By Anthony Barich
The Archdiocesan Natural Fertility Services agency is set to have 10 fully accredited Family Life educators working in primary and secondary Catholic schools around the Archdiocese – an unprecedented number for the agency and for Catholic schools.
The agency has had its largest intake of trainees this year, reflecting success and acceptance of the importance of its work among teachers, parents, tertiary institutions and the wider community.
In recent years NFS has had to decline pleas from a number of schools requesting visits from its educators. The new intake will allow NFS to accomodate these.
NFS will also have two educators stationed in country areas; educators are re-accredited every two years.
NFS is one of several Catholic Archdiocesan organisations undertaking key work promoting the benefits for marriages and relationships of natural methods of family planning; it focuses on promotion of the sympto-thermal method of assessing women’s fertility.
Growing numbers of Church leaders and thinkers in recent decades have identified support for marriage, the institution of the family and family life as a vital work for the Church in the modern era; key to this is the promotion of formation and education in delicate areas such as sex and relationships which run counter to an increasingly sharply defined culture of death.
Aside from working with couples already in relationships or preparing for marriage, agencies such as NFS, Billings and others offer virtually the only alternative to youth bombarded by a media-led culture of promiscuity and moral relativism which accepts abortion as the fall-back safeguard when contracepted promiscuity fails.
NFS also offers support, education and counselling to couples with infertility problems and to menopausal women and provides teaching programmes to couples preparing for marriage, secondary students and others.
NFS educators are fully accredited by the Australian Council of Natural Family Planning.
This “new blood” is bringing new life to the agency’s programmes as it constantly upgrades and expands its ideas to meet the needs of parents, teachers and students, NFS manager Chris Fernandez told The Record.
The agency is filling a key need among girls aged 10 and older in Catholic schools by providing introductory and age-appropriate sex education seminars from a Catholic perspective, she said.
NFS is already busy: it currently presents seminars and workshops in 40 primary schools and 18 colleges from Bindoon to Mandurah.
Meanwhile, in response to parent and teacher requests for educational support with early onset of puberty, NFS established the programme I am Nature’s greatest miracle for girls and boys in Year 5 last year.
“The programme is filling a great need, especially for Year 5 girls who feel anxious and alone in their experience,” Mrs Fernandez said.
NFS also runs seminars for Year 6 and 7 students in Catholic schools called Becoming a Man and Becoming a Woman, which Mrs Fernandez said are popular because they include parent evenings to preview content that educators will present to their children. These also provide the opportunity to address any questions or concerns parents may have regarding educators speaking to their children on sex.
For Years 8 to 12, NFS also presents a range of programmes for single sessions, half-day and full-day seminars. Titles include The journey – Becoming Men and Women, The gift of our Sexuality, Building Healthy Relationships, Our Life Before Birth and Life Issues, The Natural Approach to Family Planning and Contraception – Separating the Truth from the Myth.
NFS also runs workshops for these age groups called Marriage – a Lifelong, Loving Commitment and My Body, My Fertility for young women. Presentations are interactive and incorporate a variety of learning strategies.
These programmes are presented in Catholic secondary schools in the areas of Religious Education, Health, Science and Early Childhood Studies.
The programmes are part of NFS’ Family Life Education course, established in 1974 in response to the Second Vatican Council’s call for more lay involvement in passing on the Church’s teachings in a practical way, based on factual evidence.
The work of NFS, commissioned by the Archbishop of Perth and endorsed by the Catholic Education Office of WA, began in secondary schools and now includes primary, tertiary, parent education, professional development for teachers and community projects.
“The seminars are extremely well prepared and well delivered – professional and thoroughly organised,” one teacher said, while another added that they are “highly informative and at the students’ level”.
Another teacher said he was “extremely impressed with the way the presenter engaged the class, interacted with them and inspired them to feel comfortable to respond”.
NFS is currently taking bookings for 2011 and there are some spaces left for Term 4, 2010. For more information or bookings email
opm.nfs@aanet.com.au or call during office hours on 9223 1396. More info can also be found on the Australian Council for Natural Family Planning’s website, www.acnfp.com.au.