A Pastoral Letter

Marriage: A Communion Of Life And Love
from The Curt Jester's bishop. See here for his comment on the letter.
I was talking with one of my (married) pregnant patients recently about her family planning. Unlike the majority of my clientele, this was a planned pregnancy - and she had been successfully using calendar rhythm. She told me how after her first baby her doctors had persuaded her to get an IUD and how aghast she was to learn how it actually worked. As soon as she discovered that she had it removed and switched to the only natural method she knew - calendar rhythm. But she was worried about the immediate post-partum period, and how breastfeeding would affect her cycles. I referred her to Sheila Kippley's Breastfeeding and Natural Child-Spacing and also to classes in NFP at the other (Catholic) hospital in the town where I work. This patient, BTW, listed her religion as Protestant on our demographics form.
Poorly catechized Catholics are not just a problem in the USA. I see many women who come from Spanish or Portugese speaking countries, who list their religion as Catholic, who see nothing wrong with sexual activity outside of marriage nor with contraception (married or not). In the limited time I can spend with them, I try to do what I can to encourage chastity for both the married and the unmarried, but when I suggest that abstinence is healthier than birth control for the unmarried, I get looks that suggest I have grown two heads, 4 horns, and scales.