USCCB's NFP Awareness Poster 2010

[Update: as was pointed out in the comments section, NFP Awareness Week this year has changed to begin July 25th, rather than culminate on the anniversary of Humanae Vitae's release. Take note! You have time!!!]

No pun intended on the title!

How did your NFP Awareness Week begin this weekend? Did your parishes get something going? Posters? Bulletin articles? What’s happening in your area? Or perhaps, what’s not happening in your area?

I had a panic attack last weekend when I realized NFP Awareness Week was coming up and I knew it was completely off my pastor’s radar. To make things more difficult, he’d just left for a trip abroad, so the possibility of getting approval for my ideas was slim. Uggh. I still shot off an email with a bullet point list of ideas. The day after I sent it, I was inundated at work, and never got/ made the time to do any of my things. There’s still time for some of them, I suppose, but Sunday is really the launching point for the week. Here’s my list of things I wanted to do/ advocate:

• Order or print out a couple NFP  Awareness Week Posters–theme this year: “Trust: God has a plan for your marriage”
• Have Prayers of the Faithful taken from the USCCB’s suggested prayers for this week
• A mention in the homily about trusting God and how this relates to our family choices and openness to children
• Have some catchy brochures available in the vestibule–I can just print ones posted online
• Include a bulletin insert (such as the one here) in the bulletin
• Have a bulletin article telling people that I can help answer questions about NFP and family planning.

On a positive note, I was happy to find out that we have four NFP Instructors in the Diocese of Cheyenne (the entire state), when I wasn’t expecting to have more than one or two. One of them is even a Creighton Model Practitioner! So if you’re in Wyoming and looking for an NFP Instructor, shoot me an email!

It is [was] National Vocation Awareness week January 10-16.

[I had written this post a couple weeks ago, but had difficulty with my audio player plugin. Forgive my tardiness. But, hey, every week is vocations awareness week!]

For the average Catholic in the average parish, this means that this will be no different than any other week, except for the marginally motivated pastor who will consider himself the king of vocational volition by inserting an intercession into the prayers of the faithful at Mass. He will, of course, miss the irony that his own pastoral lukewarmness in catechesis about vocations is, in fact *not* an answer to that prayer.

For the achievers in the pastoral pack, clergy and catechetical leaders who 1) actually know that that it’s vocational awareness week, and 2) do a number of things to teach and increase awareness, kudos to you.

Vocations Awareness Week is a week celebrated in the American Catholic Church since 1976 for the purpose of remembering that each person is called to live a life of holiness, and promoting and teaching about the different vocations of the Church.

In honor of this, I’d like to share a talk that I gave to the Madison Serra Club in 2009, called “The link between NFP & Vocations.” (I give my personal vocational story and speak about the community I was a part of for the first half of the talk , so if you’re looking for the NFP part, fast forward a bit.)

(The elephant in the Church, your parish & your homily=NFP.)

Preaching on NFP=Vocations

After nearly two years of working as the Family Planning Coordinator, I came to realize explicitly something that I knew intuitively, which is that fostering authentic family life according to the challenging, but beautiful, teachings of the Church, will bear fruit vocationally for the clergy and consecrated life. In his talk, “Why NFP is a priority in my parish,” Fr. Moreau of Lafayette, Louisiana describes why straightforward preaching about NFP is necessary and how he goes about it in his parish. He goes on to explain the great benefits this brings to individuals, families, and the parish community as a whole, despite the difficulty of taking that leap. The bottom line is: promote NFP in your parish, and you will see the fruits, one of which is increased vitality in vocations discernment.

Holy Families, Holy Vocations

A perfect example of this is Christ the King Parish in Ann Arbor, Michigan. In this NC Register article, “One parish, 15 Seminarians” (full text for NCR subscribers–I’m waiting for permission for the full text), Bob Horning of the Register explains that CTK parish is known as the parish “with all the babies and the seminarians.” Connection? I think so. Promoting the Church’s teaching–which included promoting NFP for those who need it–brings a personal and spiritual fruitfulness that bears fruit in an entire community, trickling down to youth and their vocational discernment.

Further, there’s a profound connection between the vocations to married life and the clergy and consecrated life. This is called complementarity, which means that there’s a spiritual synergy between holy married people/ families and holy clergy/ consecrated persons. There’s a GK Chesterton quote that goes something like (anyone know the exact quote), “Where you find a full monastery, you will find full and holy families.”

“Preaching NFP with success is impossible.”

Preaching on NFP and against contraception isn’t easy, you say. Perhaps not at first, but those who’ve made the conversion from easy, soft preaching to relevant catechetical and NFP preaching say that it becomes easy. It’s like exercising a muscle or establishing any other good habit–the more you do it, the easier and better it becomes. It may be difficult at first, but the more reading and research you do, you develop a vocabulary that has a theological depth, but as you discover authors and speakers who do this for a living, you catch onto their accessible vocabulary, anecdotes, and your preaching becomes more effective.

“People will never go for it.”

First, who cares? You’re not preaching to be popular. Spend some time in front of a crucifix.

Second, believe it or not, people will go for it. Sure, you’ll have your die-hard hard-hearted folks, but they’ll be very few. Most of them won’t even have the courage to speak up, and if they do, God will give you the grace to love them, pray for them, and explain how important and freeing this teaching us. In the end, you have planted a seed, and you have done your duty to the Truth. You are responsible for sharing the free, total, faithful and fruitful teachings of Christ, but you are not responsible for their decision. Pray, hope and don’t worry. You may be shocked, but the majority of people will respond positively, even enthusiastically, to your preaching on on marriage, sexuality, theology of the body and NFP. You’ll be amazed. Don’t believe me? See some of the resources below for the example and testimony of clergy who’ve made this courageous leap.

Clergy Resources (great for lay leaders as well!)

