In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the water –Genesis 1.2
It’s very easy to become depressed in the Natural Family Planning world and arena of Humanae Vitae Evangelization. It usually happens that one becomes enthused over the discovery of NFP and the beauty of Humanae Vitae and signs up for the cause, only to be shot down by a stranger, a friend, your parish staff or pastor. It sometimes seems that the NFP world is without form and void, and that darkness is everywhere. It’s very easy to wonder, “Where is the light in this crazy arena of promoting true love and life?”
We see the light sometimes in the fruit of what we do, and we are grateful. However, more often than not, we watch the news, we get criticized, and we receive denial and humiliation in the form of excuses for what is actually just spiritual and pastoral pusillanimity from our leaders. And it’s hard.
In the first and previous article in an “NFP & Marketing” article in Family Foundations, I introduced NFP’s credibility crisis, which, briefly reviewed, goes something like this: NFP usage is low; NFP awareness is low; misunderstanding of NFP is high. Not shocking, is it? I followed my dark inauguration of the facts, however, with a brief look at some of the things NFP advocates are doing right, ranging from grassroots newsletters to researched radio campaigns and encouraging comments from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishop’s queen bee of NFP, Theresa Notare.
There definitely is good news, as I am quick to remind disheartened apostles and crestfallen friends. More and more people are discovering the Church’s teachings on marriage and sexuality. They give up contraception and often reverse their sterilizations. They return to the sacrament of reconciliation, and embrace marital chastity. It is truly awesome. Realistically, though, they are the exception, and not the rule.
It’s been over forty years since Pope Paul VI, whose baptismal name was John the Baptist, played the cultural John the Baptist with Humanae Vitae. He affirmed the constant teaching of Jesus and His Church, and predicted the consequences of the contraceptive revolution. Yet, we are still in desert with NFP amongst Catholics, and we wonder what can we do?
At the core of this crisis is spiritual contraception—a crisis of faith, and the subject of numerous articles from your favorite spiritual writers. However, this is also a crisis of personal initiative, creative solutions and professional finesse. We’re falling short as promoters and marketers of NFP. As a former full-time NFP Coordinator and Promoter, I was and am still often asked, “What on earth can we do to curb this crisis?”
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