Can Natural Family Planning actually damage a marriage?
Many couples quietly struggle with NFP — feeling disconnected, frustrated, or even resentful — and wonder if something is wrong with them, their marriage, or the Church’s teaching.

In this episode, we respond honestly and pastorally to five of the most common objections to Natural Family Planning and offer practical guidance for couples who want unity, intimacy, and peace — not pressure or guilt.

In this episode, we cover:
1️⃣ “Feeling that NFP doesn’t really work — it’s too complicated or unreliable.”
2️⃣ The emotional and sexual strain caused by long abstinence periods.
3️⃣ What to do when spouses disagree on when or why to use NFP.
4️⃣ Is NFP basically the same as contraception?
5️⃣ How to navigate marriage when one spouse struggles to accept NFP.

Rather than defending NFP with theory alone, we focus on how NFP is lived inside real marriages — including communication, sacrifice, desire, resentment, and love. This conversation is especially for couples who feel exhausted by oversimplified answers and want something deeper, more human, and more faithful.

If you’re asking:
 • Why does NFP feel so hard in our marriage?
 • Is abstinence damaging our intimacy?
 • Are we using NFP for the right reasons?
 • How do we stay united when we disagree?

— this episode is for you.

We wrote a Catholic sex book! Check it out: Order LOVEMAKING!  

Our other books
Go To Joseph: 10 Day Consecration to St. Joseph
Go To Joseph For Children

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Thank you all for your ongoing support. We love what we do and pray that it is a blessing to you and your families. If you are benefitting in some way from what we're doing read and subscribe to our Substack: https://twobecomefamily.substack.com/

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What does every married couple need to understand about sex—especially when conversations online say things like “men don’t need sex”?

In this episode, we unpack 5 essential truths about sex in marriage that are often misunderstood, oversimplified, or argued about without enough clarity. While it’s true that no one needs sex to physically survive, reducing sexual intimacy to something optional—or purely personal—can quietly damage a marriage over time.

We explore why sexual desire isn’t just about pleasure, release, or pressure, but about desiring the spouse as a whole person. We also address the real fears many people carry into conversations about sex—fear of being used, objectified, or reduced to a body—and why those fears are sometimes justified and sometimes misplaced.

Most importantly, we present a vision of marital sexuality that’s bigger than both obligation and autonomy. When rightly understood, male sexual desire can reflect Christ’s self-giving love and pursuit of His Church, transforming sex from a battleground into a place of unity, trust, and mutual gift.

In this episode, we cover:
 • Why men don’t need sex to survive—but marriages do need sexual intimacy
 • How sexual desire goes beyond pleasure and points toward the spouse as a person
 • Why the phrase “men don’t need sex” can confuse the lived experience of male sexuality
 • How fear of being used or objectified shapes misunderstandings about sex
 • How male desire, properly ordered, can mirror Christ’s love for His Church

We wrote a Catholic sex book! Check it out: Order LOVEMAKING!  

Our other books
Go To Joseph: 10 Day Consecration to St. Joseph
Go To Joseph For Children

SUPPORT OUR APOSTOLATE
Thank you all for your ongoing support. We love what we do and pray that it is a blessing to you and your families. If you are benefitting in some way from what we're doing read and subscribe to our Substack: https://twobecomefamily.substack.com/

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In this episode, we expose 5 modern lies about sex that are quietly destroying marriages, even Christian ones. We dig into why couples experience disconnection, resentment, and confusion around intimacy, not because they don’t love each other, but because they’ve absorbed cultural messages that distort the truth about sex, marriage, and the human person.

We’ll break open the myths many couples believe:

• that sex is mainly about individual pleasure instead of relational meaning and self-gift

• that sex is a “need” you require to feel complete or healthy

• that sex is the primary or only form of intimacy in a relationship

• that sex becomes optional or unnecessary in a long-term committed marriage

• that sexual autonomy and personal desire should be prioritized over unity and harmony

You’ll learn why these lies lead to loneliness, emotional distance, and frustration between husbands and wives—and what Scripture, Catholic tradition, and real experience reveal about the true purpose of sex: union, vulnerability, communion, and sacrificial love.

If you want a richer marital intimacy—not just more frequency—this conversation will challenge the assumptions shaping your expectations. Whether you’re dating, engaged, newly married, or decades into marriage, this episode will help you rediscover sex as a spiritual, emotional, and relational gift—not a commodity, pressure, or performance.

