I was looking for a clear quote from the Church that defined when conception occurs. I needed this because the pill and other contraceptives work as abortifacients. As an NFP instructor, I meet many couples using the pill and I explain to them the moral, relational and physical problems of the pill and contraception in general in the classes I teach.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists redefined conception from when the egg and sperm meet to implantation. I needed something to show that conception IS when the sperm and egg meet. Missionaries of Charity to the rescue! I was assisting in a training of 19 sisters of the Missionaries of Charityin 2009. They were learning to become instructors in The Ovulation Method of natural family planning (NFP). I told them I was looking for something in Church teaching that clearly showed that conception occurs at the time when the egg and sperm meet. One of the sisters told me that I could find it in Evangelium Vitae and gave me a copy. I did find a perfect quote in Evangelium Vitae! What also jumped out at me was the repeated references by John Paul II that there should be NFP Centers. I thought to myself that an NFP Center would last all of a week (I have been teaching NFP for 3 years and I spend most of my time promoting it and the Church's teaching on human sexuality. There is virtual silence from the pulpits on these issues and women (and men) are literally bombarded at every turn with contraception from the media, family, doctors, nurses, friends and even total strangers)!!
Then I thought of the Tepeyac Center and it occured to me that that is an NFP Center.
What a perfect venue to share the Church's teaching and to teach women NFP!
I contacted the Tepeyac and then went with Lisa and met with Bob Laird (he graciously gave us 3 hours of his time!). The intention was to see if a satellite Tepeyac could be established in Southern Maryland or if that was not possible to find out how they did it and then repeat it in SOMD.
The Tepeyac said that logistics and legal difficulties made it undesirable to open a Tepeyac II across state lines, but they were willing to help us in the process to repeat what they did. So- here we are- in that process!
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