Patty and Samuel Mora knew when they married they wanted to have children. But three years passed and Patty had not become pregnant.

In her early 30s, Patty found friends her age had children and didn’t understand the anxiety she was feeling. Her stress level mounted. Then she heard about a Sacramento doctor who was helping women conceive naturally, and her life took on new meaning.

When Nancy and Rick West married, having children was not part of the life plan they had mapped out together. Then Nancy, 41, who was not Catholic, decided she wanted to learn more about her husband’s faith and began attending Rite of Christian Initiation of Adult classes at St. Daniel Mission Church in Wheatland.

In the RCIA she learned about Natural Family Planning and liked what she heard. By the time she and Rick found their way to an NFP practitioner in Sacramento, Nancy was pregnant with a son who would be named David Michael — gift of God.

Linda and Chris Garcia knew when they married last April they wanted to share and experience all aspects of married life together. So when they attended a pre-marriage retreat weekend together and heard a married couple discuss Natural Family Planning, they signed up for an introductory session at Mercy Women’s Center in Sacramento. What they soon discovered was it was a decision that would empower them as individuals and enrich their marriage as a couple.

The common bond linking these couples is they made God a partner in their marriage. And they did it through Natural Family Planning — a natural, scientifically-based and morally acceptable method to either avoid or achieve pregnancy.

Nancy Matteoli, a certified NFP practitioner at Mercy Women’s Center, has been teaching the family planning method for 17 years. She said the question most clients still ask is “Why haven’t I heard about this before?”

NFP is based on observations and charting of the natural signs and symptoms of the fertile and infertile phases of a woman’s menstrual cycle. It is a method that promotes openness to the process of conception and recognizes the value of children.

In Matteoli’s view, practicing NFP provides couples with a master plan to fulfill their goals not only as a couple but as individuals.

“You are saying I respect how I’m made,” she said. “You are also saying you want God to be the center of your relationship and want to respond to God’s plan for you in all parts of your life.”

Over the last 10 years, Matteoli said one of the positive trends she has observed is that more young couples are entering marriage practicing abstinence and seeking out NFP for moral and health-related reasons. Among the health concerns are the reported negative side effects related to birth control pills, including increased risk of some types of cancer.

“The key thing is they understand (NFP) doesn’t work against nature, it actively works with nature and helps solve problems rather than simply masking them over,” Matteoli said.

Such was the case with Steve and Mary Jorgensen, who began charting Mary’s menstrual cycle phases during the first four years of their marriage to avoid pregnancy, and then used the ovulation method to achieve a pregnancy.

“We liked the fact that there was no guessing, no harmful side effects,” said Mary Jorgensen, who these days is enjoying being “mom” to her six-month-old daughter Margaret. “NFP was truly a way of planning a family in God’s will.”

Christine Cipperly, who recently concluded her service as respect life coordinator for the diocese, gives NFP presentations to engaged couples at Pre-Cana conferences as part of the diocese’s marriage preparation program.

Diocesan pre-marriage policy requires that couples must participate in an overview session on NFP and are encouraged to pursue further training at a future time.

“NFP is the best kept secret in the Catholic Church,” said Cipperly, who has discovered that most of the people she meets at the pre-marriage sessions are “totally unfamiliar with church teaching.”

She has observed that a major attraction among young people to planning families naturally is a shared concern for the health of the woman as the result of using artificial birth control methods.

“Young couples getting married love each other, and husbands don’t want their wives damaging their health,” she said. “It’s empowering for both of them to know what is going on in their bodies.”

Matteoli said that in the past six years, a growing number of couples are coming to NFP because of a variety of fertility issues. While NFP practitioners like Matteoli are often able to help married couples when they are having a fertility problem, they also make referrals to a medical consultants trained to identify and diagnose fertility problems.

In the Sacramento area, a physician receiving many of these referrals is Dr. John Gisla, a family practice physician with MedClinic Medical Group. In many cases women coming to Gisla for infertility problems have found NaPro Technology has provided a solution.

“It’s an exciting science that devotes itself to cooperating with the natural procreative mechanisms and functions of a woman’s body,” Gisla said. “The key is it doesn’t work against nature...and helps solve problems rather than masking them over.”

NaPro Technology was developed by Dr. Thomas Hilgers, a physician and surgeon who directs the Pope Paul VI Institute in Omaha, Neb., a private medical practice specializing in NFP. Using the Creighton Model to help a woman monitor ovulation, NaPro places an emphasis on diagnosing and then restoring the natural reproductive process through surgical treatment as needed.

Gisla said many Catholic couples facing infertility feel forced into choosing in-vitro fertilization ó a process involving stimulation and development of eggs which are removed from ovarian follicles and placed in laboratory solutions — as their only option for conception, putting them in conflict with the church’s moral teaching.

Patty Mora said that some of the best advice she received to address her infertility was to get in touch over a year ago with Gisla, who introduced her to the possibilities of NaPro Technology.

“It was based on the sanctity of life of the Catholic faith. It was something I could trust,” said Mora, who was relieved that this was a way to conceive naturally, avoiding artificial reproductive technologies.

Given new hope and insight into what is going on in her body, Mora said she and her husband feel they have “more control over the big fertility mystery.”

Having completed a series of medical tests, the couple is now waiting to conceive naturally.

Gloria Soto, coordinator of family life for the diocese, facilitates Pre-Cana conferences in Sacramento for Spanish-speaking couples. Soto discusses NFP during her presentations. Last year she spoke to about 240 couples preparing for marriage. She said the majority of these couples are very receptive to hearing about a subject totally unfamiliar to them.

“I think the church has a beautiful treasure that has not been found or promoted enough,” Soto said.

She said in response to that need, the Catholic Faith Formation department has recently distributed newly-updated brochures with information on NFP in Spanish and English to all parishes in the diocese.

Matteoli said that 35 years after the publication of Pope Paul VI’s encyclical, “On Human Life” (“Humanae Vitae”), public understanding and acceptance of its message emphasizing the role of Christian marriage as unitive and procreative has grown. But more promotion of NFP as a means to achieve that goal for married couples still needs to be done, she said.

“People get their guidance on health issues and morality from their doctors and priests,” said Matteoli, who has observed more priests in recent years speaking about NFP on Catholic radio and other media outlets. “If they’re not being led in that direction by priests or doctors, they probably won’t stumble on it.”

Father Blaise Berg, vice-chancellor for the diocese, is an advocate for Natural Family Planning through his work as a priest at St. Joseph Parish in Sacramento and attendance at NFP conventions. He said he frequently hears couples using NFP request more publicity on the subject because of the blessing it has been in their own marriages.

“One of the best ways to get the word out is from the pulpit,” said Father Berg, who added that in cases where a pastor may not feel comfortable speaking about the subject, guest presenters are always an option.

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