• Humanae Vitae Clergy Packet–packet we put together for clergy in the Diocese of Madison (complete resource list here)
• Why NFP is a priority in My Parish
• A Preachable Message, book of clergy testimonies (including bishops!)
• Reaching the Cafeteria Catholic, a talk to clergy by Patty Schneier
• Prove It, God! (NFP Conversion testimony by Patty Schneier)
• Getting Beyond “I can’t”–small pamphlet with Q& A on preaching NFP
• What a woman should know about Contraception–clergy need to know this in order to relate it to families
• and more….(I don’t want to overwhelm you. Email for more suggestions!)

Preaching on NFP isn’t a silver bullet, lastly. It’s one part of an entire evangelization effort which rests, of course, entirely in prayer, with a focus on the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass celebrated correctly in all its Glory.

Related: Archbishop Carlson links Vocations “crisis” to contraception at Serra Conference.

(Many thanks to Brian Kelly, formerly of Relevant Radio Wisconsin, for recording this talk, and Mary Uhler, editor of the Madison Catholic Herald, for the original invitation.)

AQUINAS COLLEGE HOSTS RENOWNED NFP SPEAKERS
Members of the Pontifical Academy for Life to speak on Natural Family Planning and the “Culture of Life”

Aquinas College will launch its spring-semester lecture series with the visit of two members of the Pontifical Academy for Life, who will speak on Natural Family Planning on January 27, 2010. Dr. Maria del Pilar Calva Mercado, a medical doctor who teaches genetics and bioethics, and Mercedes A. Wilson, appointed by the late pontiff John Paul II as a founding member of the Pontifical Academy for Life in 1994, have organized and participated in various international bioethics congresses and United Nations conferences. Judith Leonard, director of the Office of Family Life and Natural Family Planning for the Diocese of Wichita, Kansas, will also be speaking.

About the Speakers:

Since 1968, Mercedes A. Wilson has been teaching and promoting the Ovulation Method of Natural Family Planning, which is the most widely practiced method around the world. In 1986, she founded the World Organization for the Family, and in 1997 she established the Family of the Americas Foundation. At the request of Pope John Paul II, she organized 23 International Congresses for the Family in Latin America, Europe, Africa and Asia. Additionally, she has received three honorary doctorates and numerous awards for her work in the pro-life/family movement, most recently from Franciscan University at Steubenville.

“Mercedes Wilson has done the world a remarkable service in developing simple, clear NFP instruction that helps couples the world over to be faithful to the Church’s teaching,” said Sister Mary Peter, O.P., president of Aquinas College. “The College is delighted to host someone who exerts such an impressive influence on establishing a ‘culture of life.’”

Dr. Maria del Pilar Calva Mercado teaches genetics and bioethics and has been a member of the Pontifical Academy for Life since 2003. She serves on the Commission for the Family for the Bioethics Council of the Mexican Episcopal Commission and has written numerous articles and given international lectures on NFP.

St. Cecilia Academy Theatre at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, January 27. Reservations are recommended; please call (615) 383-3230 or e-mail lectures@aquinascollege.edu to reserve a seat.

(H/T to Kim at Planning Your Family–the natural way)

Do you belong to the “NFP cult”?

Blogger and Seattle acquaintance Mark Shea recently gave NFPworks a little nod in a post, which has attracted a clergyman in the combox who snarkily calls (and implies that I think this) NFP the “8th Sacrament” and a sympathetic commenter implies that NFP fans are (or can be) “worshippers” of the “NFPcult.”

Now [taking a deep breath]. If you listen to this homily by Fr. Chad Ripperger, FSSP, which isn’t the priest in the combox, but it seems that they must be on the same page. (I’d really like to hear Fr. Perroni affirm this.)

Anyhow, the homily, unlike most watered-down, feel good verbosity is actually catechetical, and really quite decent. I appreciate the frank approach to catechesis that doesn’t underestimate his congregation. (Though I have a feeling this homily wasn’t given in the average suburban parish–I’d like to see that!)

“Contraception is against every category of ‘natural inclination’.” [Amen.]

I like how he begins by explaining the natural law, quoting St. Thomas, giving examples, and then speaks at length about Holy Matrimony and the Nuptial Act. I like what he has to say–even the part where he strongly emphasizes that NFP is only to be used for just, serious and grave reasons! Despite what Fr. Perroni and friends might think of this, I agree! I may not hit people over the head with my “grave reasons stick” when I begin a conversation with a Catholic (or non-Catholic) on contraception, but I believe what HMC teaches, and stick to it.

“Provided you have the right intention…it’s a morally licit thing.” [Amen.]

Then he goes on to articulate that artificial insemination and In Vitro Fertilization violate the unity of meaning of the nuptial act, meaning that they separate the unitive (by diminishing or eliminating the need for a physical union) from the procreative (the openness to children and hopefully conception).

“Some Catholics mistakenly believe that because the Church is pro-family and pro-children, that somehow that means that any means whatsoever is okay to attain having children, and that’s not true. The Church doesn’t allow us to do that precisely because she does not want us to violate the rule of God, and ultimately for us to lose our souls as a result of it.” [Amen.]

But he quickly transitions to his discussion of the Church’s only approved method of postponing pregnancy (as well as achieving pregnancy and diagnosing women’s wellness issues, the latter which he omits, either for brevity or lack of knowledge on this): NFP. Here’s where we transition to a more reactionary slippery slope:

“It is a mortal sin to use NFP without a sufficient reason.” [Well...yes and no. Debatable.]

Diocesan Family Life Offices & NFP Instructors: OUCH.

“The teaching of NFP , however, has become a bit problematic as of late. In addition to the fact that some people treat it like it’s the 8th Sacrament, and somehow or another if you’re not practicing NFP when you’re married that you’re committing sin–it’s silly, and quite frankly, it’s insulting to people’s intelligence.”

“It’s okay to teach philosophy or the philosophical and theological dimensions to NFP in a common group–I don’t have any problem with that; it’s a good thing. (And by common group we mean mixed company, and things of that sort.)”

