There is a growing concern for Natural family awareness in Wales. Married couples often fail to appreciate that Natural family planning (NFP) strengthens their relationship in marriage and unifies their bond.   The world today is leading couples to abandon their morals taught by the Roman Catholic Church in the Papal Encyclicals Humanae Vitae and the Dignitas Personae (see video on Dignitas Personae by Dr Phil Boyle on the Irish Bishop conference). Couples freely engage in contraception ( such as condoms, copper T, birth control pills) and artifical reproductive methods such as  Invitro Fertilization( IVF), Intra Uterine Insemination (IUI) and Intracytoplamsic sperm injection (ICSI) despite being contrary to the Church’s teaching.

The use of such methods like contraception and artifical reproduction is considered immoral and illict by the Catholic Church.  People who use artificial contraception fail to co-operate with God in His plan of creation. Couples need to be open to life which is a gift from God.  It is a fact that the action of some contraceptive devices is abortfacient and can cause destruction to human life (see video). Most couples are under the impression that natural family planning is unreliable and ineffective and  lack  awareness of this education  system. However once couples learn to use the system carefully, it can be used for achieving and avoiding pregnancy.  Statistics show that it can be easily taught and understood: its effectiveness depending largely on the motivation of the couple.

NFP involves awareness and identification of external signs which signal internal physiological events. Careful monitoring of cervical mucus at the vaginal opening and temperature changes during the cycle can pin point the fertile phase when ovulation occurs and the egg is released and available for fertilization by the sperm. This knowledge can not only aid fertile couples to space their children by avoiding intercourse during the identified fertile phase, it can also aid couples who have difficulty conceiving to conversely time intercourse in the fertile phase, thus maximising chances of becoming pregnant. The method of NFP most often taught and used is called the sympto- thermal method relying on the above indices.

Complex Gynaecological problems:
Married couples who experience complex problems such as infertility1 (and infertility2), premenstrual syndrome,  miscarriages or ectopic pregnancy , Pre Menstrual Syndrome, menstural cramps, ovarian cysts, chronic discharges irregular cycles, unusual  bleeding, PCOD, ovarian cysts, endometriosis, postnatal depression, hormonal abonormalities and others symptoms are encouraged to use Napro technology or Creighton Model Fertility care system (join facebook link ). This system has a diagnostic approach and can treat couples in the way that is morally acceptable to the Roman Catholic Church.  The Creighton Model Fertility Care System caters to all aspects of the women's gynaecological health.

The Creighton Model system is a much more advanced system than the sympto thermal method and encourages  a women to chart her cervical fluid discharges on a day to day basis. It is also used to achieve and avoid pregnancy. This method gives the Gynaecologist and Obstretician (Gynec and Obs) a complete picture of things going wrong in a women cycle such as tail end brown bleeding, limited mucus cycles and abnormal bleeding patterns. The  Gynaec and Obs then takes this information from the woman and treats her medically with different hormonal drugs to ensure the woman's cycle resumes to normality. If drugs do not work then often surgical intervention such as laparoscopy, Hysteroscopy, Dialation and Curettage (D &C ) may be required to bring the women cycle to a normal pattern.

 The Creighton Model Fertility Care System was pioneered by Dr Thomas Hilgers in the United States. Inspired as a medical student in the 1960s by the words of Pope Paul VI in Humanae Vitae, he decided to dedicate his career to helping women and couples approach their fertility in a way that, “unlike common suppressive and destructive approaches, maintains the integrity of the human person, respects the dignity of women and supports the institution of marriage.”  To that end, he founded the  Pope Paul VI institute in Omaha, Nebraska. (NE) (join facebook link) and developed Creighton Model Natural Family Planning and Natural Procreative Technology (NaPro for short), a women’s health science that uses the biological markers from a woman’s cycle to help identify the cause of her symptoms and then treats the underlying cause in cooperation with her cycles.

 
It has been around in the United states for the last 30 years and has been presented on Catholic media like EWTN. The system soon gained popularity as couples were encouraged to conceive through the act of natural intercourse.
The system is a eco-friendly system and increases the bond between man and wife.
The institute currently trains Obstretics and Gynecologist Consultants and Practitioners to use this system with patients.

In February 2012 Dr Thomas Hilgers was in Rome and  his work was presented by the Pontifical academy for life.  Here is the report on Pope Benedict XVI statement on his work. This system has been in Ireland for 10years and is available in Leamington spa and London NAPRO centre in England. Sadly it hasn't yet to come to Wales. 

People of Wales have to travel far to get something like the Creighton model fertility care system and to stay faithful to the church's teachings. The NHS in Wales does not provide couples with the option of Creighton model and does not even fund it. Many couples experiencing difficulty have to pay for private care and if surgery gets involved and the couples dont have funds..Couples are at risks of losing their home..The NHS strongly leans towards contraceptive and artifical reproductive mentality and the couple's underlying health issues are completely ignored. In comparison to the NHS the Creighton model Fertility care system ensures that the couple is healed with medicine and surgery and discourages the use of artifical reproductive methods and contraception.

 When Dr  Hilgers was in Rome he said that the artifical reproductive technology was built on the foundation of destroying life..(listen to his recording).

The  daily mail in its report said that the IVF clinics in the UK  was responsible for destroying thousand of embryos through IVF treatment. In Cardiff's IVF Wales clinic an embryo was given to a wrong couple and then aborted.

The NHS uses its existing methods of artifical reproduction and contraceptive mentality as a only way to treat patients this is a hard challenge for Catholic couples   who want to be healed and remain faithful to the church's teachings.

Just like in Matthew (9:18-26), a women touches the feet of Jesus and is healed of her bleeding problems. Similarly Catholic women need to be healed of their suffering and the Catholic church encourages the use of the Creighton model Fertility care system and provides a complete healing process to the women and  many women are healed completely as   described by Dr Hilgers in his book "Women Healed"

Some Catholic couples have come to a consensus that they want to be healed and be open to life and co operate in God's plan of creation. To support couples practicing this, the existing system of the NHS needs to change and the Welsh Roman Catholic Church needs to spread this truth.

Our vision as the Gospel of Life NFP group:-

• To promote  awareness of 
• Natural family planning among married/engaged couples that are in harmony with the teaching of the church.

• To promote and support openness to life.

• To bring the Creighton Model Fertility Care system to Wales to support couples with complex fertility issues. In order to achieve this second part of our vision, medical support will be needed. 
• To encourage and fund in the training of practitioners and medics to provide readily accessible and comprehensive instruction in the use of NFP and Creighton Model Fertility Care System for an ongoing support for couples using the system.
• To build a Humanae Vitae fund project to fund couples experiencing hardships to pay for their fertility treatments privately

If you are interested to help us or fund our project please contact us and join our facebook group called "The Gospel of Life NFP".