Religious/Personal

NFP Lecture Draws Curiosity of College Students

The many benefits of NFP over contraception

An air of curious confusion met Anne and Matt McClure’s talk given to a women’s health class at DePaul University in Chicago on Monday May 23. Anne and Matt are a Couple to Couple League (CCL) certified Teaching Couple. The roughly seventy students listened intently with tilted heads and furrowed brows. “There was no overt hostility,” said Anne. “The general tone was, ‘Huh.’”

The students seemed genuinely interested in the Sympto-Thermal method of Natural Family Planning (NFP). Anne and Matt outlined the physical, emotional, and spiritual disadvantages of artificial contraception and conversely the physical, emotional, and spiritual benefits of NFP. They then followed up, at the request of the teacher, with a brief overview of the Church’s moral teaching on birth control. The McClures had been invited by DePaul professor and registered nurse Jennifer Eisenstien. According to Anne, the teacher was very complimentary at the end of their talk and wanted them to come back next semester.

Infertility Solutions Tied to Nutrition and Vitamins in Popular Book

Good nutrition and vitamins can help infertility

Author Marilyn Shannon

(April 19, 2011) Want motivation to put down that bowl of sugary cereal?

An updated edition of a popular book shows you how eating right and using vitamins can help you conceive.

A book recommended to all who are struggling with infertility is Fertility, Cycles & Nutrition, by Marilyn Shannon, 58, a sleek redhead from Fort Wayne, Ind., who is the mother of nine.

Shannon, who holds a master’s degree in human physiology with a minor in biochemistry, has been a Natural Family Planning (NFP) Teaching Couple with her husband, Ron, for the Couple to Couple League (CCL) for nearly 30 years. Early on in their involvement, she recognized a need for more emphasis on women’s holistic care when it came to reproductive health.

Couple Recovers from Marriage Mistakes and Now Helps Others

Now the Lenaburgs help others avoid their mistakes

Suffering can be a teacher, this couple learned. Although they made many mistakes in marriage, a change of heart led to a way to not only help themselves, but others. Jerry and Mary Lenaburg are from Fairfax, VA.

Mary - In 2000 we took our daughter to Lourdes, France, on a healing pilgrimage. Even though she was not miraculously cured of her physical ailments, Jerry and I began a healing journey that brings us to this present moment. While in Lourdes we each had experiences where God was very direct with us, letting us know that He had forgiven us for our mistakes, but that we needed to forgive each other and ourselves. We rededicated ourselves to our marriage, God, and our family. Upon returning to the states, Jerry sought help to overcome his issues, we both confessed our sins, and began attending a weekly prayer group. We looked into reversing the tubal ligation but it was a $10,000 surgery that was far beyond what we could afford with all the medical expenses for our daughter.