“But there are practices that have arisen in virtually every diocese in this country in which detailed anatomical descriptions and even pictures of the two genders is given to people in mixed company. Now let me set this up as a scenario: you have  people who are about to get married. The struggle for chastity is extreme already. And then they put pictures in front of them, and then they wonder why they’re fornicating. Hello!? The fact of the matter is that this is putting people in the proximate occasion of sin. It’s mortally sinful to be doing this….But to actually give anatomical details to people before they’re married in mixed company is utterly inappropriate.“

“It’s mortally sinful to be doing this [giving NFP classes to couples before they're married in mixed company]…It’s a sin against modesty!”

Soo…..where to begin?

First, I don’t think being part of the NFP Movement–either by using it, promoting it or teaching it, that it makes one a de facto member of the “NFP cult.” (See my newly revised “About” section to know where I stand on this.)

However, Father does have a point that some people become so devoted to Natural Family Planning, and are so eager to “convert” contraceptive users, that they pitch NFP in such a way as to present it as “Catholic Birth Control” or “Catholic Contraception.” This is wrong, and I hint at this a bit in my “7 Habits” post. It’s true. Sometimes in our enthusiasm for the Church’s teaching against contraception, we give the impression that NFP is a requirement to be holy, and that it’s a given in marriage, when, in fact, NFP (if you’re Catholic), is to be used only to achieve pregnancy, postpone pregnancy for just, serious or grave reasons, or to identify, diagnose and treat women’s wellness issues, including infertility.

Second, I also believe modesty is a vital virtue, one that’s lost on our generation nearly completely. However, to essentially equate an NFP class (and therefore–GASP! Anatomy diagrams!) to pedalling pornography IS RIDICULOUS! Further to accuse nearly every diocesan program (and therefore the individuals running the program, and their bishops!) who sponsors NFP Instruction for the engaged (for most it’s optional, and a few mandatory) OF MORTAL SIN WITHOUT EXCEPTION OR MITIGATION scandalizes me, frankly.

Father clearly leans towards concupiscence with his mention of the “scandal of NFP instruction,” but it seems to me he may not be aware of who the average couple getting married in the Church is. (Now that I think about it, he probably does know and wouldn’t witness the vows of most of the people getting married today.) Diagrams which enable them to learn about and appreciate God’s gift of fertility most likely don’t scandalous those going through NFP Instruction, and certainly wouldn’t scandalize the average couple who frankly are largely already sexuality active and cohabitating.

Prudence is the key to chastity and modesty. Obviously, if a couple has a sensitivity to things sexual or a tendency to lust, and their purity is strong and sensitive, then heck no–stay away from the NFP classes! But by and large, these are not the couples who are going through Engaged Formation in Diocesan programs.

Kyrie Eleison. I’ve gone on long enough. There’s a balance between the “cult of NFP” and the reactionary extremism of aforementioned brands of providentialism as fostered by certain clergy.

What do you think the balance is?

[Update: The discussion in the combox has brought some balanced perspectives, but mostly not. It seems that most people did not listen the homily and statement in question, nor did many care to reply to points made in my actual post. Comments are now closed.]

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the water –Genesis 1.2

It’s very easy to become depressed in the Natural Family Planning world and arena of Humanae Vitae Evangelization. It usually happens that one becomes enthused over the discovery of NFP and the beauty of Humanae Vitae and signs up for the cause, only to be shot down by a stranger, a friend, your parish staff or pastor. It sometimes seems that the NFP world is without form and void, and that darkness is everywhere. It’s very easy to wonder, “Where is the light in this crazy arena of promoting true love and life?”

We see the light sometimes in the fruit of what we do, and we are grateful. However, more often than not, we watch the news, we get criticized, and we receive denial and humiliation in the form of excuses for what is actually just spiritual and pastoral pusillanimity from our leaders. And it’s hard.

In the first and previous article in an “NFP & Marketing” article in Family Foundations, I introduced NFP’s credibility crisis, which, briefly reviewed, goes something like this: NFP usage is low; NFP awareness is low; misunderstanding of NFP is high. Not shocking, is it? I followed my dark inauguration of the facts, however, with a brief look at some of the things NFP advocates are doing right, ranging from grassroots newsletters to researched radio campaigns and encouraging comments from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishop’s queen bee of NFP, Theresa Notare.

There definitely is good news, as I am quick to remind disheartened apostles and crestfallen friends. More and more people are discovering the Church’s teachings on marriage and sexuality. They give up contraception and often reverse their sterilizations. They return to the sacrament of reconciliation, and embrace marital chastity. It is truly awesome. Realistically, though, they are the exception, and not the rule.

It’s been over forty years since Pope Paul VI, whose baptismal name was John the Baptist, played the cultural John the Baptist with Humanae Vitae. He affirmed the constant teaching of Jesus and His Church, and predicted the consequences of the contraceptive revolution. Yet, we are still in desert with NFP amongst Catholics, and we wonder what can we do?

At the core of this crisis is spiritual contraception—a crisis of faith, and the subject of numerous articles from your favorite spiritual writers. However, this is also a crisis of personal initiative, creative solutions and professional finesse. We’re falling short as promoters and marketers of NFP. As a former full-time NFP Coordinator and Promoter, I was and am still often asked, “What on earth can we do to curb this crisis?”

An entire book—indeed, volumes—could be written on suggestions for NFP Promotion, but I will take my cue from Steven Covey on this particular effort, offering a summary of suggestions as the Seven Habits of Highly Effective NFP Promoters:

1.    Know your audience: This is the first rule of any communication, whether it’s an informal conversation, a speech or an NFP marketing effort. Who are you trying to reach with your message: the churched, the unchurched, nominal Catholics, medical professionals, young adults or established married couples? This will determine what kind of language, visual and otherwise, you will use. Also, though you may have a sense for people’s perceptions of NFP, anecdotal evidence (in the words of sociologists) is limited. Empirical and survey-based information is not only extremely helpful but also vital. One such study in progress is taking place at the University of Missouri, Kansas City. The research team led by Jacki Witt aims to study attitudes towards NFP for the purpose of promoting and teaching NFP. This is a definite step in the right direction, and is funded by an NFP grant through the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, the same funding source for Marquette University’s new NFP usage and effectiveness study. Funding from public sources certainly must come with strings attached, but the DHHS isn’t the only source of funding. There are numerous faith-based foundations out there that could be approached to fund a study of such importance. For example, how many dioceses and communities have commissioned studies on pastoral subjects from Georgetown’s Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA)? I can think of several off the top of my head, none of which included an in-depth treatment of NFP related issues. CARA’s not our only source of pastoral-academic brainpower, though. Do a well-publicized call for papers on this very subject, and I’m pretty sure you would net a good number of solid Catholic students and academics from various disciplines to tackle the problem in an intelligent way. Put this information into a consultant or marketing firm’s hands, and the results may just amaze you.

