NFP Celebration for the Kippleys
We were gratified to receive honorary degrees at Franciscan University of Steubenville’s Winter Commencement on December 13, 2008 for “a lifetime of work in teaching Natural Family Planning (NFP) and upholding sexual morality in marriage.”
The following address was given by Rev. Terence Henry TOR, President of Franciscan University, before the conferral of the honorary degrees:
“For the past 40 years, John and Sheila Kippley have helped tens of thousands of couples understand and embrace the Church’s teachings on life. Beginning in 1971, shortly after Pope Paul VI released his encyclical Humanae Vitae, the couple started teaching Natural Family Planning classes in their Minnesota parish. In addition to the Sympto-Thermal Method, those classes also included Sheila’s research on ecological breastfeeding, which she had published in 1969 in her book, Breastfeeding and Natural Child Spacing.
In 1972, the Kippleys moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, where they began work on their landmark book, The Art of Natural Family Planning (1973), and started training other couples to teach Natural Family Planning methods. Within a few short years, their efforts went global, with their work eventually receiving the endorsement of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops. To date, well 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 benefits of Natural Family Planning and breastfeeding.
Married for more than 45 years, the Kippleys have five children and many grandchildren.”