Diocesan Resources
Responding to Humanae vitae's call to minister to married couples: The Diocese of Memphis (2018)
Responding to Humanae vitae's call to minister to married couples: The Diocese of Memphis, God’s Providence—A History of Teaching Natural Family Planning in Memphis by Mary Pat Van Epps
In the early 1950’s, before the development of the birth control pill, Dr. John Billings in Melbourne, Australia was asked to investigate the unreliability of the Calendar Rhythm Method. His dedication and research led to the development of the Billings Ovulation Method™ of Natural Family Planning (NFP).
By the mid-1960’s Dr. Evelyn Billings had joined her husband and the research team and began the actual teaching of this new method of NFP to couples who were deeply grateful for the understanding of their fertility and ability to regulate it. The Billings and their colleagues could not have been working at a better time. By then the birth control pill had become the most sought after contraceptive method with its promises of so-called complete freedom and control. Couples, both married and unmarried, rushed to their doctors to be “put on the pill.” The world urgently needed a solid NFP method that respected God’s plan for marriage!
Also around the same tie, in 1968, Pope Paul VI issued Humanae vitae reiterating the constant and profound teaching of the Catholic Church on the regulation of birth and the sacredness of the conjugal union. Unfortunately, and as we know, many Catholics refused to accept this teaching. The opposition of many would become a challenge to those who promoted NFP and Catholic teaching that supported its use in marriage.