Catholic nurse practitioner writes new booklet on NFP

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Mary Lee Barron

Just in time for Natural Family Planning Awareness Week, a local Catholic nurse practitioner has written a new booklet on natural family planning.

“Natural Family Planning: A Catholic Approach” (Liguori Publications; $4.95), written by Mary Lee Barron, offers a concise introduction to the benefits of NFP. 

Barron is the director of the master’s and doctorate in nursing practice programs at St. Louis University. In 2002, she founded the St. Louis University Nursing Center for Fertility Education, which provides NFP education, direct patient services and research.

The 48-page booklet includes information on the Church’s teachings on marriage and sexuality. It also provides historical background on the Church’s theological developments on human sexuality and contraception — from Pope Pius XI’s encyclical “Casti Connubii” (“On Christian Marriage”) to “Dignitas Personae” (“The Dignity of a Person”), published by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith last year.
Other features of the booklet include a basic explanation of a woman’s fertility, numerous methods of NFP and how artifical contraception and sterilization work. There also is a list of resources for those who want to learn more about NFP.