ar we generall welcome to mosaic. we talk about religion on this show today we will shift and talk more in the nature of nc 50 or 60 years ago there was scientific discoveries in human biology that have since been studied and developed into a system that is effective when used properly. the treatment is safe for humans and its natural, organic, and has no side effects. it's noninvasive.

california is at the leading edge of new technology that is holistic and sustainable. this is the only one of 50 states with an association devoted to the promotion of the system. most people know nothing about it. the sense that i'm referring to is known as natural family planning. our guest today is a married couple that are teachers of this science. we are talking about it today because this year is the 50th anniversary of the famous letter of pope paul the sixth. the transmission of human life. the pope explains why this particular application of medical science is approved and recommended by the catholic church. after this break please, join us to examine the state of marriage in the half-century since the book. so how was work?

sam: it was thirteen hundred hours. my math class, room 302, was in the trenches. davy roth had it the worst. fractions were coming at him left and right. he just didn't get the damn things. two days ago, i tried to teach him what 1/4 of 1/2 was using different sizes of blocks. yesterday, i tried again by dividing up pizza. both missions failed. rachel: oh no. sam: but today...i was ready. sam: i created a combat math game where the only way to beat the enemy is to out-fraction them. davy conquered every last denominator. my game was so successful, the principal is deploying it to math squadrons all over the school. rachel: wow! sam: anyhoo, how was your day? rachel: oh, uhh... today my boss treated the office to salad wraps. sam: mmm, salad wraps. rachel: i know.

our guests are a married couple. maria and carlos. they are a married couple a catholic couple believe carlos is a recent convert to the catholic church. they are here to tell us about natural family planning.

i know you are practitioners of this and you have become teachers of this. i would like you to tell us about it. can you tell us something about your background? >> we have been married for 8 1/2 years and we have been happily married. that's how we feel. >> when you count half years you know it's marriage. >> i love to be married. we are both software engineers. we work in the bay area. we have three little boys. we are a little bit busy but also enjoying them. they have 7, 2. we have been practicing nfp since day one. we decided to become teachers two years ago when we have been teaching the method for two

years. we are excited about it. we belong to [ inaudible ] which is a nonprofit organization. we are volunteers. we get prepared there and train there. we really love it. >> i know something about your story which is you are catholic and you are interested in natural family planning. carlos, was not? what was that like? >> i am a cradle catholic. i went to catholic school, and i always knew that the catholic church approved of the natural family planning methods. they were not supportive of contraceptive. i wanted to use natural family planning when i got married. carlos, had a different faith background and he was raised protestant, and he didn't know

anything about natural family planning. >> many catholics don't. >> none of my friends but i grew up with new or believed it worked. they thought it was non- intellectual or something from the past that our parents used that didn't work. >> you saw value in it. at that time you hadn't read humanae vitae. this was not approached from philosophy. >> for me it was me wanting to follow the churches rules, but i didn't really understand the theology behind it. when i told carlos, i wanted to use this method he started challenging me and i really didn't have the answers.

at that point i started doing more research. it was later that we came to read the humanae vitae. >> this difference or reluctance on your part might have stopped the marriage from taking place? >> months before we got married we took the class. i realized about the abstinence periods. it did not make much sense from the beginning. i did not believe in the teaching of the church. i was protestant so i didn't really. i love mariana. she is cradle catholic. that's what attracted me to her. she was very faithful to her faith. me being a man of faith i could respect that she was very [ inaudible ] following the teaching. i panicked a little bit because i felt like this was touching

an important part of marriage. i heard intimacy in marriage is very important. to me that translated to okay, -- that's how i understood it. this sounded like a big thing so i did not accept it. i told her you know what, we should postpone the wedding. we already have a plan for the wedding. i think we need to postpone because it is a big issue. i don't want a divorce. yes, i love her. in the end we talked it was a sacrifice for me to accept this. my mind has changed since then. >> you have practiced it and understood the teachings.

