Please read and consider helping us!
This year NFP International has provided—
• Support for the NFP ministry in Slovakia.
• Free online NFP instruction.
• NFP class instruction in six states.
• Free brochures, charts, prayer and rosary booklets, and related NFP articles online.
• Free NFP counseling.
• Weekly blogs on related NFP issues plus daily blogs during NFP Week in July and World Breastfeeding Week in August.
Our most time-consuming project in the last few months has been a revision of the online manual. It will be more complete and slightly longer but still quite short and in the same readable question-answer format. It may be ready for posting online in December will be published in a printed format shortly thereafter.
When we started this apostolate in 2004, one of our goals was to offer a unique service of online self-instruction, either free or very low cost. So far it’s been free. We have really been gratified that without any marketing budget, the NFPI website is getting to be widely known and used. The most popular “page” is Chapter 2 of our online manual. The second most popular page is our web-blog. Last year we had visits from 168 countries—and using 60 different languages—and 81% of those were new visits. We know from thank-you notes that couples are using the manual for self-instruction, and we think that the new version will be even more helpful.
The NFPI apostolate remains unique. To the best of our knowledge, it is the only American NFP effort that teaches ALL of the following:
1. Ecological breastfeeding as a form of natural family planning.
2. The covenant theology of human sexuality as an easy way to grasp the teaching of Humanae Vitae.
3. Systematic NFP with different answers for different situations.
4. The need for a sufficiently serious reason to use systematic NFP to postpone pregnancy.
5. The immorality of using masturbation and sodomy during the fertile time as a form of “NFP.”
Another goal has been to make the NFPI website the “go-to” site for scientific and theological support for natural family planning. We have a long way to go, but we have made progress. The website is probably unique in its coverage of research dealing with breastfeeding and natural baby spacing. Articles dealing with the sexual revolution and related matters will help students gain a perspective on the birth control culture wars.
We have three goals for 2009.
1. We need to increase our support for the NFP apostolate in Slovakia. The cost of living there is increasing because Slovakia is going on the euro economy and because of general inflation. This is true missionary work and we appreciate your help with it.
2. We need to develop further our online NFP education, and we need to develop a teacher training course.
3. John and I continue to work as volunteers for NFPI, and thus our operating costs to provide the online services have been minimal. But we need financial support for the development of NFPI here in the States.
Please help NFPI to do more to help build a culture of life. There will be no culture of life without stopping legalized abortion, and there will be no stopping abortion without a wide-spread rejection of contraception. And that will happen only when there is a widespread acceptance of natural family planning. And of course, that’s not going to happen without the widespread teaching of Humanae Vitae and the practical help of NFP instruction. That’s what NFPI is doing, so every dollar you give to NFPI helps to build a culture of life, one step at a time. We really need your help.
During the year we send out only three fund appeals t our donors: Lent, Fall and Advent. That is all we have time for, and we do not want to bother our donors with frequent appeals. We ask that you consider a generous donation this Advent season. In appreciation, we will send you a free autographed copy of The Seven Standards of Ecological Breastfeeding: The Frequency Factor upon request. Because of a special discount on this book, your entire donation is still tax-deductible.
A major donor has offered to match the first $12,000 in gifts received during December. Your generosity thus becomes doubly effective.
Checks can be made to: NFP International
P. O. Box 11216
Cincinnati OH 45211
May God continue to bless you and your loved ones during this Advent season.
In his service,
John and Sheila Kippley
Natural Family Planning International is a 501-c-3 organization. All contributions are tax-deductible.
$2 BOOK SALE: Sophia is having a special $2 book sale through Dec. 12th. Can you imagine buying Breastfeeding and Catholic Motherhood for $2? We bought 25 books at that price!
Events begin at 10:00 a.m. Saturday with the Baccalaureate Mass in Finnegan Fieldhouse. The main celebrant and homilist will be Father Mitch Pacwa, SJ, who will receive an honorary doctorate in Christian ethics.
Married 45 years, the Kippleys began teaching Natural Family Planning in 1971, devoting much of their early efforts to countering negative stereotypes associated with NFP and becoming among the first lay advocates of Pope Paul VI’s prophetic 1968 encyclical, Humanae Vitae.
over 200,000 couples have attended NFP classes in the U.S. alone, and thousands of books, tapes, and newsletters on NFP have been distributed worldwide. In 2004 the Kippleys established Natural Family Planning International to continue their efforts to educate couples on the problems of birth control and the positive benefits of Natural Family Planning and breastfeeding.