Natural Family Planning International

Sex and the Marriage Covenant
In the late 1990s, I prepared a slightly revised edition, but some of the staff members objected to the section on marital rape, thus leading to an extended out-of-print status. This was the book whose copyright had always been registered in my name but which CCL transferred to itself without my knowledge. When I learned of this at a Board meeting in mid-2003, I was so upset that I thought it prudent to leave the room for a bit. One employee who was involved with the copyright transfer of Sex and the Marriage Covenant to CCL later apologized, telling me he felt he had betrayed me. He was correct, but it was more than just saying something snide behind my back. The “transfer” of the copyright from the author—me—to the publisher—CCL—completely without my permission constituted the theft of the copyright, something so clearly unlawful that I still wonder why they did it. Certainly they had to realize that when I found out they would either have to reverse their action or find themselves in court. But that was management at the time. In addition, [the ED] contacted the Archdiocese of Cincinnati and had the Imprimatur lifted from the book. Without going into the details, I eventually regained my copyright of the book and was allowed to seek another publisher. I also regained the Imprimatur for my book and was very pleased with the comments by the priest who did the ecclesiastical review.

This is the book, then titled Birth Control and the Marriage Covenant, that helped Kimberly and Scott Hahn to accept Catholic teaching against birth control when they were still Protestants. Ignatius Press published the revised version in September 2005. We are forever grateful to Fr. Joseph Fessio, SJ, for his interest in this book that had been out of print for more than three years.
(Excerpts from Battle-Scarred, page 204-205 Battle-Scarred: Justice Can Be Elusive by John F. Kippley is available at a 50% discount at lulu.com during NFP Week.

My husband worked hard to spread our NFP apostolate.  Some of the biggest obstacles were right within the diocesan structure.

“Rejections”
That fall [1995] the couple invited me to meet with the bishop, so up to Benton Harbor I went, and then to the chancery office in Kalamazoo. Around the table were the bishop, the priest, the couple, and myself. When I could see that all was lost, I thought I might as well go for broke. So I said to the bishop something like this: “Your Excellency, when your NFP priest and I talked down in Cincinnati, he spoke as if he did not believe the teaching of Humanae Vitae, and I wonder about the feasibility of having a non-believer as head of your NFP program.” Then I turned to the priest and said, “Father, if I have in any way misinterpreted your remarks, please correct me here and now.” There was a very long silence. Everyone in the room knew I had not misinterpreted the NFP director. Finally, the bishop rather awkwardly cleared his throat and said something to this effect: “Mr. Kippley, you have made some serious statements. Father and I will have to discuss this matter.” Some days later the NFP priest wrote me. A dissenter would remain in charge of the diocesan NFP program.

Another early rejection was based on our advocacy of ecological breastfeeding. We recruited an enthusiastic couple in Columbus, Ohio and early in their teacher training they contacted the diocesan NFP-related person. He was opposed to our advocacy of ecological breastfeeding and told them that if they wanted any cooperation from his office they would have to become certified in his diocesan program. Wanting to teach and not engage in fruitless fights, they went with his program.
(Excerpts from Battle-Scarred, pages 122-123) Battle-Scarred: Justice Can Be Elusive by John F. Kippley is available at a 50% discount at lulu.com during NFP Week.

The college in Salina had a huge financial crisis, and the half-dozen new teachers hired in 1969 were given pink slips in the fall of 1970.  From there we went to a parish in St. Paul, Minnesota and started an NFP apostolate.

Prem and Religious Education
Dr. Konald A. Prem always stayed after class to help couples with the interpretation of their charts, but he did not use standardized Phase 3 rules as we do today. With his wide experience, he would simply tell the couples if they were now in pre-ovulation infertility, or the fertile time, or when Phase 3, the time of post-ovulation infertility, had begun. He would also tell them with great confidence that if he was wrong about a Phase 3 interpretation, he would deliver the baby free of charge. He also told them that no one had ever taken him up on that offer. We looked over his shoulder and not infrequently would ask him how he arrived at his interpretations. By listening to his explanations, we gradually developed the several rules that we still use today. The occasion of one of his interpretations still stays with me. At the end of the meeting, a couple who had been unable to get to the class on time dashed into the room. They wanted an interpretation, and when Dr. Prem told them they were in Phase 3, the wife raised the chart and cried out for all to hear, “Fun city tonight!” while her husband’s face turned beet-red.

Adult education was part of my job, but parish adult education by now was, for the most part, dead. It was now a half dozen years since the end of Vatican II. The theological left wing had been doing most of the adult education that was supposed to play a big part in renewing and reinvigorating the Church. Their courses and lectures, however, essentially
said in one way or another that Catholics really don’t need to heed the actual teaching of the Church. Oh, it might be good material for discussion, but it was not something to which the believing Catholic was obliged to conform his or her conscience. The actual documents of Vatican II were consigned to the dustbin of history, while the so-called liberals promoted what they called the “spirit of Vatican II.” I call them “so-called” liberals because the chief talking point of people who want to be known as liberals is the idea of letting all ideas be heard. What we soon found out was that the so-called liberals were more dogmatic than the dogmas of the Church in their heterodox refusal to let the actual teachings of the Church get a fair hearing.
(Excerpts from Battle-Scarred, pages 66-67)  Battle-Scarred: Justice Can Be Elusive by John F. Kippley is available at a 50% discount at lulu.com during NFP Week.