i think in most people's minds that don't know anything about it it's associated with the word abstinence. it's associated with self denial. if i was approaching marriage i would think, wait a minute, marriage is already about self- sacrifice and self-denial. one of the benefits is sex and romance with your wife or husband whenever you need it. what is the point of this? you are doubtful. >> i think the main problem that he was facing was that it sounded like a restriction on married life. when he challenged me yeah, it kind of did not make sense. to me it was a matter of conscience. even though i did not understand it i didn't feel i couldn't not follow that rule. >> your conscience guided you and your love for you her guided you in this direction. we need to know what nfp actually is and how it's

practice. we will take a brief break now and talk further about this when we come back. so how was work?

sam: it was thirteen hundred hours. my math class, room 302, was in the trenches. davy roth had it the worst. fractions were coming at him left and right. he just didn't get the damn things. two days ago, i tried to teach him what 1/4 of 1/2 was using different sizes of blocks. yesterday, i tried again by dividing up pizza. both missions failed. rachel: oh no. sam: but today...i was ready. sam: i created a combat math game where the only way to beat the enemy is to out-fraction them. davy conquered every last denominator. my game was so successful, the principal is deploying it to math squadrons all over the school. rachel: wow! sam: anyhoo, how was your day? rachel: oh, uhh... today my boss treated the office to salad wraps. sam: mmm, salad wraps. rachel: i know.

inc. you, for joining us in the discussion of humanae vitae and natural family planning. we introduced it by talking about the science of it and emphasizing that. i want to let you know i went to a website with scientific frauds and bad reporting. the editor of this real clear sciences he expected to find natural family planning is based on bogus science. he said no, in fact natural family planning is extremely effective when it's used properly. he couldn't deny it. a little concession from a secular person.

i think we are finding the same sort of things from people whose specialties are infertility awareness and so on. people who are trying to achieve pregnancy rather than postpone pregnancy has an effect there. we have not very much knowledge of what it actually is. >> natural family planning is fertility awareness. it's to know as a woman you can know during your cycle when you are fertile and when you are not. at any given time during the cycle as a woman i can know if i'm fertile or not. as a couple weekend aside whether we want to achieve pregnancy or postpone it. >> these signs have to do with the heat of your body, the fluids in your body, and what else? >> it's three signs. cervical mucus, body temperature

when we are in resting mode. when we wake up the first thing we do is take the temperature. it was noticed by the end of the 1800s that women's body temperature will rise 5.4 fahrenheit after ovulation occurred. -- .4 fahrenheit after ovulation occurred. >> they found other signs that made sense. when pope paul wrote humanae ta known, right? the practice of the use was still being developed? >> yeah, i read there were some studies released around the time that humanae vitae was released. the temperature only methods were proving to be 99%

effective. i think it was later in the 70s that the rules for the thermal method using the three signs crosschecking ovulation happening, i think those rules were developed in the 70s. >> it was in 1971, when it was created. a couple got inspired by humanae vitae. they saw a need to teach couples about the method and formalize it. make it easier to understand so they can learn. it was in 1971, three years after humanae vitae , when the couple was starting to science and the pope brought his letter

saying this is what catholics should do. i think researchers were catholic or people that were like-minded and thought we needed to make this effective, safe, and stable. that has happened. what you teach is genuine science and biology. >> i think with our background in technology and science, i, didn't believe in it to be honest. i didn't think it was going to work. every time i heard someone use natural family planning they had a ton of kids. at that time i did not understand. i think as we started learning about it i was fascinated by how our bodies work and how effective it is. >>it seems to me -- you are in

a systematic program and volunteer as teachers. where at? >> we have been helping different dioceses mainly in san francisco and oakland. we also go to santa rosa and teach classes. we can be contacted for any different area. we do introductory classes to explain the method. it's not really to learn it's just to inform people about it. we do the class series. it is three classes separated by one month. >> i think most diocese require a ie to take a course to become knowledgeable? >> it depends on the diocese and the parish. some parishes are starting to move towards that.

