On Sunday, July 20th, the Natural Family Planning Task Force of the Diocese of Allentown will host a Family Mass to be celebrated at St. Catharine of Siena, Reading, at 11:30 a.m. by His Excellency Bishop Alfred A. Schlert to mark the beginning of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Natural Family Planning Awareness Week.
The USCCB explains on their website that Natural Family Planning Awareness Week highlights the anniversary of Pope Paul VI’s encyclical Humanae Vitae on July 25th “which articulates Catholic beliefs about human sexuality, conjugal love, and responsible parenthood,” and the feast of St. Joachim and Anne, the parents of the Blessed Mother, whose feast day Pope Francis named Word Day for Grandparents and the Elderly.
Bishop Robert Barron, Chairman of the bishops' Committee for Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth for the USCCB, shares in a video that Natural Family Planning Awareness Week is “the Catholic Church’s educational campaign to promote Catholic teaching on marital love and the way that Natural Family Planning can be used to support husbands and wives in living out their vocation.”
Bishop Barron believes that the week is a great opportunity because he believes that Humanae Vitae could not be a more “misunderstood document.”
“The Church is not making a great ‘Thou shalt not’ statement, as it is teaching on human sexuality, marital love, and responsible parenthood. Instead, the Church is proclaiming the beauty and importance of the marital embrace whereby spouses express their love for one another and become sharers in God's creative action,” said Bishop Barron.
“The importance of NFP awareness week, then, is to call spouses to live out the truth of this inseparable connection, but also to remind them that the church is a good mother who walks with them, to support them to fully live their vocation.”
Following the Family Mass, a picnic run by the Natural Family Task Force of the Diocese of Allentown will be held. If you plan to attend the picnic, please RSVP here.
The address for St. Catharine of Siena in Reading is 4975 Boyertown Pike, Reading, PA 19606.
For more information, you may view the flyer here.
To learn more about the USCCB’s Natural Family Planning Awareness week visit https://www.usccb.org/topics/natural-family-planning/national-nfp-awareness-week.