2.    Choose you words carefully: It’s amazing how much can be communicated in the specific words one uses. Tony Weschler, pro-fertility author of the secular classic, “Taking Change of Your Fertility,” may not be on board with Humanae Vitae, but she sure knows how to sell its secular counterpart. For example, she found a greater level of success in speaking about Fertility Awareness Method (FAM), secular NFP, by simply substituting the word “fluid” for “mucus.” Dr. Laurie Heap, a physician and NFP teacher in Kansas has found similar success in her parish-based NFP overview program, “Are You Healthy? Are You Happy?” a CD and workbook set which approaches the average highly secularized Catholic with more palatable language, incorporating relational and simplified science. Dr. Heap is also an NFP Teacher for the Creighton Method, which uses different language to emphasize the health and wellness factor in NFP. Creighton Method actually refers to their method as FertilityCare™, and their teachers as practitioners, which might throw some people off, but helps them to lose some of the cultural baggage that comes with people’s perceptions of NFP. Finally, I have a couple suggestions for speaking about NFP in general that have helped me to communicate more accurately and effectively. First, refer to non-approved methods of family planning as “contraception”—anything, natural or synthetic, that is contra—against—conception, be it the Pill, condoms, herbal abortafacients, or abortion. For a more contemporary usage (and to avoid the baggage that comes with the acronym NFP), you may also refer to “NFP” as “natural methods of family planning” or “non-contraceptive family planning.” Further, imprecise language confuses. Don’t refer to non-approved methods of family planning as: artificial birth control, artificial contraception, chemical birth control, etc. (Why? Because when we use “artificial” or “chemical” people think artificiality is why contraception is considered immoral; when, in fact, that’s not the fundamental reason for the immorality of contraception; exiling procreation from the sexual act is.) Also, don’t use the phrase “Avoid a pregnancy.” While this is the phrase you may find in some Church literature, it has a negative connotation. Use the word “postpone.”

3.    Foster greater unity: If we were more united as NFP Advocates, we could turn things around and turn the table on contraception. But as you may know, there have been and continue to both small and large misunderstandings, minor and major divisions within the NFP community. A lot of this is due to misunderstanding and miscommunication, and all of it is due to sin. How do we resolve this? First we need to examine our conscience to see if we have been the cause or participant in disunity, including uncharitable words, gossip, assumptions, jealously or envy, pride or arrogance, stealing (intellectual property or otherwise), or any commandment as it applies to this work. We need to confess it, make a sincere amendment, and make concrete resolutions to foster fellowship in the NFP community. Some resolutions could include fostering fellowship with other NFP teachers and promoters. Get together for coffee or idea-sharing sessions. Ask your diocesan family life office to help facilitate this, and certainly keep them in the loop if you take the lead. We will always be partial to our favorite method most likely, but we also need to understand each other’s methods better. Methodological dialogues should take place, sort of “ecumenical dialogues” for NFP Promoters. Lastly, there’s woundedness I’ve witnessed that needs to be healed, and the first place that happens is in prayer, both individual and communal—Masses, Rosaries, Holy Hours, intercession and fasting must be a regular part of what we do (see number seven), or we will fail before we begin.
4.    Networking and Connecting: This is related to number three, but more practical. Different dioceses and communities are at different levels of communications with their NFP advocates. Some are very connected, and some barely even know who their people are. Fellowship is important, as is practical support on both a diocesan and local level. Someone on a recent internet forum suggested the idea of parish-based support groups, groups that would serve to connect and support people in the use of NFP in more regular way. We also need to remember to think outside the box, and network with non-NFP groups who have similar interests, like Breastfeeding groups such as La Leche League, Natural Foods Coops, Natural Childbirth Groups and Centers, Holistic Wellness professionals, Pro-Life leaders (how often they forget about NFP!) and chastity educators. This is a great idea, but isn’t always logistically possible to do it in person. For these situations, the internet and social networking sites and online forums can be a Godsend. Whether it’s through an NFP-related blog (shameless self-plug), Google Groups, Yahoo Forums, Facebook or other social networking sites, people are connecting, and I would like to see this on a more national and international level as well.

5.    Better Creative Presence: Poor creative presence is perhaps one of our biggest weaknesses, and one of my biggest personal professional pet peeves. I could do a whole article on “How Not to Promote NFP,” which would include Photostats of lackluster examples with black strips to hide the identities of their creators. You’ve seen them. Yes, the flyers with clip art from 1992. Then there’s the brochures, which use more than two or three fonts, usually the most flamboyant ones that you can’t even read, violating all sorts of graphic design fundamentals. Then we have the classic “way too much text and no graphic” faux pas, which I see more often than I care to admit. All of these things apply to web presence as well. There are a handful of really great web sites that include various forms of attention grabbers and use new media (Flash video, audio, polls, online registration, etc.), but all too many web sites are cluttered, confusing and outdated. So much of communications are web based now that we cannot afford to slack in the online promotions. In my former position we could rarely afford a professional graphic designer (if you can—do it!), so you know what we did? We put a twenty something with some creative chops at the helm of a PC. It’s amazing what you can do with little resources and some fresh ideas! This became one of the things our office excelled at despite our lack of resources. In a related vein, there’s a general lack of creativity, buzz and outreach to the visual sensibilities of young adults. We never want to misrepresent NFP, but we are not going to break down barriers by posting an NFP event flyer with only three pictures of the presenters and their nine children, either. We need the input and ideas of young adults to do NFP outreach in their language and their media: web sites with audio and video (it’s more simple than you think), blogs, podcasts, Facebook pages, twitter updates, You Tube skits, and more. Tap the creativity of youth and young adults, and a new movement emerges with enough vivacity to turn a generation around.