i think it's really good that couples learn about this natural organic way of planning a family. many times we have, crossed couples not knowing about this or having misconceptions. they think of it as the, rhythm method. that's the old-style accounting calendar days of the woman cycle. >> with the couples we teach many times they come to us and say, i don't think this will work for me because i don't have regular cycles they change every time. we say no, this works for women >> i have read that as well. it's not about calendar days or duration of time it's current symptoms from your body. i will say this is still sounds like all the responsibility is on the woman. she has to monitor herself and so on. a question that would come up i

think as couples learn this is what's the man's part? >> that is what i am happy about . i am involved. in the beginning i didn't like it much. i did not get too involved. once i understood and i saw how perfect for me a woman's body is and the cycles and all of that, i started to help. it is our mission to involve both. >> a collaboration. we are going to take a brief break and

welcome back. we are talking about natural family planning and hope paul's letter humanae vitae about human life. the pope predicted there is a passage in this letter about the f the contraceptive culture. he figured the possibilities would arise of more marital infidelity and weakening of marriage. the possible imposition of

contraceptive practice on people by governments and things of that nature. we do see some of these difficulties arising in the world of marriage and sexuality and so on. i don't think as a society we are in a happy place since the sexual revolution and the contraceptive culture. things are difficult and many scientists are examining this in writing about it. that is just a brief look at some of the consequences that are possible. what we are focusing on today is your understanding of the benefits and depth of the practice of this natural family planning with or without a popes say-so. if the pope hadn't said so, would you still be doing this if you discovered it by accident? >> yeah, i would do it. i still would like to do it. it has so many benefits.

i initially started to pass. i started to see good things in our marriage. the first thing i saw during abstinence. it was we had to do something else. we didn't have to be physical to show our love. we were creative and we were doing some other things. that gave us a lot of space to talk which is very important in marriage. communication. it was not like that when we ied we have th once abstinence. we talked a lot and it gave us an opportunity to learn each other better. >> that is significant. i think males don't understand the need for conversation. it's not natural perhaps to them. the woman wants conversation. there you are. >> the second thing that i

started to notice is that -- it was important to me. i started to have more self- control around my sexuality and my thoughts. that was something that i thought was okay for me to think about sex. because of nfp i start canceling those thoughts. i realized i would like my wife to know that i'm thinking this. that helped me and i felt relieved. now, i can control thist. ia. gor my i am faithful to mycaof me bett staying married forever. >> what about you?

i'll talk to you about this a little and i think you found it renewed the romance from month to month because of the agreement that you would not be intimate during a certain period . >> for me just knowing that carlos, loved me just the way i am and without me having to do anything with my body just by learning whether i am fertile or not, i think one other benefit is this creates an abstinence. and it creates anticipation of when you will be together again. i think it's really good to keep the flame alive of the marriage, love, and attraction. i think as years go by this really helps break the monotony. >> we typically say that the wives marry wonderful men and try to change them. it sounds

like carlos has changed for the better. >> yeah, for me the big impact for nfp is not only that i have a better relationship with my wife it's also my relationship with god. at the beginning i was raised protestant, but then i understood what was behind nfp teaching and it got me interested in the catholic religion. they are right. i wanted to learn more about the catholic church and i started studying the eucharist, and baptism. i started to believe. to the point that in january it was my first communion and february was my confirmation. i am fully into the catholic church. i feel in peace and really excited. >> we only have about a minute left but i think i want you to address women and tell them what they should get from this. we are not looking to convert

husbands to catholicism but how can you reassure women about this and what should it mean to her? >> i would like women to know that there are options available for them. this is not a wide spread knowledge. i think if women learn more about their bodies and learn how to use natural family planning without the need of adding chemicals i think that will free them. >> thank you, very much. can we show a slide where we can get more information on natural family planning? >> here on the screen we see the life science website. you can find all about the letter from 1968. humanae vitae is a a controversial document. it is very interesting. in the next slide to learn more about natural family planning the san francisco archdiocese of marriage and family life.

click on the website and look for marriage and family life and you can find out everything you need to know and there is links to all kinds of resources. i have had the pleasure of meeting your sons. thank you, for joining us. thank you, for joining us on mosaic.

live from the cbs bay area studios this is kpix 5 news. homes chart, and lives taken this morning in the deadly carr fire. >> another fire in napa county we will have the latest on all of the wildfires. >> i'm at the starting line for the san francisco marathon. it is 6:00 a.m. on sunday, july 29, good morning. >> >> we are happy this morning. we have some great