Patty Schneier makes me cry.

Schneier came to Madison two years ago as part of our Humanae Vitae 40th Anniversary Events and Celebrations. And she rocked it. I had heard CDs of her talks, “Prove It, God!” and “Reaching the Cafeteria Catholic,” and “Parents Get Real…Talk to Your Teen About Love,” and knew she would be good. She makes me cry. Ok, I’m a little bit of a crybaby, but I’ve heard a lot of inspirational talks, and they don’t always get me, particularly when they’re on a topic I’m already decided about. Particularly when I’ve already heard the talks five times. But there I was standing at the back of the auditorium, my mind occupied with a thousand details of the event I was running. And I was crying. So were other people. Afterwards, when there was a huge line to talk to her at the reception, people had red eyes and were talking to her excitedly.

Last week I was listening again to her Cafeteria Catholic CD, and she did it again.

She might be coming to a city near you. And if you live in Wisconsin (southwest), she’s coming to a city near you next week. Go. Go, I say.

Patty Schneier, nationally-renowned Theology of the Body speaker, will give a four-part talk series at Holy Rosary Catholic Church in Darlington, WI on Saturday, Nov. 13 (talks at 7 and 9pm) and Sunday, Nov. 14 (talks at 1 and 3pm). Admission is free. For the purpose of food preparation, an RSVP is helpful, but not required. To RSVP, leave a message with the parish office at 608-776-4059. Spread the word!

The USCCB’s site has some resources like homily helps, prayers of the faithful, prayers, couples’ witnesses (to be published in your local paper the week of/ before), and this awesome poster above (en espanol, tambien).

What are you doing in your area? Here are some ideas:
(Update 6/12: The Contraception Why Not DVD link wasn’t working, so I updated it.)

• Ask your DRE/ pastor/ parish secretary to order 1-3 of the above poster for your bulletin boards, and put up in the next two weeks.
• Give your pastor or deacon A Preachable Message: The Dynamics of Natural Family Planning
or “Proclaiming Theology of the Body,” or “Reaching the Cafeteria Catholic” and encourage him that THIS IS A MESSAGE PEOPLE WANT TO HEAR.
• Have a Parish Novena of Sts. Joachim & Ann.
• Host Eucharistic Adoration for a Humanae Vitae Culture, using a litany of the Holy Family, and readings from a John Paul II (Familiaris Consortio or Theology of the Body would be great). Make sure confession is available.
• Have a local speaker (call your diocese’s evangelization or family life office) give a talk at your parish. Make sure it’s not a really stilted, expected title like “All About NFP.” People have stereotypes and misconceptions (no pun intended) about NFP, and they need to be broken. A local speaker in my diocese has a talk titled, “Family Planning: Think Outside the Pill,” that addresses the myths of contraception (safe, family friendly, reduces abortion), and contrasts it with the holistic, marriage building, spiritually sound NFP. Other title ideas: “NFP: It’s Not Your Mother’s Rhythm,” “Making Good Marriages Great,” “What Couples Need to Know About Birth Control” (and have a doctor give a rundown of contraceptive myths and failures).
• Have a CD/ DVD listening Session of a great speaker, and have a discussion group (make sure you have a well-formed, mature facilitator): Vicki Thorn’s “The Biochemistry of Sex” (Call (414) 483-4141 to order), and Janet Smith’s “Contraception: Why Not,”
• For Youth Directors: Don’t leave Teens Out! They need to know the honest truth about love, contraception (especially since half of them are on it for their acne), and the basics (not too much) of NFP: Patty Schneier’s “True Love: How Will I Know?” for Teens, Jason Evert’s “Romance Without Regret” for Teens.
• Have a Humanae Vitae Study Group: ENDOW has an amazing study workbook, but requires a trained facilitator. The ENDOW Study I might recommend for those who are new to catechesis on this subject, or may not “agree with Church teaching.” Catholic Scripture Study has a resource for a Humanae Vitae here. Priests for Life also has one here. There’s another one by Marian Catechists, but I can’t find the link.
• If you’ve got a little bit of money in your parish evangelization budget (I know money’s tight, but this will change lives), I guarantee that you won’t regret sending each one of your families Patty Schneier’s “Prove It, God!…And He Did” testimony by Patty Schneier. The diocese of Bismark, in a courageous and unprecedented NFP evangelization effort, sent a CD of Patty’s story to EVERY FAMILY IN THEIR ENTIRE DIOCESE, and the results were astounding. The Diocese received over 60 formal (and how many informal?) letters of support and gratitude, and the increase of interest in NFP and NFP-only medical care was so profound, that they had to “import” an NFP-only doctor just to help meet the need! WHAT? This is amazing. If they can find the money in North Dakota, you can too. Read more about this here.

Do you have any other ideas?

If you’ve not heard Patty Schneier give a talk, or checked out her CD’s, why not drive to Madison for the last of their St. Therese Lectures this year?

[Spoiler alert: If you go to this talk, you find out they both win.]