Family Planning (NFP) centres in most dioceses around the country. Couples could come to those centres to learn how to manage their fertility and use NFP.
The ACNFP was set up with the support of the Catholic bishops to be responsible for the training and accreditation of educators and to provide up-to-date client materials and information to enable the reliable and confident use of the method amongst not only Catholic couples, but the whole community. Now couples can also seek out an accredited educator by going to the ACNFP website at www.acnfp.com.au.
Couples are taught by their educator to observe and record certain signs and symptoms which are apparent through the woman’s cycle. By doing this they become aware of their fertility and can make choices about whether they wish to avoid or achieve a pregnancy in any given cycle.
For more information on Natural Family Planning, contact Natural Fertility Services of the Diocese of Parramatta.
P: 02 8838 3460
M: 0400 427 605
E: nfs@parracatholic.org or catherine.bourne@parracatholic.org
W: www.parralmf.org.au/nfs
