Anniversary of Humanae Vitae

I spoke at every mass this weekend. Nice to be finally home! Text below. 

This summer, the Catholic Church celebrates a very special anniversary.

The papal encyclical Humanae vitae was published fiftye yearso ago. The letter was written by Blessed Pope Paul VI in 1968, and it provides beautiful and clear teaching about God's plan for married love and the transmission of life. Since that time, the world has gone through many waves, waves that have come to prove how prophetic this letter was. This is a landmark anniversary.

Here at Saint Thomas More parish we have a further reason to celebrate, as we now have an active and recently-trained teacher of Natural Family Planning, the beautiful Mrs. Jody Thomson. Jody and I are up here because we have a very special invitation for you.

My name is Ana Braga-Henebry, I am married to Geoff Henebry who is a scientist and professor on campus, and we joined STM parish almost 5 years ago. I enjoy volunteering here at the parish in a few different ways, but our invitation today reflects, what is I ant most to bring to the parish.

My husband and I have been speaking to the engaged couples here in Brookings about Natural Family Planning for a few years now, as we have done in the past for over twenty years, in different parishes and diocesan programs, from Manhattan Kansas to Manhattan, New York. We used NFP and I taught the Creighton Model method of Natural family Planning developed at Creighton medical school and used worldwide. This is the method that Jody was trained in, and the Brookings community is extremely fortunate to have her as a local teacher!

Through the years, Geoff and I developed a dynamic PowerPoint presentation where we tell the story of our life as we had and raised our kids. As Father Andrew asked us to do, our intention is to show the beauty and wisdom of living the way God has called us to do.

So, taking the opportunity of this important 50th anniversary, and the fact that we have a newly trained teacher, we want to invite you, parishioners, to come Thursday evening. Geoff and I will tell our story and show our pictures, we will explore different points including what Humanae Viate states that was so prophetic, and also how bringing up a family, contrary to popular belief, brings us to be closer to each other, and closer to God. As you can imagine, our life story, as yours may be as well, is not without both drama and some humor.

If you are a married couple in the middle of the chaotic and wonderful time in life of having or raising kids, this is a presentation for you. Perhaps you never hear of NFP, or you have heard of it about it and would like to know more.

If you are my age, having had your children already, and now enjoying grandchildren perhaps, and you never really learned much about Natural Family Planning, this talk is for you! Come learn about this rich and beautiful way to live a Christian marriage and you will be empowered to talk about it to your children, and inspire them!

If you are a high school or college student, or a young professional woman, come to learn about the amazing gift that our human fertility truly is, what is God’s plan for this gift—how can it be used in a healthy and natural way!

Last but not least if you are one of the many StM families that already use NFP in your marriage, you are specially invited to attend, as your witness is will speak loudly..