I want to share with you a nice story involving a priest friend of mine. Recently he offered Mass at a parish he worked at several years ago. After Mass, a young couple approached him to say hello. In the course of the conversation they introduced their child as their, “Miracle Baby,” and got emotional as they told the story of why she was a miracle.
This couple struggled with fertility issues and could not conceive a child. They were feeling very hopeless. They came to my friend to ask for some guidance about fertility treatments and my friend told them that they should try to conceive a child using natural methods that help couples understand their fertility. The couple took his advice, and were blessed with a child.
The couple expressed their deep gratitude that their priest told them about this option, since they had not heard about these natural methods anywhere else. This is unfortunate because there are many couples like them who struggle with a variety of fertility issues that can be greatly helped by Natural Methods of family planning.
Some women are very unhappy with the side effects of hormonal birth control and are overjoyed to hear of natural fertility methods. Natural Methods of Family Planning also require couples to work as a team, which can be a source of strength for a marriage. When I first heard of Natural Methods of Family Planning when I was in college I was just happy to hear about a vision for sexuality that was different from the hook up culture on campus.
The fact is that there are countless young couples who are drawn to natural methods of family planning when they hear about it. So why don’t they hear about it more from the Church? I believe part of it is generational. Older generations of Catholics were taught about birth control from a moral point of view, and not given all the tools needed to live the teaching. This has created a wound and when it comes up now, there is anger and dismissal and the young is deprived of something that might bring some peace and joy to their lives.
But this is not the only reason we don’t hear about it. Another reason is because these methods require a lot of training, and there is a shortage of qualified teachers in many parts of the world, including ours. Thankfully this is not as big of a problem anymore as one of our parishioners is currently trained to do just that.
Her name is Kristine, and she is now willing to work with young couples who want to learn the Creighton Method of Natural Family Planning. When many people think of Natural Methods, they think of methods based on the Calendar which are not particularly effective. The Creighton Method is different. The Creighton Method teaches women to recognize the signs within her own body to determine if she is likely to conceive or not.
If you are a young woman who is dissatisfied with your own experience of hormonal birth control or who is looking for a more positive way to think about fertility issues I want to encourage you to reach out to Kristine to set up an introductory session. Kristine will explain the method to you so that you can see if it is right for you or not. If you determine that it is something you want to do, she will work with you to learn the method.
She can be reached at 360-747-7550 or by email at kristine@pnwfertilityappreciation.com.
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