Natural Family Planning: Mother Nature’s best kept secret

"I wrote the bishop in 2002 concerned that our diocese wasn’t doing enough to promote NFP," said the mother of four. "He was very responsive and agreed that we needed to do more, so I volunteered to become an NFP [instructor] for the diocese.

"I really feel like this whole thing was directed by the Holy Spirit," she said.

At the heart of NFP is the fact that it allows couples to avoid pregnancy without the use of contraceptions, while lending guidance to those seeking to become pregnant.

According to the Couple to Couple League, NFP "refers to the practice of avoiding or achieving pregnancy according to an informed awareness of a woman’s fertility. During each monthly cycle, a woman normally becomes fertile and then infertile. Her body provides certain signs to indicate her fertile and infertile times."

Becoming an instructor wasn’t just a matter of reading a few texts on the subject. Last November, the diocese sent Horinek to Kansas City where she spent 10 days in training.

"It’s in-depth medical training," she explained. "I’m an allied health professional. I’m currently in ‘Supervised Practicum I.’ In April I’ll go back for eight more days, and then I’ll have another six months of ‘Supervised Practicum II,’ then I’ll sit for an exam, and then a year later I’ll become board certified.

"There are different methods of NFP," she explained. "All of them are in the more than 99 percent effectiveness range."

Horinek, whose official title is "Creighton Model FertilityCare Practitioner Intern," teaches the Creighton model of NFP, one of several models taught all over the world. In fact, she has used the method herself for more than nine years.

"Creighton is the most standardized and objective model," she explained. "Many Creighton clients are women with fertility problems wanting to naturally conceive children. I am currently seeing clients in the diocese, and have given a couple of Introductory Sessions already.

"I am available to travel around the diocese and give introductory workshops, if parishes would help sponsor and promote such workshops. They take about an hour, and are for couples interested in learning Natural Family Planning."

Follow-up sessions are scheduled at regular intervals, with eight follow-ups in the first year. After that, couples can call for further instruction as needed. Most follow-up sessions can take place over the phone.

According to the Couple to Couple League, "The method is based on the fact that when a woman is fertile, she will experience an obvious discharge of cervical mucus. As ovulation approaches, this mucus discharge changes, and this is what a woman learns to interpret in order to determine her fertile and infertile phases. All observations are done externally, and are charted daily."

Horinek said that she hopes to offer an introductory program in each parish in the diocese within the next year.

"A lot of Catholics don’t even know that they’re not supposed to use birth control," she said. "Nor do they know that ‘the pill’ is abortifacient [a substance or device used to induce abortion], not just the pill, but all chemical methods.

"There’s got to be a better way, and this is it. It’s a natural way of managing our fertility that’s in line with how God designed our bodies."

For more information, or to schedule a class, call Horinek at (620) 675-2642, or email her at sunflowerfertility@hotmail.com. For more information about the Creighton model of NFP, visit the Pope Paul VI Institute web site at www.popepaulvi.com.