2006 Annual Report

Fiscal Year 2006 was very productive for the Couple to Couple League. Significant headway was made on the League’s primary projects: a new NFP course, and a new teacher training program. At the same time, CCL held a very successful convention in Conway, Arkansas, and taught NFP to nearly 7,300 couples. We thank all of you for your prayers and contributions to the League throughout the year.

Accomplishments

TEACHING ACTIVITY

7,290 Couples Taught

9,555 manuals sold

CLERGY & PHYSICIANS SEMINARS

Cincinnati OH, September 16 – 17, 2005 Hosted a Physicians Seminar with 14 medical professionals in attendance where they earned 15.25 prescribed credits and 2 elective credits as part of their continuation training requirements.

Cincinnati OH, November 8 – 10, 2005 Hosted a Clergy Seminar with 22 clergy in attendance.

Conway AR, June 27, 2006 Hosted a Clergy Seminar with 24 clergy in attendance in conjunction with the CCL 2006 Convention.

CONVENTION 2006

Combining motivational presentations with information, the 2006 convention of the Couple to Couple League re-energized about 1,000 people from 243 families who traveled to the University of Central Arkansas in Conway, June 25-29. The 455 adults who attended the three general sessions got an overview of the League’s new teaching materials, a crash course in Theology of the Body, cultural commentaries regarding breastfeeding, pornography and the realities of the sexual revolution, a couple of personal witness talks, and a presentation on improving public speaking skills.

Main Speakers

Andy Alderson — CCL Executive Director

Fr. Richard Hogan
CCL Board Member and nationally-recognized expert on Theology of the Body

Steve Wood
Founder of St. Joseph Covenant Keepers

Dr. Stephen Genius
Canadian physician and author

Dr. Philip Mango
President/Co-founder of St. Michael Institute for the Psychological Sciences

Linda Smith
Founder of the International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners and the Bright Future Lactation Resource Centre

Mary-Louise Kurey
Director of the Respect Life Office for the Archdiocese of Chicago and well-known speaker

Patty Schneier
Motivational Speaker

Rob Laird
Motivational Speaker and High School Principal

PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS

Taking into account concerns from teachers and users about the complexity of the CCL Sympto-Thermal Method, an extensive review of each aspect of the program was conducted in an effort to find areas to improve learner comprehension. The new program will be less complex, easier to teach, learn and understand, and will not compromise the 99% effectiveness of the Sympto-Thermal Method.

The League is also adding Pope John Paul II’s theological thought into our NFP Course. Pope John Paul II has brought a new way to communicate the meaning of marital love in his series of talks from 1979 to 1984, popularly known as “Theology of the Body.”

With these improvements drafted, the League successfully accomplished a “Pilot Program” of its new course. The course was taught by 20 Teaching Couples located throughout the country. Feedback was reviewed and final changes are being made.

At the same time, CCL’s teacher training program is being improved as well. Electronic “courses” are being developed to replace a paper-based correspondence program. The new training will be available in January 2007.

NEW VOLUNTEERS

40 new Teachers certified (the current training program was temporarily suspended in anticipation of the new training program) and 39 new Promoters certified

We're Looking Forward

We’re excited about the future, but are eternally thankful for the support of our members and donors—we simply couldn’t do it without your help. God bless you all!

Andrew B. Alderson, Executive Director

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Year in Review

Board Meetings:

July 9 – 10, 2005 Holiday Inn Covington, KY

January 28 - 29, 2006 Drawbridge Inn Ft. Mitchell, KY

June 10 – 11, 2006 Holiday Inn Covington, KY

June 26, 2006 Univ. of Central Arkansas Conway, AR

Board of Directors:

Linda F. Kracht, Chairman
John S. Burnham, M.D., Vice-Chairman
Thomas M. Bengtson, Secretary
Paul A. Busam, M.D., Emeritus
Robert S. Desmond, M.D.
Shane C. Goettle
Rev. Richard M. Hogan
Robert E. Laird

Headquarters Staff

Andy Alderson	Executive Director
Erick Carrero	Director of Program Operations
Jack Langlitz	Director of Business Operations
Ann Gundlach	Director of Publications
Keith Bower	Director of Education
Richard Braun	National Field Director / Director of International Development
John Du Mont	Project Manager
Silvia Schmidt	Project Manager
Scott Hofmann	Graphic Designer
Virginia Niehaus	Administrative Support Manager
Tracy Jamison	Shipping & Receiving Manager
Anna Bonavita	Bookkeeper
Mary Du Mont	Correspondence & Transactions Clerk
Vicki Braun	Home Study & Staff Counselor
Earl Michels	Shipping & Receiving Clerk
Eileen Martin	Shipping Clerk
Anita McDonald	Purchasing Agent
Sonia Acevdeo	Publications Assistant - Spanish Publications
Pauline Grome	Executive Secretary
Rosemary Olding	Operations Support Secretary
Pam Pulskamp	Transactions Clerk
Sandy Sperber	Transactions & Shipping Shipping

Staff as of June 30, 2006 | Italics designates part-time employee

Financial Picture — Fiscal Year 2006 [July 1, 2005 – June 30, 2006]

The year’s operating deficit totaled $144,886.  CCL is conducting a Capital Campaign to help offset the League’s investment in program improvements--$436,701 was pledged to the Campaign in FY06. However, this investment is separate from FY06's normal operating revenue.

