New Online NFP Manual and La Leche League’s Influence Upon Our Work
The free online manual, Natural Family Planning: The Complete Approach, has been revised and improved for self-instruction and for use as a teaching tool in the classroom.
It has been expanded from 4 to 8 chapters and from 100 pages to 156 pages. One long chapter was divided into three. The two new additions are a chapter with several persons giving a “Witness” and a chapter for “Getting Started.” In this latter chapter, practice charts are provided so a beginner can get some experience with the method. We encourage all learners to download the entire manual on 3-hole paper for insertion into a binder. If beginners have questions after reading the manual, they can contact us via the website. We strongly encourage our readers to read Chapter 7 on “Witness.”
Ecclesiastical approval: On January 20, 2009, Fr. Joseph Binzer, Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, said: “In accord with the Code of Canon Law, I hereby grant my permission to publish Natural Family Planning: The Complete Approach. Permission to Publish is a declaration that a book or pamphlet is considered to be free of doctrinal or moral error. It is not implied that those who have granted the Permission to Publish agree with the contents, opinions or statements expressed.”
LLLI Book Evaluation Committee
Sheila’s two new breastfeeding books were approved by La Leche League International’s Book Evaluation Committee. These books are The Seven Standards of Ecological Breastfeeding: The Frequency Factor (2008) and the classic edition (1974) of Breastfeeding and Natural Child Spacing (2008). Best of all, The Seven Standards was the featured article in the La Leche League magazine, New Beginnings (Issue 5, 2008), which came out this December.
I am very grateful to La Leche League because they have always promoted breastfeeding’s natural child spacing through my books.
In 1971 when we started an NFP organization, La Leche League was our role model. As a LLL leader, I saw how effective La Leche League was in teaching and supporting breastfeeding mothers through a series of four meetings, a manual, volunteers, and mother-to-mother support. So we copied the LLL model. It worked for La Leche League and it worked for us. We also had a series of four meetings (three meetings currently), a manual, and volunteer NFP-teaching couples supporting and teaching other couples. And today the donation for the NFPI course is modest. Most are around the $70 range for a series of 3 classes. This donation goes toward the materials needed for instruction (manual, thermometer and charts) and toward the organization. The teachers are still volunteers. This work is very rewarding. If a couple is interested in this apostolate, they should contact us via our website.
Sheila Kippley
www.nfpandmore.org