6.    Youth! Youth! Youth! Many people wouldn’t put the words “youth” and “NFP” together, unless by “youth,” you mean infants born of fecund couples, but with the discovery of Theology of the Body and the existing chastity movements, we cannot afford to leave explicit mention of NFP out of the message. Prudence is fundamental in NFP’s mention and overview, of course. We never want to make NFP appear to be Catholic Birth Control or a “natural” contraceptive for their pre-martial unchastity, but in the context of the family with the support of the parish, NFP needs to be on teen radars, and needs to be de facto knowledge for the chaste young adult. Not only does it need to be prudently implemented into youth and young adult programs, but also youth’s energy needs to be harnessed to promote NFP and challenge the contraceptive status quo. One great example includes the non-sectarian and sassy Project Plus, a contra-contraceptive movement that began with one Britt Shankle at a small Virginia University and spread to others with much flair and success with its relational and wellness-based style. With a very different approach is the Anscombe Society, founded at Princeton University, which takes a more traditional philosophical and theological approach to human dignity and the goods of marriage, love and life. Two different ways, but with much fruit. I hope for a day when each Newman Center and each high school and college campus has a Project Plus or Anscombe Society, either independently or under the Respect Life umbrella. It can happen. It just starts with an idea and action, done in prayer.

7. Prayer—the Soul of the Apostolate: As I said before, we fail before we begin if we are not seeking holiness ardently. Prayer must be a constant part of our lives, and we must as intentional with our prayer lives as we are in our apostolate, our work and our family lives. We need to have a spiritual game plan (look up Father C. John McCloskey’s ‘Seven Habits of Highly Effective Catholics’), which serves as the guide on our way. Don’t forget to find a captain for your little ship. Every apostle needs a spiritual director and regular confessor. Ask around and get recommendations. Good spiritual directors are not easy to find, so persevere in your search, making sure to ask the Lord for a good guide. Above all, remain humble, foster a devotion to Mary, get to know St. Joseph, and persevere. This life and the apostolate of NFP promotion are not for the indifferent.

Teaching the truth and the good news about sex and marriage is a work of the Spirit. As I’ve written, Christians and NFP fans are consummate underdogs, but we should not shrink to share what we know to be good for souls, marriage and society. It’s true that our financial resources, professional resources, pastoral and episcopal support are often very little, if any, at best. And also, oh yes—the world is against us. “But if God is with us, who can be against us?” Don’t let this Pauline truth become cliché in your soul. God created the world out of nothing, so it’s quite possible, in Him, that we can create a brilliant maelstrom of Humanae Vitae evangelization and NFP Promotion with exactly nothing but our own weakness and a radical faith in God. All we need is to be wise as serpents with a robust daring, and we will set the world ablaze. Are you ready?

No, you’re not, but that’s exactly the point. Forward!

NFPworks is the former Family Planning Coordinator for the Diocese of Madison in Wisconsin, and currently serves in the Archdiocese of Denver. She is a freelance writer and blogger. Look for future work as she launches Ruah Consulting, a communications consulting service for the New Evangelization.

[This article appeared in the July/ August issue of Family Foundations Magazine.]

[Update: For future installments in this series, bookmark or RSS this blog.]

When is the last time you saw a movie about Natural Family Planning (NFP)? (No, “Cheaper By the Dozen” doesn’t count!)

Now name a movie about contraception. Right. There are any number of birth control movies and documentaries out there, but one especially comes to mind. Deborah Kerr was the iconic chaste love interest in 1957’s “An Affair to Remember,” but just over a decade later she played a much less virtuous female lead as Prudence in “Prudence and the Pill.”

Ironically released just two months before the promulgation of Pope Paul VI’s encyclical Humanae Vitae in 1968, Prudence and its adulterous premise reflected the main stream acceptance and popularity of the contraceptive pill, known already simply as “the Pill,” and signaled a sign of the times. Forty years and hundreds of billions of dollars later, the contraceptive business thrives and its popularity persists.

We don’t need a Gallup poll to tell us about the unpopularity or unawareness of NFP. It’s the butt of jokes, shrugged off by the average physician, scoffed at by clergy, and perennially ignored by most. However, it’s helpful to the proactive NFP promoter to know where we are in order to figure out where we’re going. Let’s take a look at the numbers we do have. Though there’s a real lack of NFP research out there, statistical advances have been made in recent years, actually earning NFP its own place separate from the Rhythm method (finally!).

Concerning usage, a 2004 report sponsored by the Center for Disease Control and published by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services puts NFP, listed as “periodic abstinence—natural family planning” as used by .2% of women ages 15-44 in 2002. Out of approximately 61 million users, that’s 123, 000 strong of natural family planning users, more or less. The Guttmacher Institute, Planned Parenthood’s research arm, puts their 2002 number of NFP users at 133,000. Either way, that would fill a couple stadiums, but it’s nothing compared the 11.6 million women on the Pill, and 10.3 million women sterilized.

If the sheer numbers of people not using NFP weren’t a big enough indicator of the work ahead of us, the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA), a sociological research group at Georgetown, has got a little study to wake us up. According a study released in October 2007 (“Marriage in the Catholic Church: a survey of U.S. Catholics”), the interest in NFP of currently married Catholics is 8%.

Before we analyze what seems to be a low ebb in NFP awareness, let’s look at some strengths of the NFP movement and its awareness efforts.

Dr. Pia de Sollenni, a doctor of sacred theology, is also a consultant on women’s health issues, and she is quick to point out the success of grassroots efforts: “The individual methods have done the most in terms of education…the Couple to Couple League, Creighton Method…they reach out at the community level.”

This is certainly true on a global basis. The groups that made the most impact in paving the way for NFP were people like John and Lynn Billings, John & Sheila Kipley, Mercedes Wilson, whose groups and successors have been the grassroots educators and local public relations agents across the globe.

