I’ve had various comments, here and on FaceBook, that basically involve folks asking questions or speculating about whether specific questions are going to be answered. So I figured that I would post the table of contents that I’m planning to work from. These are questions that I gathered probably between a year and six months ago and that I’ve organized thematically, to deal with the different types of situations that people face. So some of it is directed to those who are looking to practice NFP and who want practical intel on how that is likely to look, and how they can navigate some of the difficulties. Some of it is more cerebral, dealing with the intellectual and philosophical questions surrounding the Church’s teaching.
Introduction: Why do we need another book about NFP?
Part One: Advice for Newcomers
Why is NFP allowed, but not ABC?
Will NFP work for me?
Failure rates?
What if my spouse says “No”?
What are “grave reasons” for avoiding pregnancy?
How much abstinence will we need to practice?
Which method should we use?
What exactly does ‘abstinence’ entail?
What does ‘marriage-building’ mean?
Part Two: Stumbling Blocks
Why is this nothing like they said in the pamphlets?
Avoiding vs. Spacing
How do we navigate sexual frustration?
Wife is only interested during fertile days, what do we do?
We have massively differing libidos and it’s causing problems
Finding time for one another with a growing family
Finding time for existing children
Charting problems
Money problems
Where can we get support?
We keep getting pregnant, what do we do?
Part Three: Wit’s End
Hard case: severe poverty
Hard case: maternal health
Hard case: parental exhaustion
Hard case: irregular cycles
Hard case: marital breakdown
Hard case: adultery
Hard case: porn addiction
Hard case: special needs
Hard case: infertility
Hard case: marital rape
Part Four: How did we get here?
What did Augustine believe about sexuality and marriage?
How did things change with Thomas Aquinas?
What was the situation on the ground like in the past?
What are the relevant modern Vatican documents and what do they teach?
What happened with the Papal birth control commission?
Why did Paul VI condemn contraception?
John Paul II: Evangelium Vitae
John Paul II: Theology of the Body
Part Five: Causes of dissent
Do the natural law arguments make sense?
Demographic changes and overpopulation
Is a celibate priesthood qualified to teach on this?
Exclusion of women from the discourse
St. Paul and prolongued abstinence
The Protestants and the Eastern Orthodox
The scandal of Unicorn Oil
Ecclesiastic erotophobia
Lack of Scriptural support
The unitive goods of sex
Women as Catholic-making machines
Part 6: There must be some kind of way out of here
Development of Doctrine
How infallible?
Winnepeg (and other related) Statements
Oikonomia and the Eastern tradition
The law of double-effect
Improved methods
The snip-and-wash solution
Conscientious dissent
Dissenting obedience
What can the Church do to help?
Conclusion: What if the Church is wrong? What if the Church is right?
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