Office of Marriage & Famly Life - Human Sexuality: Natural Family Planning

National NFP Week (Summer 2007)

In July, we celebrated national NFP Awareness Week. Couples from across the archdiocese boarded Lady of the Lake on Lake Minnetonka for food, fellowship, and fun. The numbers more than doubled from last year’s trip. We needed to add a second boat! Many familiar faces attended this year, including numbers of NFP instructors and providers. It was good to thank them for their service, and see how couples are planning for their families. There was a great sense of commitment to Natural Family Planning. Stories were shared among the tables as couples recounted how they learned NFP and how it has strengthened their marriages. While cruising along, four couples mentioned they were expecting. What a witness! The night certainly provided the atmosphere to re-kindle the romance with one’s spouse or fiancé.

Our providers have been creating additional awareness these past few months. They have been busy recruiting and training new people to become instructors. Locally, the Billings Ovulation Method (BOMA) and the Creighton Model are hosting trainings in the fall.

The Twin Cities FertilityCare Center is happy to announce that fourteen people are scheduled to attend Practitioner and Medical Consultant training this September in St. Paul. Five of these will become teachers in the Twin Cities, teaching out of Mary, Queen of Peace in Rogers, Mercy Medical Center in Coon Rapids, Park Nicollet in Chanhassen, U of M Medical Center Fairview, St. Charles Borromeo in St. Anthony, and St. Joseph’s Hospital in St. Paul. We are also excited to welcome physicians, nurses, a nurse midwife and others from greater Minnesota and from around the country, as far as Arizona. For information about our Center or our services call Sue at 651-232-3088 or go to www.tcnfp.org.

BOMA-USA is training a young lady from St. Paul in October in Collegeville. Applications are still being accepted. Contact boma-usa@msn.com for more information.

Additionally, the Couple to Couple League is working with a Spanish couple to take over the work of Carolina Gutierrez (as she returns home to Chilé). Her service to the Hispanic community will be greatly missed. Family of the Americas also has a bi-lingual instructor that is in the last stages of her practicum.

It is hoped that they will all accomplish great works! Please pray for our providers, instructors, and new recruits.

Natural Family Planning is making a difference in people's lives. If you would like to hear some of their stories, please read any or all of the following articles:

Who Would Have Thought? by Mike Regnier

NFP for Seminarians by Fr. Nels Gjengdahl

Reflecting on "Married Love and the Gift of Life" by Megan Noll

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National NFP Week (Summer 2006)

The last week of July is annually devoted to Natural Family Planning Awareness. The week is strategically planned by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) to coincide with some significant dates of the calendar year, including the anniversary of Humanae Vitae (Human Life), National Parents Day (July 23), and the Feast of Saints Joachim and Anne (July 26).

To celebrate the beauty of love and life, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis sponsored a "Date Night" for married and engaged couples striving to understand and practice NFP. During the course of the evening, John and Heidi Flanagan shared with attendees the significance NFP has in their married life together. They shared their struggles and triumphs of planning their family naturally. Fr. Adams from St. Charles Borromeo gave all couples a blessing.

Pictures from the NFP Date Night on the Andiamo Riverboat on the St. Croix

Natural Family Planning is making a difference in people's lives. If you would like to hear some of their stories, please read any or all of the following articles: