Natural Family Planning International

Commencement Address at Franciscan University of Steubenville by John F. Kippley, Dec. 13, 2008: Part 3
Next, I want to encourage you to be actively and fully Catholic.  In other words, become a warrior in the culture wars.  You cannot avoid being involved in today’s culture wars because you will be challenged at work, in your socializing, and even in your local parish.  Be aware that our Catholic Church is hated and ridiculed today especially because it is the only major worldwide voice that is opposed to the culture of death, that is, the culture of immorality and abortion.  Look upon the challenges of the culture wars as opportunities to work for a culture of life, and use those opportunities well.

What I am going to say next may be old news for most of you, but it bears repeating one more time before you hit the road.  As Pope Paul VI predicted in Humanae Vitae 40 years ago, the widespread rejection of Catholic teaching on birth control has led to a general decline in sexual morality.  American Supreme Court decisions have made clear the social and legal connections between sexual immorality and abortion.  The bottom line is that if we want to build a culture of life, we have to persuade people to live according to the Christian Tradition regarding sexuality.  If we want to live in a civilization of love and life, we all need to pray daily and work for a rebirth of chastity, including marital chastity.   I invite you to get involved in building a culture of life.

Another suggestion for getting involved in the culture wars is to get involved in the natural family planning movement when that’s appropriate for you.  This is the front-line activity in the battle for a culture of life.

Because of the nature of our work for the past 40 years, I would like to clear up a few misunderstandings about Natural Family Planning.  First, NFP is not “Catholic birth control.”  We definitely encourage generosity in having children.

Second, in our teaching of NFP, we encourage ecological breastfeeding.  That’s the pattern of frequent nursing that naturally postpones the return of fertility.  We know a number of couples whose only form of baby spacing has been ecological breastfeeding.  This is God’s plan for spacing babies as revealed in the Book of Nature.  Some of the happiest couples we know are those who let ecological breastfeeding space their babies and have relatively large families.

A third misunderstanding is that NFP is only for Catholics.  Very briefly, NFP does NOT mean Not For Protestants as I will show in a minute.

To be continued next week.

Commencement Address at Franciscan University of Steubenville by John F. Kippley, Dec. 13, 2008: Part 2
You can see that I have been around a while, so please bear with me as I offer a few comments based on observation and personal experience. 

My first comment is based on observation.  Be prepared.  Be prepared for when things can go wrong.  Hire a good lawyer before you enter into any serious contract or project with others.  We know people who spent considerable years building up an apostolate only to lose it when they accepted what they thought would be “help” from others.  In one case, they didn’t read the contract very well; they signed in blind trust.  In another case, the person lost his business to his new partners.  So be practical.  Whenever you engage in a serious project with others, get good legal counsel.  Investing $500 in legal services at the outset might save you $5,000 or $50,000 or your livelihood some years later.  Things can and do go wrong.  Be prepared.   
    Theology graduates may think they will be immune from such problems if they work for the Church or a religiously oriented organization.  That would be nice, but working within the Church exposes you more closely to the human element in the Church and often requires a higher degree of faith.  On the other hand, Church-related work not infrequently allows you to see great works of conversion and other signs of God’s continuing presence among us. 
 
My second comment is based on personal experience.  Be hopeful.  When God allows a door to slam in your face, my experience is that He opens another and better one.  Let me add that sometimes it takes a while to realize that something good came from the door being closed.  It was during a time of unwanted unemployment in 1968 that I wrote a book defending Humanae Vitae.  Once that book was published in 1970, I felt obliged to provide the practical help of natural family planning.  If it were not for that unhappy experience 40 years ago, we would not be here today.  Our advice: If the door slams, still be hopeful.
 
Our third point is based on observation.  Be grateful.  In early November, we saw a You-tube segment about a gentleman who doesn’t have any arms or legs, and yet he travels around, witnessing and giving praise to God.  Then in mid-November we read about two Cincinnati golfers.  One has only one arm, the other has only one leg.  Do you have two arms and two legs?  Be grateful.  My suggestion is to thank God regularly for all his gifts to you.   Life itself.  Faith.  Good health.  Parents.  Be thankful.  Siblings.  Children.  A home.  Be grateful.  Education.  Especially your Catholic education.  Special gifts.  Prospects for decent employment.  Be grateful.

To be continued next week.

Commencement Address at Franciscan University of Steubenville by John F. Kippley, Dec. 13, 2008: Part 1
Sheila and I want to thank the Franciscan University of Steubenville for this great honor. We especially want to thank Fr. Terence Henry; Fr. Christian Oravec and members of the Board of Trustees; Fr. Michael Scanlan; and Members of the Board of Advisors for honoring our work of the past 40 years in this way.

Honored members of the University, fellow graduates, parents, family and friends, we thank you for being here and for making this school the great University that it is. 

You have honored us for our work in the field of Natural Family Planning and for upholding sexual morality in marriage.  We are most happy to accept this honor not just for ourselves but also on behalf of all those who work in the Natural Family Planning apostolate, and especially on behalf of those who teach as volunteers.  Some couples have been teaching Natural Family Planning —or NFP for short—as volunteers for more than 30 years.  They obviously believe that the NFP apostolate is extremely important. 

President Franklin D. Roosevelt once was asked what makes a good speech.  He replied, “Be brief, be sincere, and be seated.”  I will try to follow that advice.

Commencement means a beginning, not an ending.  This is the beginning of the life for which you have prepared for the last four years or more.  First, I want to congratulate you for earning your college degrees.  You have worked hard.  You have done research.  You have written papers and passed your examinations.  You are prepared in many different ways to contribute to the various work and social environments in which you will be active.  You are prepared to use your special gifts in the service of your families, your Church, your place of work, and your culture. 

You are about to start working or doing further academic work in a world where your Catholic faith will be challenged.  Your education here at Franciscan University has prepared you to meet these challenges.  In fact, you are among the best prepared college graduates in the world to bring your education and your other gifts to meet those challenges.  You won’t know the answer to every challenge you meet, but part of your education consists in learning how and where to find the answers so that you can continue a constructive dialogue.  Responding in a positive way to the challenges to your faith will provide you with some of your greatest satisfactions in life.  

We all know that you are graduating in tough economic times.  Who could have imagined the current situation when you started your freshman year or graduate studies?  Sheila and I join you in praying that you may soon be working in your chosen field.  May God bless your every effort to use your gifts in his service.

To be continued next week.