Reminiscing on Thirty Years of Ministry
By John Kippley
Fall 2001. The thirtieth anniversary of the first NFP course taught by CCL. “Life begins at 40,” says the old adage. I turned 40 during that first course, and it changed the rest of my life. Please indulge me the luxury of reminiscing as I conduct an interview with myself.
Q. Why did you and Sheila start CCL?
The foundations were laid in the summer of 1968. Sheila was doing research on breastfeeding and natural child spacing, and in 1969 we began to self-publish her book. After Humanae Vitae was issued on July 25, 1968, I was negatively amazed at all the criticism thrown at it. It seemed as if otherwise rational people had abandoned reality. It was popular to say, “Well, God gave us brains to use, and since people have figured out how to make the Pill, God must want us to use it.” And how about instruments of torture also developed with God-given brains? Absurdity reigned. Even the most serious arguments were based on the assumption that because the teaching of the Church involved personal difficulty, known in Christian circles as the daily cross, the teaching should be changed. That’s a rejection of Christian realism. Since I was not aware of anyone else who was writing to defend the encyclical from a theological perspective, I wrote a short book, Covenant, Christ and Contraception.
Once it was published, I felt obliged to provide the practical help of NFP. The words of Jesus in Luke 11:46 seemed directed right at me. I had affirmed what so many were saying was a great burden; I had to do what I could to help people live out the teaching.
Q. Have there been a lot of changes in CCL’s teaching over the 30 years?
In that first course in 1971, CCL’s triple-strand teaching was already in place: 1) the full Sympto-Thermal Method (STM), 2) ecological breastfeeding, and 3) the teaching of Humanae Vitae. We are still convinced that this is the best approach. The way we teach the STM gives couples the freedom to choose among several morally acceptable alternatives; the moral teaching allows couples to make the NFP-only choice for the best reasons. Of course, there have been lots of little changes; our inside joke is that CCL stands for Constant Change League, but the basics have remained the same.
Q. The League is now in every state and 24 foreign countries. Have you been surprised at its growth?
No. Actually, when CCL became a full-time organization in 1974, we thought our growth might be faster and more extensive. We had seen the rapid growth of La Leche League, and we hoped that we might experience something similar. Now we can see a couple of huge differences. There was no effort within any educational system to criticize what LLL was doing, and there was no effort on the part of any churches to set up parallel or competing breastfeeding programs. In contrast, the dissent movement among Catholic educators pretty well relegated “Humanae Vitae Catholics” to a fringe element in the Church. In addition, as diocesan offices began NFP efforts in the Eighties, some of them looked upon CCL as a competitor instead of collaborator in a common effort. Fortunately, this seems to be changing.
Q. What level of service would you like to see CCL provide?
I’d like to see enough certified CCL Teaching Couples in urban areas to teach every engaged couple. I’d also like to see a Teaching Couple in every populated rural county of the States. This will require at least a 10-fold increase in the number of CCL Teaching Couples. This is doable, but it’s far from automatic. I’d also like us to be serving in a very complete way in every diocese around the world where we are wanted.
Q. What have been the biggest disappointments over the past 30 years?
I think that everyone in any way connected with the NFP movement, from the Pope to the ordinary NFP-user couple, would agree on this: the widespread dissent from Humanae Vitae. Closely related to that has been the lack of widespread, consistent effort to challenge dissent.
Q. What have been the biggest sources of hope these past 30 years?
Unquestionably, the biggest source of hope has been the papacy of John Paul II. As I illustrated in my book, Sex and the Marriage Covenant, he made the Church’s teaching about love and sexuality a primary focus of his pontificate during his first 10 years as Pope. This has had good effects. Regularly I hear reports that priests ordained in the last 10 years are much more in tune with Humanae Vitae than priests ordained in the Seventies and Eighties.
Second, in 1989 a committee of U.S. bishops urged that parish priests should require every engaged couple to attend a full course on NFP as a normal part of preparation for marriage. As that becomes implemented, every NFP teacher in the country will be kept busy, and we eventually will see a majority of Catholic couples living chaste lives, generous in the service of life, and using only NFP when they have sufficiently serious reasons to avoid pregnancy. More and more priests are making the CCL course a normal part of marriage preparation. That’s a great source of hope.
Third and closely aligned to this is another sign of hope: the increasing number of bishops who, in the last five years, have written pastoral letters to support Humanae Vitae.
Q. Within the CCL organization, are there any special reasons for hope?
Definitely. After a disappointing 13-year decline, we experienced a turnaround in 1994, and for the past seven years we have seen steady upward progress in the numbers of new couples taught each year.
We have a great team of Teaching Couples; their perseverance is phenomenal. Some have been teaching NFP for 15, 20 and even 25 years — all as volunteers!
Our regional field director program is producing such good results that we want to expand it as soon as we have the funds.
We’ve expanded our Board of Directors in the last few years; it has new blood and new management. For the first time our chairman is an active CCL teacher. It is encouraging to see younger people accept responsibility to keep CCL moving forward.
Q. What’s the role of CCL in American culture?
A civilized society protects unborn children; it doesn’t kill them. As I see it, the role of CCL and the rest of the NFP movement is crucial for the restoration of civilization. I am convinced that protection of the unborn will be restored in this country only when substantial numbers of Catholics and other concerned Christians return to marital chastity. People who practice chaste NFP are generally pro-life — and vote accordingly.
— from Family Foundations, September-October 2001
