Third in a series

GENESEO — Darin Ries and Molly McKean aren’t getting married until next month, but they’ve already taken out insurance on their life together. They call it natural family planning.

“The thing that almost every NFP teacher will tell you is that studies have shown that this is marriage insurance,” Darin said. “The reason for that is if you can talk about your sexuality and talk about it openly and on a regular basis, you can talk about anything.

“Aside from the fact that you’re putting your faith right out there on the table, it requires that you both are talking about where you’re at and that you’re on the same page,” he told The Catholic Post after taking instruction in the Creighton Model FertilityCare System with Molly.

“It’s great that in using natural family planning you have to have a conversation about pregnancy every month,” Molly said, adding that it affects everything a couple faces. “There’s a whole range of things you have to talk about instead of sweeping things under the rug.”

That conversation is fostered by the marriage preparation policies of the Diocese of Peoria. Among the requirements is that couples take either a course in natural family planning or a daylong Christian Sexuality Workshop, which includes an introduction to natural family planning.

“We fully expect to use NFP and want to make sure we go on the basis of the methods,” Molly said, explaining why she and Darin opted to focus on natural family planning.

“With the Christian Sexuality Workshop you can only get so much into a limited amount of time. The more preparation we could get the better,” she said.

“We want, in our household, to foster a culture of life. This is the way to do that,” according to Darin.

Darin proposed to Molly through an ad in the June 15 issue of The Catholic Post, and she said “yes.” Their wedding is scheduled for Nov. 8 at St. John the Baptist Church in Bradford.

Editor’s note — The Catholic Post will continue to follow Darin and Molly as their wedding approaches. More information about the marriage preparation process in the Diocese of Peoria and their experiences will be featured in upcoming issues.