The Saint Paul VI Institute for the Study of Human Reproduction is the only not-for-profit education and research arm of its kind. We have been in existence since 1985 (38 years now) and the great generosity of our donors has contributed to this effort. We have done something that, to be quite honest, nobody thought was possible. But there are people like you who have shared and seen that this facility has been able to carry on its work in response to the Pastoral Directives of St. Paul VI, who in Humanae Vitae called upon “men of science” and “physicians and healthcare professionals,” along with married couples to be able to respond to the Church’s teaching in this area.
We have taken the words of St. Paul VI, since the day that he died, to work towards building this Institute. It has been, on the one hand, an enormous challenge, while on the other hand, one of the most gratifying things I could ever think of doing with my life as a board-certified obstetrician-gynecologist and one interested in academic issues, research, science, and the teachings of the Church. In addition, it has been the most gratifying work I could imagine myself ever getting involved in. It is truly the only successful program of its kind that has gotten as far as we have in the fields related to human procreation, the Catholic Church and other areas related to its teachings and insights. I will forever be grateful for having the opportunity to be a part of all of this.
Even at that, our work is just a small drop in the bucket to the enormously well-funded programs of Planned Parenthood, the Alan Guttmacher Institute, and many universities throughout the world that have dedicated much of their research to the development of diverse types of contraception, sterilization, abortion, and the production of test-tube babies. We have worked, in many ways, at great odds with more than one person telling me that going into a venture such as this would be a “tremendous failure.” But I am here to tell you it has not been a failure, in fact it has been most extraordinary and, as I said earlier, a work I could not in my best thoughts think to even be a part of.
There continues to be an enormous amount of disinformation about the abortion issue and human reproduction in general and there is so much of a need to move forward and lead the educational effort for people to understand what it is that is happening.
We started this work in 1976 when I was at St. Louis University School of Medicine, bringing it to Creighton University School of Medicine in 1977. For the first 11 years, I was involved purely in academic medicine, instructing medical students and residents, and deeply involved in research into what would soon become known as the “great unknown” of the science of human fertility. It is amazing how little we have known and learned over these many years. You know that we have developed the CREIGHTON MODEL FertilityCare™ System, which is by itself an incredible discovery. But that one system has led to the development of a whole new life-affirming women’s health science called NaProTECHNOLOGY®.
NaProTECHNOLOGY® is short for natural procreative technology, and it involves so much. When we opened the Institute, we only had five or six people working here, and now we have more than 60 people. We occupy the entire facility, which is only 18,000 sq. feet of space, and we are completely jammed to the hilt in terms of space. The goal we have been working now for a few years has been the design and construction of a whole new facility, which we have now envisioned and hope, before too much longer, to have some major announcements for you in that regard. We have done everything in our power to raise the funds to be able to do this. We are still a little bit short, and, so, we need more people to respond to the call St. Paul VI made along with St. John Paul II to do this type of work. The call went out to many lay people as well, and so many of you have responded as I indicated earlier; we are so grateful for that, but I am once again coming to you with an appeal.
At this time, we are about to enter the fall of the year and hopefully, before too long, we will have some promising announcements to make. But in the meantime, we need funds that will help sustain us and keep this program running and productive. The productivity will be in ways that many people would never imagine. For example, I have introduced to you a new book we should have published in a couple of months called “Stolen Identity.” I am enclosing a flier with this mailing to help promote this book, and it includes a poem of sorts, I wrote for this book called, “Stolen Identity: First Jim Crow Laws, Now Baby-X Laws.” There continues to be an enormous amount of disinformation about the abortion issue and human reproduction in general and there is so much of a need to move forward and lead the educational effort for people to understand what it is that is happening.
I would like to share with you a comment from a letter that I recently received from one of our Certified FertilityCare™ Educators. She wrote: “God hears from me on a daily basis about my gratitude for being allowed to encounter (this work) and to be taught this wondrous CREIGHTON MODEL; it is amazing both medically and spiritually and it is beyond my understanding.” She continues to inform me about taking credit for the 1,110 clients that she has seen over the years and over 43 FertilityCare™ Practitioners (teachers of the CREIGHTON MODEL System) who have graduated from her education program. As many of you know from the many letters I have sent, the new women’s health science of NaProTECHNOLOGY® which is a lifelong research, educational and groundbreaking new medical science for women who are of procreative age, is “the phenomenal contribution . . . made toward helping women to feel and be the best they can be.”
This woman has put in many years of dedicated service to her clients and to her students and to receive letters like this is a major vote that THIS WORK MUST GO ON AND MUST CONTINUE TO GROW!
So, if you can once again think seriously about this work and make a tax-deductible donation to the Saint Paul VI Institute, I would be deeply grateful. Thanks so much for everything you have done on our behalf, and I will keep you posted as to further developments.
Thanks again for everything. I pray that God will continue to be with you and your family in a very special way.