We wrote a Catholic sex book! Check it out: Order LOVEMAKING!  

Our other books
Go To Joseph: 10 Day Consecration to St. Joseph
Go To Joseph For Children

SUPPORT OUR APOSTOLATE
Thank you all for your ongoing support. We love what we do and pray that it is a blessing to you and your families. If you are benefitting in some way from what we're doing read and subscribe to our Substack: https://twobecomefamily.substack.com/

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Check out the Inito Fertility Monitor and use code MON15 at check out!

We wrote a Catholic sex book! Check it out: Order LOVEMAKING!  

Our other books
Go To Joseph: 10 Day Consecration to St. Joseph
Go To Joseph For Children

SUPPORT OUR APOSTOLATE
Thank you all for your ongoing support. We love what we do and pray that it is a blessing to you and your families. If you are benefitting in some way from what we're doing read and subscribe to our Substack: https://twobecomefamily.substack.com/

Our Apostolate
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Story of All Stories by Emily Stimpson Chapman and Word on Fire

We wrote a Catholic sex book! Check it out: Order LOVEMAKING!  

Our other books
Go To Joseph: 10 Day Consecration to St. Joseph
Go To Joseph For Children

SUPPORT OUR APOSTOLATE
Thank you all for your ongoing support. We love what we do and pray that it is a blessing to you and your families. If you are benefitting in some way from what we're doing read and subscribe to our Substack: https://twobecomefamily.substack.com/

Our Apostolate
About Us
Connect with us and send us a message on Instagram
YouTube Channel

Support the show

We wrote a Catholic sex book! Check it out: Order LOVEMAKING!  

Our other books
Go To Joseph: 10 Day Consecration to St. Joseph
Go To Joseph For Children

SUPPORT OUR APOSTOLATE
Thank you all for your ongoing support. We love what we do and pray that it is a blessing to you and your families. If you are benefitting in some way from what we're doing read and subscribe to our Substack: https://twobecomefamily.substack.com/

Our Apostolate
About Us
Connect with us and send us a message on Instagram
YouTube Channel

Support the show

We wrote a Catholic sex book! Check it out: Order LOVEMAKING!  

Our other books
Go To Joseph: 10 Day Consecration to St. Joseph
Go To Joseph For Children

SUPPORT OUR APOSTOLATE
Thank you all for your ongoing support. We love what we do and pray that it is a blessing to you and your families. If you are benefitting in some way from what we're doing read and subscribe to our Substack: https://twobecomefamily.substack.com/

Our Apostolate
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Mentioned in this episode: Inito Monitor use code MON15!

We wrote a Catholic sex book! Check it out: Order LOVEMAKING!  

Our other books
Go To Joseph: 10 Day Consecration to St. Joseph
Go To Joseph For Children

SUPPORT OUR APOSTOLATE
Thank you all for your ongoing support. We love what we do and pray that it is a blessing to you and your families. If you are benefitting in some way from what we're doing read and subscribe to our Substack: https://twobecomefamily.substack.com/

Our Apostolate
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Buy Emily’s book: http://stpaulcenter.co/AroundtheCatholicTable use code Monica20 for a discount!

We wrote a Catholic sex book! Check it out: Order LOVEMAKING!  

Our other books
Go To Joseph: 10 Day Consecration to St. Joseph
Go To Joseph For Children

SUPPORT OUR APOSTOLATE
Thank you all for your ongoing support. We love what we do and pray that it is a blessing to you and your families. If you are benefitting in some way from what we're doing read and subscribe to our Substack: https://twobecomefamily.substack.com/

Our Apostolate
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What are the top 6 reasons we don't give our kids smartphones or personal devices? In today's episode we lay them out and then we give you our *new* favorite alternative!

Check out the Gabb Phone 4 use code TWOBECOMEFAMILY at checkout!

Read "Anxious Generation" by Jonathan Haidt

Read "The Tech Exit" by Clare Morell

We wrote a Catholic sex book! Check it out: Order LOVEMAKING!  

Our other books
Go To Joseph: 10 Day Consecration to St. Joseph
Go To Joseph For Children

SUPPORT OUR APOSTOLATE
Thank you all for your ongoing support. We love what we do and pray that it is a blessing to you and your families. If you are benefitting in some way from what we're doing read and subscribe to our Substack: https://twobecomefamily.substack.com/

Our Apostolate
About Us
Connect with us and send us a message on Instagram
YouTube Channel

Support the show