Also representing NFP from a faith-based foundation are the diocesan Family life and NFP offices of the world and nation. Therese Notare, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishop’s Director of the NFP Office, has been promoting NFP for well over twenty years. She has high standards for the ideal diocesan NFP office, but said she’s had “the privilege to know these kind of diocesan NFP coordinators and their teachers!”

There are too many fruitful diocesan efforts to name them all, but allow me to give a few examples. One very simple tool is the diocesan NFP Newsletter, which serves to update people on office activities, relay new NFP studies and news, as well as share information that helps NFP teachers and promoters to spread the word about NFP. The diocese of Richmond in Virginia has had an excellent newsletter for a number of years, and in the October 2005 issue (they’re all available online), former coordinator Misty Mealy published an article titled, “Beyond the Bulletin—Creative Ways and Places to Promote NFP,” which lists anything from local magazines to Mothers of Preschoolers Groups, the La Leche League to Natural Foods Cooperatives.

Another great example of promotional initiative is the diocese of LaCrosse in Wisconsin. In Archbishop Burke’s homeland and former see, the NFP Coordinator, Alice Heinzen, has been promoting NFP using radio spots with success.

One particular diocesan group who’s exceeded expectations is Judith Leonard’s diocesan team in Witchita, Kansas. Diocese of Wichita, KS test marketed a campaign to promote NFP in 2003. Underwritten by Family of the Americas Foundation through the Pax et Bonum Foundation, their goal was to test market a strategy to reach out the entire community (including Hispanics) with various marketing and public relations tools. They developed and released radio ads, print ads, four billboards, and other publicity. Their slogan was simple: “99% effective. 100% natural. Your body knows, ™” which is featured with a photograph of a woman on the edge of a bed enjoying the scent of a rose.

Their basic but very well planned campaign yielded a 500% increase in call volume, and a marked increase in the number of couples receiving NFP instruction. According to the campaign profile published in the Catholic Social Science Review , “The campaign revealed a hunger for an alternative to artificial birth control. People want to know and are responsive when NFP is presented in an attractive, secular format.”

In my next article in this series, I’ll discuss where we’re falling short as promoters and marketers of NFP, and what we can do to curb the credibility crisis of NFP.

Contrary to popular belief and contemporary despair, great success in promoting NFP is possible. You are not alone when you hope for it. It is absolutely possible and NFP, when promoted with confidence and magnanimity, is a means for achieving or postponing pregnancy and healing disease and infertility in a way that respects peoples’ morals, bodies and marriages.

However, when sharing our fervor we should also practice patience. The profile authors of Wichita’s campaigned cautioned that marketing NFP “…is not like marketing a soft drink. The success or failure of the NFP campaign can only be determined over time, perhaps even years, since NFP involves a process of maturation—both in relationship with God and inter-spousal relationships.”

I invite you to a journey of radical intimacy and reckless hope. It will cost you not less than everything, but in shedding light on the world’s wounded souls and bodies, you will find God’s dazzling purpose for you. Give your obstacles, lack of funding, illnesses and everything g else to God, and He will bring you into a gorgeous garden of ordinary miracles in your work and apostolate.

The NFP credibility crisis is, above all, a crisis of faith, but it is also a crisis of personal initiative, creative solutions and professional finesse. While the Church and promoters of NFP are consummate underdogs, we should not shrink to share what we know to be good, true and beautiful.

NFP may not have a Deborah Kerr, and hasn’t yet reached the fame or endorsement of Hollywood or Sundance. One might ask, would we ever want to? It may not be our primary goal, but if Theology of the Body is changing peoples’ lives and inspiring art, why can’t NFP? The answer is it can. And it does.

In his Letter to Artists John Paul II wrote, “All men and women are entrusted with the task of crafting their own life. In a certain sense, they are to make of it a work of art, a masterpiece.”  You may not be a fine artist or performer, but you are the artist of your soul, working under a great Master. Be not afraid, and go forward to promote free, total, faithful and fruitful love, and in doing that you will be an icon of the Most Holy Trinity. That’s not a red carpet line; it’s a heavenly promise.

Recently I did a post on ideas for NFP Awareness Week, which is coming up (are you ready?).  One of the suggestions was to start a Humanae Vitae Study Group. As a trained ENDOW facilitator I get these great newsletters (hint, hint–check it out) about what’s going on in the ENDOW world.

In the latest newsletter, There’s a couple things of interest related to NFP. First, there’s a great two page spread of Q&A on Humanae Vitae/ Family related topics. Second, they have a beautiful list of some of the fruits of the Humanae Vitae study in a parish,

“The following is an enthusiastic testimony that was submitted following the talk. It comes from an ENDOW facilitator who shares her observations about the ENDOW Study Guide on Humanae Vitae (Of Human Life)

My ENDOW group “lightly tread” into this study last fall. Out of nine women, the following occurred during the course of the study:

• One woman who gave up having a second child suddenly became pregnant and delivered a healthy baby boy.
• Two women who considered their families “complete” prior to the study, became pregnant with their fourth children.
• One woman who grieved the loss of her infant daughter and was scared to become pregnant again became pregnant and gave birth to a beautiful, healthy boy.
• One woman’s adoption process was completed by receiving a new baby while another woman’s adoption process progressed further than expected.

Humanae Vitae is alive and well within this group, and a new generation of Catholics has entered into our society thanks to ENDOW!

I just re-listened to a CD that One More Soul included in an order as a freebie a while back, and wanted to share some thoughts.

About the CD:
Title: “Why Contraception Matters”
Speaker: Stephen Patton, M.A., J.D., with introduction by Bishop Victor Galeone
Sponsored by: Diocese of St. Augustine, Florida
Running Time: 60 minutes

Synopsis:Practically speaking, widespread use of contraception has led directly to massive increases of divorce and abortion. Personal union and yearning for fertility are written physically into the structure of sexual relations, and shutting down one of these aspects hurts the whole relationship. Stephen Patton gives an introduction to the pastoral situation of many–perhaps most–clergy, calling this prototypical priest, “Father Friendly,” giving a humorous but all too true insight into clergy’s general faithfulness but rampant lukewarmness. He likewise gives an introduction to the average Catholic parishioner couple, “Mr. & Mrs. Friendly,” a witty and all-too-accurate description of good intentions and Humanae Vitae ignorance out there. He shows us two things. First, why contraception really is a big deal, and how it is intrinsically linked to the evil of abortion. Second, he asks us all to take an honest look at the contraception crisis in the Church and wider culture today, and invites us to consider what we can do about it. There are practical, workable steps we can take to regain the overflowing life that God desires for us.

