Expanding the Tent for NFP
As we begin our 50th Jubilee Year on October 7, 2020, the Feast of the Holy Rosary, I invite you to join us in a special commitment to offering a rosary each week for the mission of CCL, its volunteers, students and members. After 50 years of planting the seeds of the truth of Humanae Vitae, we find ourselves facing an enormous demand for reliable training and support for using NFP. To see the flowering of the 50 years of diligent work is an amazing gift! And an amazing challenge!
“Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes. For you will spread out to the right and to the left; your descendants will dispossess nations and settle in their desolate cities.” Isaiah 54:2-3 As I was contemplating our call to “enlarge our tent” to meet this enormous need, I was thinking of the board’s direction to create a more “permanent” place where students and those living the NFP lifestyle would know they would get true information, reliable products and good support. It occurred to me that, well, a tent wasn’t very permanent! That led me to thoughts of the nature of ministry.
Look, we play the longest of “long games” as a Catholic ministry. While we are focused on getting us all back to that heavenly garden with Jesus, the nature of ministry often sees us tilling in those “desolate cities.” A tent definitely lets us be “on the move” as missionaries.
Our experience with virtual classes during Covid has helped us understand that the “place” we will build will not be of bricks and mortar, but an online “university!” This will be a university where you can learn NFP, but also a place where you can get good information and support from certified instructors learn and discuss subjects like methods and theology and for example, specific resources to learn about issues such as the focus of this issue—PCOS. Good information, that respects our human dignity, will be built from our cornerstone: Humanae Vitae.
It’s quite an undertaking, and we will need your help with this expansion.
We look forward to journeying with you this year! We will take time to reflect on the heroic souls who brought us to this place, while we are inspired to dream and build to support our next 50 years. As we progress by milestones on our path, we ask you to search your heart for the role God is calling you to as we renew our mission and expand our tent. How will you Share the Gift of Humanae Vitae?
Katie Zulanas, Executive Director