TO INTRODUCE practical and economical family planning for the poor of Payatas, the Institute of Church and Social Issues (ICSI) launched last Nov. 19 the “Parish-based Natural Family Planning (NFP) Among the Poor” at the Social Development Complex in the Ateneo de Manila University in Quezon City, in celebration of ICSI’s 20th anniversary.
The NFP program is headed by Fr. John Carroll, S. J. of ICSI’s Church and Family Life Program, in cooperation with Pro-Life Philippines and several other organizations.
The program aims to help spouses plan their families through seminars on periodic abstinence “according to the natural fertility rhythm of the human body”, and through values formation to make informed and responsible family planning decisions.
To improve social consciousness, ICSI also conducted parallel lecture series such as “Twenty Years of Hurdling Urban Homelessness: What Have We Learned?” with Vice President Noli de Castro as guest speaker, and “Rethinking our Responsibility to the Earth: A Christian Response to Global Warming.”
Proceeds from the lectures will be used to support Fr. Carroll’s Payatas Feeding program. Rica May M. Forto