Strengths: Mr. Patton is a knowledgeable, educated and very well spoken man, and Director of the Family Life and Respect Life Office for the Diocese of St. Augustine in Florida. He is introduced by his Bishop, showing a great sign of respect, faithfulness and approval (although a degree from Franciscan University of Steubenville  bodes well also). The introduction is very witty, and a spot-on criticism of the rampant lukewarmness, indifference and ignorance of pastors and parishioners of Catholic (and I think this parallels to some extent non-Catholic Christian parishes as well) serves as a prelude to a deeper pastoral examination of conscience on how well Catholics (clergy and laypeople alike) know and promote the Church’s teachings, and the beauty of NFP.

Weaknesses: This is not necessarily the CD you want to give to someone who’s skeptical about NFP or the Church’s teaching. While this definitely could be useful and thought-provoking to someone with an open heart or a honest seeker, it may come off as preachy or critical to someone who’s first hearing about the teaching. Also, his style is not very animated (I had the sense he was reading his talk), and a bit droll. His message is very powerful, nevertheless, but it may not engage a young adult who’s not educated on this subject. Also, there’s a couple phrases that made me giggle/ cringe, like the marvelous “fertility dance” analogy that certainly is very true but seemed a little over the top and hyperbolic considering the tone and context.

Warning: This could be negative or positive depending on your viewpoint, but Patton, after some introduction, goes into a little detail about the nature of the nuptial union and orgasm. Screen this before giving to a young person or sensitive adult.

Recommendation:He makes some very poignant observations and some very challenging statements that’s worth a listen by every clergyman, DRE, youth director, NFP teacher and NFP apostle. Get it for free with your One More Soul order.

So I hope that if I publicize this talk by Christopher West in another city, people will still go to the Biochemistry of Sex talk the following week in Madison…

Wide in its scope, at once both modern and ancient, the Theology of the Body addresses the deepest questions of life. It proposes a vision of love for our times and experiences. Given as a series of talks by the late Pope John Paul II, the “Theology of the Body” is a profound reflection on the biblical understanding of love.It illuminates the meaning of our bodies, sex, and marital love. It emphasizes our dignity as men and women, the goodness of the body and sexuality, and our call to live in full freedom and joy. Through the mystery of the body, each of us can come to know our particular calling to image God’s love in the world.

Whether you are single, dating, married, or consecrated…whoever you are and wherever you are coming from, this message is for people of all backgrounds and walks of life. 

 About “To Fill These Hearts Full: God, Sex, and the Universal Longing” Valentine’s Day Workshop
Providing a rich, poetic backdrop throughout the event will be indie-musician Mike Mangione and The Band whose music explores the themes of the Theology of the Body in a subtle, organic, dynamic and expressive sound. 

If you’ve never heard of the Theology of the Body before, this is for you.

If you’ve attended a Theology of the Body Workshop before, this is something new. Bring a friend, family member, or significant other.
Invite someone you know who just might be curious.

Expect a series of provocative talks that stir the soul, move the heart and pique the intellect. Through theological reflection, humor, and our everyday experiences, Christopher West will unpack for you the message of the Theology of the Body in a language and application that everyone can appreciate, whatever your background or beliefs.

The Lord has been preparing me for an unknown cross for some time, and on Thursday it became apparent in my soul that Friday, July 25th, the 40th Anniversary of Humanae, would be the beginning of this. Can I drink the cup? I wondered, remembering the Lord’s words to St. James, whose feast day it would be. At work we had put out a press release to the secular press, and in a town that likes to persecute my bishop and the Church, I was expecting that having my name as the interview contact would be the beginning of some semi-public persecution regarding Humanae Vitae, the Church, contraception and me in defense of Christ’s teaching.

It turns out that was far too wide a scope, and too high of a vain martyr’s hope. Instead, in came in the form of a call from my dad, sobbing my name over the cell phone. I have never in my life known my  dad to cry in front of me, so I knew instantly what it was, and that my cross had come (or at least just begun). “Mom’s dead.” The cliches are the only apt expression–it was  like a train ran me through. Her heart stopped suddenly and quietly late Friday morning while standing in the pool with her dog. My itinerant dad was in town and at home, right by her side, thanks be to God. The emergency and medical drama lasted an hour or so, and persisted into the afternoon until she’d posthumously received anointing, had a visit from the coroner (to make sure there wasn’t anything suspicious), and my dad met briefly with someone from the funeral home. The definite cause is not known, but my dad is fairly sure that she died in his arms, and that her death was nearly instant. The doctor thinks it may have been an abdominal aneurysm that ruptured so deeply that her heart was drained swiftly. She was only 55.

Though my heart is broken and death casts a deep shadow over my soul, God has sent many little consolations in this desert time, and for that I’m grateful. This woman who was plagued by many secret sufferings, but found her consolation in the images of angels, was buried on the feast of Our Lady of the Angels.

Eternal Rest grant unto her…and let perpetual light shine upon her.

Well, I normally wouldn’t use my religion card on the blog with such flare, but you know what? The 40th Anniversary of Humanae Vitae’s release is this Friday, I just read a rockin’ article by Mary Eberstadt, and I’m very caffeinated. I can’t contain myself.