More About CCL

Services We Provide

Professional instruction in the art of Natural Family Planning (Sympto-Thermal Method) through an extensive network of certified Teaching Couples and the CCL Home Study Course.

Personal chart interpretation and counseling by CCL Teaching Couples and Headquarters’ professional counselors.

A comprehensive website at www.ccli.org, which provides answers and information to anyone in the world wanting to know more about NFP and CCL. The site, available in both English and Spanish, features basic NFP information, a search to locate a local Teaching Couple, information on CCL’s educational seminars, the latest issue of Family Foundations as well as past articles on key subjects, and an online store featuring CCL’s complete line of family and NFP-related products.

Publication of a bi-monthly magazine, Family Foundations, to offer encouragement and support to all NFP couples.

Publication of 42 informational/educational brochures promoting NFP and related issues, and a 10-minute video — NFP: Safe, Healthy, Effective — which presents an overview of the Sympto-Thermal Method.

Publication of supplemental books for understanding the complete NFP picture. These include Marriage Is for Keeps (both Wedding and Student editions), Breastfeeding & Natural Child Spacing, and Fertility, Cycles & Nutrition.

An excellent selection of marriage- and family-related books, videos, and audiocassettes offered through the CCL Catalog and online store.

A Teacher Training Program for all qualifying couples which is provided at no cost to the candidates, and a national Promoter Program in which CCL volunteers organize and promote local activities to raise the awareness of the public about NFP and CCL’s activities.

Assistance to parents in providing effective education in human sexuality to their children though the New Corinthians Curriculum, a virtues-based education program for grades K-8.

Education to clergy and healthcare providers through NFP seminars. Clergy receive an overview of modern NFP and the positive effect it can have on marriages, practical ideas and support for bringing the message to their parishioners, and strategies for requiring NFP instruction for their engaged couples. Healthcare providers learn the effectiveness and reliability of modern NFP, alternative approaches to cycle irregularities, and reasons to switch to an NFP-only practice. This seminar also offers CME credits to physicians.

Outreach to the growing number of Spanish-speaking couples through a complete line of NFP materials and services, including translations of our training materials, most brochures, a Spanish newsletter (Fundamentos para la Familia), a Spanish catalog, and staff available for Spanish telephone counseling and order-taking.

Outreach to bishops, seminaries, and diocesan personnel to support the promotion of NFP. CCL can provide dioceses with no-cost teacher training and assistance in promoting NFP, educating clergy and seminarians, and working toward mandating NFP instruction as a normal part of marriage preparation requirements

What Makes CCL Unique

CCL is the largest NFP provider in the United States. Although other providers offer quality Sympto-Thermal instruction and/or other NFP methods, there are several reasons why CCL remains unique.

Couples attending a CCL class series or taking the CCL Home Study Course receive a very complete education in all aspects of the art of Natural Family Planning, including:

• Excellent instruction in all symptoms of fertility and infertility, various ways of observing the symptoms, and how they can be used in a cross-checking way for the greatest confidence and reliability;
  
• Complete instruction in the practice of ecological breastfeeding and its role in helping a couple space their children naturally;
  
• A review of the various reasons, from the pragmatic to the spiritual, for choosing the NFP-only approach to family planning;
  
• Affirmation of the authority of the Christian Tradition regarding marital love, sexuality, and conception regulation;
  
• A pro-life message concerning the realities of contraception, including a description of the abortifacient properties of the Pill, IUD, Depo-Provera, and other hormonal contraceptives;
  
• Affirmation of the Christian call to generosity in the service of life according to one’s circumstances;
  
• A teaching on abstinence that affirms the Christian Tradition against sexual perversities while also being very positive about the growth made possible by the chaste, creative use of abstinence.
  
• A support of full-time mothering in the context of encouraging ecological breastfeeding with its many advantages for baby and mother alike.
  
• An honest look at surprise pregnancies to encourage acceptance of each child as a gift from God whether asked for or not;
  
• A real involvement of the husband in fertility/infertility awareness, communication, decision-making, and parenting.
  

The CCL Apostolate

The mission of the Couple to Couple League is to help couples live chaste and generous marriages to teach NFP and encourage its virtuous application, to teach ecological breastfeeding and encourage its use, to strengthen families by increasing the number of couples using NFP chastely and generously, and to participate in the mission of the Catholic Church to teach the divine truth about love, marriage and sexuality.

CCL was founded in 1971 and provides services both nationally and internationally. CCL has 21,065 active members, 977 active certified volunteer Teaching Couples, and 662 certified volunteer Promoters. A small paid staff coordinates and supports the volunteer services and programs from the international headquarters located in Cincinnati, Ohio.