Tuesday, June 26, 2012

What would you tell your priest about IF?

Hi! We need your advice. On Thursday we are set to present Napro, IF, and realted subjects to a large group of priests, more than 60 plus. this is major. Our bishop has asked us to present to them and while we have some ideas, I wanted to ask you if you had this opportunity what would you tell them. The bishop is very keen in them understanding their role in all of this and the exact Church position, but also understanding not only the rules, but also the pain that goes along this cross. any ideas are welcome!

6 comments:

  1. Please tell them that they are very important. We need more leadership to spread the word to women that there are moral options that are healthier and cost less money. In the USA many of the infertility drs are sharks and push IVF on women. I have seen many drs and even when I told them I was not going to do IVF, they continued to try to talk me into it by telling me what other women like me do. They try to make it sound like all catholic women do this. There are some great napro drs out there but there is not enough press. It took me two years of searching to find one. Many local priests do not even know about napro. We need more press in the churches to take away the shame of infertility. Only a few churches even mention infertility. We need more support groups and more special healing masses etc.

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  2. I would love to hear more about vocation as it relates to ALL the unique callings God gives individuals. If there was more teaching and emphasis on this particular topic, it would give the laity a grounding in church teaching in the area of sex and birth control. Also, it would give comfort to those who haven't been called to marriage or parenthood.

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  3. I agree with Simone...this affects so many women and the church is far too quiet on the matter. This leads to two problems--1) that people with IF feel that there is little or no support from their church, in which case they may be pressured to turn to IVF for lack of any other option, and 2)with the lack of education about church teaching on IF, people may not understand fully just how wrong IVF is. Communication is key--people need to feel that the church supports them during this tough time and that there ARE moral and highly effective treatment options available to them.

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  4. I agree with all prior comments! We need our leaders to speak out and offer support. Our parish had an IF support group for awhile and our priest actively promoted it... I always thought that was cool. It's so painful to have IF when you are surrounded by large Catholic families.

    I also agree that we need to hear about vocations in contexts other than just the priesthood. I'd love to have more prayers of the faithful for those called to married life or those struggling with IF or those discerning adoption etc instead of the standard (but very important) prayer to increase vocations to the religious life.

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  5. I don't have anything else to add, but I do have prayers! God works so much in your life, it's amazing!!!

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  6. Wow, what an amazing opportunity! We will pray for you and your husband on Thursday! I would say that I think many Catholics would not be afraid to follow the Church's teachings on marriage, sex, family planning, etc., if they had strong leadership from their priests on these issues! Tell them to speak the truth! People want the truth! :) And for couples who are engaged, they need an Engaged Encounter weekend and IF needs to be discussed there as well as what the church teaches, so that from the beginning of their relationship/marriage they know what is expected of them. That is how my husband and I realized the importance and understood God's plan for marriage and families..through an EE w/end, and it totally opened our eyes to avoiding the use of birth control.

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