Natural Family Planning International

Commencement Address at Franciscan University of Steubenville by John F. Kippley, Dec. 13, 2008: Part 4
A fourth misconception is that if NFP teachers and materials mix religion with NFP methodology they will turn off non-Catholics.  When this question was raised in an NFP email group, a woman on the list identified herself as a former atheist.  She had health problems with the Pill, so a Catholic friend gave her our book on natural family planning, a book that clearly mixes faith and science.  She told the email group that the religious element did not turn her off even as an atheist.  After she and her husband taught themselves and began to practice NFP, she kept reading the marriage-covenant material in our NFP book as her bedtime reading because she was a truth seeker.  One night she had a life changing experience.  Something happened.  She said that one minute she was an atheist and no amount of argumentation could change her.  The next moment she was a believer, and no amount of argumentation could persuade her otherwise.  Today she and her family are practicing Catholics.  

A fundamentalist gentleman from Texas and his Baptist wife were practicing NFP because she did not want to take the Pill.  One evening while waiting for dinner, he read something in our NFP magazine that helped him to see that Natural Family Planning is more than just fertility awareness.  Then they recognized that only the Catholic Church was still teaching the Christian Tradition on birth control, so they felt obliged to give the Church a good look.  The husband wrote shortly after Easter some years ago to tell me that he and his wife and their five children had all entered into full communion with the Catholic Church. 

The point of this digression about Natural Family Planning is that when there is a healthy integration of faith and science, NFP instruction becomes part of the evangelization work of the Church.

Some of you are looking forward to getting married very soon; others will marry later.  I suggest that you get familiar with the website of NFP International some months before the big day.  There we have a Natural Family Planning manual and charts you can download—-all for free.  Every young couple should understand these things, regardless of how they use this knowledge.  Natural Family Planning is not rocket science. 

As you will learn throughout life, the greatest satisfactions in life come from helping others.  That’s why I invite you to become part of the NFP movement in some way—-by regular prayer for chastity, by promoting or teaching Natural Family Planning, or by transmitting the teaching of Humanae Vitae as opportunities arise. 

Let me summarize my comments.  You have earned your diplomas, for which we heartily congratulate you.  You are prepared to work.  Be also prepared for those times when things don’t work out as you had hoped.  If and when you encounter tough times, be hopeful.  At all times, be grateful.  Lastly, please pray and work to build a culture of life.

Again, we want to thank Father Henry and his associates for inviting us to your Commencement exercises.  We honor you today as graduates.  May God bless your every endeavor.                                                      Next Week:  Free self-instruction

Commencement Address at Franciscan University of Steubenville by John F. Kippley, Dec. 13, 2008: Part 3
Next, I want to encourage you to be actively and fully Catholic.  In other words, become a warrior in the culture wars.  You cannot avoid being involved in today’s culture wars because you will be challenged at work, in your socializing, and even in your local parish.  Be aware that our Catholic Church is hated and ridiculed today especially because it is the only major worldwide voice that is opposed to the culture of death, that is, the culture of immorality and abortion.  Look upon the challenges of the culture wars as opportunities to work for a culture of life, and use those opportunities well.

What I am going to say next may be old news for most of you, but it bears repeating one more time before you hit the road.  As Pope Paul VI predicted in Humanae Vitae 40 years ago, the widespread rejection of Catholic teaching on birth control has led to a general decline in sexual morality.  American Supreme Court decisions have made clear the social and legal connections between sexual immorality and abortion.  The bottom line is that if we want to build a culture of life, we have to persuade people to live according to the Christian Tradition regarding sexuality.  If we want to live in a civilization of love and life, we all need to pray daily and work for a rebirth of chastity, including marital chastity.   I invite you to get involved in building a culture of life.

Another suggestion for getting involved in the culture wars is to get involved in the natural family planning movement when that’s appropriate for you.  This is the front-line activity in the battle for a culture of life.

Because of the nature of our work for the past 40 years, I would like to clear up a few misunderstandings about Natural Family Planning.  First, NFP is not “Catholic birth control.”  We definitely encourage generosity in having children.

Second, in our teaching of NFP, we encourage ecological breastfeeding.  That’s the pattern of frequent nursing that naturally postpones the return of fertility.  We know a number of couples whose only form of baby spacing has been ecological breastfeeding.  This is God’s plan for spacing babies as revealed in the Book of Nature.  Some of the happiest couples we know are those who let ecological breastfeeding space their babies and have relatively large families.

A third misunderstanding is that NFP is only for Catholics.  Very briefly, NFP does NOT mean Not For Protestants as I will show in a minute.

To be continued next week.

Commencement Address at Franciscan University of Steubenville by John F. Kippley, Dec. 13, 2008: Part 2
You can see that I have been around a while, so please bear with me as I offer a few comments based on observation and personal experience. 

My first comment is based on observation.  Be prepared.  Be prepared for when things can go wrong.  Hire a good lawyer before you enter into any serious contract or project with others.  We know people who spent considerable years building up an apostolate only to lose it when they accepted what they thought would be “help” from others.  In one case, they didn’t read the contract very well; they signed in blind trust.  In another case, the person lost his business to his new partners.  So be practical.  Whenever you engage in a serious project with others, get good legal counsel.  Investing $500 in legal services at the outset might save you $5,000 or $50,000 or your livelihood some years later.  Things can and do go wrong.  Be prepared.   
    Theology graduates may think they will be immune from such problems if they work for the Church or a religiously oriented organization.  That would be nice, but working within the Church exposes you more closely to the human element in the Church and often requires a higher degree of faith.  On the other hand, Church-related work not infrequently allows you to see great works of conversion and other signs of God’s continuing presence among us. 
 
My second comment is based on personal experience.  Be hopeful.  When God allows a door to slam in your face, my experience is that He opens another and better one.  Let me add that sometimes it takes a while to realize that something good came from the door being closed.  It was during a time of unwanted unemployment in 1968 that I wrote a book defending Humanae Vitae.  Once that book was published in 1970, I felt obliged to provide the practical help of natural family planning.  If it were not for that unhappy experience 40 years ago, we would not be here today.  Our advice: If the door slams, still be hopeful.
 
Our third point is based on observation.  Be grateful.  In early November, we saw a You-tube segment about a gentleman who doesn’t have any arms or legs, and yet he travels around, witnessing and giving praise to God.  Then in mid-November we read about two Cincinnati golfers.  One has only one arm, the other has only one leg.  Do you have two arms and two legs?  Be grateful.  My suggestion is to thank God regularly for all his gifts to you.   Life itself.  Faith.  Good health.  Parents.  Be thankful.  Siblings.  Children.  A home.  Be grateful.  Education.  Especially your Catholic education.  Special gifts.  Prospects for decent employment.  Be grateful.

To be continued next week.