One might ask, "What does natural family planning have to do with evangelization, and vice versa?" As the title of this article suggests, the relationship is fundamental. As a full-time evangelist, I have held as a long-time mentor the godfather of contemporary Catholic evangelization -- Pope Paul VI. Pope Paul's apostolic exhortation, On Evangelization in the Modern World (Evangelii Nuntiandi), promulgated in 1975, was the principal document that launched a revival of evangelistic awareness in international Catholicism. A key definition is found in paragraph 18:
"For the Church, evangelizing means bringing the Good News into all the strata of humanity, and through its influence transforming humanity from within and making it new.... But there is no new humanity if there are not first of all new persons renewed by Baptism and by lives lived according to the Gospel. The purpose of evangelization is precisely this interior change, and if it had to be expressed in one sentence, the best way of stating it would be to say that the Church evangelizes when she seeks to convert, solely through the divine power of the Message she proclaims, both the personal and collective consciences of people, the activities in which they engage, and the lives and concrete milieux which are theirs."
Notice the holistic approach of the Holy Father. Evangelization touches all aspects of life. The goal is conversion -— applying the Gospel to all elements of life and thus making life more Christ-centered and holy:
"Strata of humanity which are transformed: for the Church it is a question not only of preaching the Gospel in ever wider geographical areas or to ever greater numbers of people, but also of affecting and as it were upsetting, through the power of the Gospel, mankind's criteria of judgment, determining values, points of interest, lines of thought, sources of inspiration and models of life, which are in contrast with the Word of God and the plan of salvation." (On Evangelization in the Modern World, #19)
In a nutshell, what the Holy Father is speaking about is the desperate need for a transformation of culture:
"All this could be expressed in the following words: what matters is to evangelize man's culture and cultures (not in a purely decorative way, as it were by applying a thin veneer, but in a vital way, in depth and right to their very roots), in the wide and rich sense which these terms have in Gaudium et spes, always taking the person as one's starting point and always coming back to the relationships of people among themselves and with God." (On Evangelization in the Modern World, #20)
What could be more at the "very roots" of culture and "relationships of people among themselves and with God" than marriage and parenthood?! It is here that Pope Paul VI's other landmark document, On Human Life (Humanae Vitae), written seven years before On Evangelization in the Modern World, comes into play.
I am of the opinion that it is no accident that the same holy and prophetic man wrote both letters. There is a connection and a consistency -- a spirituality. Humanae Vitae is a document that inspires personal and conjugal conversion and, at the same time, the transformation of culture. It therefore promotes evangelization in the most total sense of the word, the sense contained in Evangelii Nuntiandi.
Humanae Vitae includes a spirituality and ascetical/mystical teaching for couples similar to that of St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 7:5 -- that periodic abstinence fosters devotion to mutual prayer. Mysticism and prayer must be the source of evangelical outreach, and mystical union must be the summit of such outreach -- union with God and with one another in God. Since marriage and the family are the building blocks of civilization, such a spirituality of evangelization has implications in the wider culture. Holy matrimonies and holy families build holy nations.
When we ease up on such prayerful bonding and loosen up too much on natural law, society is in for trouble. This is why Pope Paul speaks of the Church as a sign of contradiction. She is truly counter-cultural in a culture increasingly bombarded by immoral voices. Thus the Church has a marvelous opportunity to be a leaven for a "true civilization among men":
"She (the Church) encourages man not to abdicate human duties by overreliance on technology. In this way she safeguards the dignity of spouses. Devoted to the example and teaching of the Divine Savior, the Church shows her sincere and generous love for men as she strives to help them, even during their earthly pilgrimage, 'to share as sons and daughters the life of the living God, the Father of all men'." (Humanae Vitae, #23)
How prophetic! At a time when this nation is seriously considering the Draculesque possibility of stem cell research requiring the killing of unborn children, one sees clearly the horrific potential of "overreliance on technology" without God. Indeed, Humanae Vitae predicted a general lowering of morality accompanying the widespread use of contraception. This lowering of morality included a sexual revolution (really a sexual regression) that brought with it much unwanted pregnancy and abortion, sexual exploitation, broken marriages, and broken persons.
In this sense, Paul VI is a precursor to the theology of that other prophetic Pope, John Paul II. Pope John Paul's notion of the language of the body in conjugal love as one of total commitment is akin to Pope Paul's understanding of the holistic connection between spirituality and sexuality in Humanae Vitae. John Paul's encouragement of education in natural family planning reflects this total self-giving.
"At this first stage of life, centers for natura1 methods of regulating fertility should be promoted as a valuable help in responsible parenthood, in which all individuals, and in the first place the child, are recognized and respected in their own right, and where every decision is guided by the ideal of the sincere gift of self." (Evangelium Vitae, #88)
In this way married couples in love with Jesus, the Church, and each other will want to "share their experience with other spouses" (Humanae Vitae, #26). Natural Family Planning, as I have observed through years of pastoral experience, forms couples that are ardently evangelistic. Such marriages will transform a culture of death into a culture of life and a civilization of love. The Gospel of Jesus will be brought into all strata of humanity beginning at humanity's earliest stages. And the nation will be evangelized.