Eberstadt journalistically gelds the ridiculous glee of Humanae Vitae critics. Frankly, she packs a politically incorrect punch as well, so gird your loins. Her brief opening ends with a restrained,

“ He that sittethin the heavens shall laugh,” the Psalmist promises, specifically in a passage about enjoying vindication over one’s adversaries. If that is so, then the racket on this fortiethanniversary must be prodigious. Four decades later, not only have the document’s signature predictions been ratified in empirical force, but they have been ratified as few predictions ever are: in ways its authors could not possibly have foreseen, including by information that did not exist when the document was written, by scholars and others with no interest whatever in its teaching, and indeed even inadvertently, and in more ways than one, by many proud public adversaries of the Church.
Forty years later, there are more than enough ironies, both secular and religious, to make one swear there’s a humorist in heaven. “

In her six part article (homage to Pope Paul the Sixth?), she breaks it down. All the natural law aside (and that’s like saying to house builder, “The foundation aside…”), she focuses on section 17, which warned that if contraception became widely accepted, four things would result: “…a general lowering of moral standards throughout society; a rise in infidelity; a lessening of respect for women by men; and the coercive use of reproductive technologies by governments.” Hmm…some of those things–four fourths to be exact–sound familiar.

Sociologists, demographers, anthropologists, economists, and other academics in the fields related to or working withsocial science have darkly vindicated Pope Paul VI and his predictions. And not so fast! Before you accuse the scientists of some sort of Catholic Conspiracy of concocting data, the irony is that most of these scientists (though truth be told, not all) are not Catholic, and in some cases, could care less about HMC (Holy Mother Church) and the teachings of the LJC (Lord Jesus Christ). A well-known sociologist says,

“The leading scholars who have tackled these topics are not Christians, and most of them are not political or social conservatives. They are, rather, honest social scientists willing to follow the data wherever it may lead.”

The list of researchers affirming the statistical data pointing to lowering of morality and the breakup of the family (and resulting societal challenges and ills) includes Nobel Prize winning George Akerlof, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Judith Wallerstein, Barbara Dafoe Whitehead, Sara McLanahan, Gary Sandefur, David Blankenhorn, James Q. Wilson, Linda Waite, Maggie Gallagher, Kay Hymowitz, Elizabeth Marquardt, W. Bradford Wilcox, Charles Murray, Francis Fukuyama, and more… The sexual revolution has not paid off, and they know it.

Further,

“Consider the work of maverick sociobiologist Lionel Tiger. Hardly a cat’s-paw of the pope—he describes religion as “a toxic issue”—Tiger has repeatedly emphasized the centrality of the sexual revolution to today’s unique problems. The Decline of Males, his 1999 book, was particularly controversial among feminists for its argument that female contraceptives had altered the balance between the sexes in disturbing new ways (especially by taking from men any say in whether they could have children).

Equally eyebrow-raising is his linking of contraception to the breakdown of families, female impoverishment, trouble in the relationship between the sexes, and single motherhood. Tiger has further argued—as Humanae Vitae did not explicitly, though other works of Catholic theology have—for a causal link between contraception and abortion, stating outright that ‘with effective contraception controlled by women, there are still more abortions than ever. . . . Contraception causes abortion.’”

Grrr…He is Tiger, hear him research! For more on Tiger’s research listen for free online to Janet Smith’s Contraception: Why Notor order a free copy of the CD. All I can say to his work is Reowww (vicious feline meow-roar)! Check it out.

This entry is getting long, and I realize I’m quote-poaching and just re-presenting Eberstadt’swork. I have to close with one of my favorite topics: feminism. I consider myself a feminist, though not your mother or grandmother’s feminist–a kinder, complimentarity minded, more authentic feminist. I looked under Wikipedia (wince, I know) for “feminist,” and I couldn’t even find my type of feminist. And there were a lot of them listed. I digress…of all people to witness to the cultural discontent of the sexual revolution, the most ironic testimonies come from…the feminists, many of them advocates of contraceptives and the mid-late 20th century sexual revolution. Here’s reflection on what Eberstadt aptly calls the Pill’s bastard child–ubiquitous pornography,

“‘The onslaught of porn,’ one social observer wrote, ‘is responsible for deadening male libido in relation to real women, and leading men to see fewer and fewer women as ‘porn-worthy.’’ Further, ‘sexual appetite has become like the relationship between agribusiness, processed foods, super size portions, and obesity. . . . If your appetite is stimulated and fed by poor-quality material, it takes more junk to fill you up. People are not closer because of porn but further apart; people are not more turned on in their daily lives but less so.’ And perhaps most shocking of all, this—which with just a little tweaking could easily have appeared in Humanae Vitae itself: ‘The power and charge of sex are maintained when there is some sacredness to it, when it is not on tap all the time.’”

WHAT? Where did she find that quote? Somebody’s old-fashioned Grandma or a riled-up Ann Coulter? I doubt it. And No. It’s Naomi Wolf, third-wave feminist and promiscuous sex advocate, apparently, and unwitting witness to the failure of contraception to make women happier and society better. Pornography has never been more rampant, and there are more and more studies to indicate the damage this is doing not only to marriages, but to men’s brains and ability to function normally, let alone optimally. Just ask Dr. Phil Mango, who specializes in this type of research and work.

After all is said and done, the Church is a sign of contradiction. The Lord was, and His followers will continue to be. If his followers are not a sign of contradiction, one has to wonder who they are actually following. There is always mercy and healing for those who stray (we all do), but we must be accountable to the Truth and following the teachings of Humanae Vitae, no matter what the challenge, the difficulty. Remember the words of Gamaliel in Acts, “If this plan or undertaking [in our time, the contraceptive mentality] is of men, it will fail; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them!” However, also remember that however impressive the statistics, glorifying the reviews, or redeeming the reports of the sociological vindication of HumanaeVitae, many will still reject the truth of the message, and the Sender of the message. While we can give thanks for writers like Eberstadt, sociologists and economists like Akerlof, we should not put all of our hope in men (for you lingual-inclusive feminists, that’s men, as in humankind), but in God.

UPDATE: Dig Paul VI and truth? Sign the Layperson’s pledge of assent.

UPDATE: Humanae Vitae on WordPress.

UPDATE for HV lovers: Feel free to comment back to a jaded jingoist who is so anti-Catholic that he’s probably an embittered ex-Catholic.