Natural Family Planning International

A friend recently forwarded to us an article about which someone else had already commented “This says it all.”  The article was quite critical of several aspects of the NFP movement, including the whole idea of using NFP for anything but a most serious reason.  John replied as follows.

“No, this article does not say it all.  It makes no distinction between the NFP providers who fit its descriptions and those who don’t.  It says absolutely nothing about ecological breastfeeding as God’s own plan for spacing babies.  And its arithmetic is faulty.  Without eco-breastfeeding and without any systematic NFP, the fertile couple who marry in their early twenties will have 18 to 20 children not 8 to 10.  I can remember too well in the early Sixties the 30 year old mother with seven children asking me, as the parish lay evangelist, what they were supposed to do for the next 15 years of her fertility.  She already had bulging varicose veins.  At the time I could only mumble something about calendar rhythm, and I didn’t even know much about that.

Young couples have a right to hear the full story which includes Humanae Vitae 10 and 16 and its call to generosity, the ordinary obligation to do what’s best for your children—–which certainly includes eco-breastfeeding, all the signs of fertility so that they can exercise their right to make an informed decision, and Catholic teaching on marital chastity so that “NFP” couples do not delude themselves into thinking that oral sodomy and mutual masturbation during the fertile time are okay alternatives to the marriage act.” (John Kippley)

Sheila Kippley

John Kippley has lived in interesting, even revolutionary, times within the Church, and he has been involved in the birth control debate since well before Humanae Vitae.  John and his wife formed an organization to provide the practical help to live the teaching.  To say the least, the reactions to these efforts have been mixed—sometimes joyful, sometimes painful but certainly interesting.  Thus, John has been getting excellent comments from readers on his memoirs, Battle-Scarred: Justice Can Be Elusive.  

What have others said about the book?

I have enjoyed reading your book.  It is fascinating from several perspectives and also a most valuable history of a significant part of the NFP movement.
—Mary Shivanandan, STD, Professor specializing in the Theology of the Body
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I was living in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, at the time the events described in the [earlier chapters of this] book took place. I was one of a very few who believed that John was being unjustly dealt with by Fr. Mooney. The events in this book are described exactly as I remember them.
—Wilf Oberthier, retired Human Resources director, Canada
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John’s book came today.  It is so good.  I’m on page 66 and it is so hard to put down, but I must put it down and do some work!
—NFP Teacher, Texas
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I have ten more pages to read. I’m on page 248. It is an excellent book. When Tom Ruwe’s name appeared in the book, it brought back memories of information regarding him.
—Cincinnati
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I truly enjoyed John’s book; it filled in a lot of blanks for me.
—former NFP teacher, Iowa
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I restarted reading and I just finished chapter 3 [dealing with the Canadian experience].  Wow!
— Illinois parish priest
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Once I started the book I could hardly put it down and grieved as I read it.
—longtime promoter of generous family life, Michigan
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The cost of the book is worth it just to read about the history of the dissent from Humanae Vitae from someone who was in the thick of it.
—Priest, retired professor of English, Minnesota

This book, Battle-Scarred: Justice Can Be Elusive by John F. Kippley,  is available at  available at a 50% discount at  lulu.com.  Offer expires July 31 at 11:59 pm.

John’s response to a priest’s letter:

Dear Father,
Thanks for your encouraging letter.  In our apostolate, we have few consolations.  Few dioceses are doing anything practical to teach Humanae Vitae and provide the practical help of NFP.  We aren’t aware of any that require our kind of NFP course that includes ecological breastfeeding and the simple covenant theology.  While the voting [Nov. 2012] may be better than four years ago, there is little to indicate that the percentage of Catholics who believe and accept Humanae Vitae has risen. Only about one or two percent of church-going fertile-age Catholics practice some form of systematic NFP.  Even accounting for errors in the surveys, it seems unquestionable that at least 90% of church-going fertile-age Catholics are using unnatural forms of birth control.  We continue to plug along, but the dark night continues.

A blessed Christmastide to you and your confreres.

John F. Kippley
December 26, 2012