mooring the boat

October 26, 2012 11:21 pm

Father Captain returned to his homeland and together with him the boat is mooring in the local landscape of the Harbour.

And yet the Travel Journal contained no too many exotic elements. If I was to tell how our everyday life is related to NaProTechnology and I+YOU=WE, I’d say all the paths come together. If we’ve been created to exist in relationships, only then do we feel happy when our relationships make sense, improve, let us BE more. So we would love this I+YOU to represent a true equation.

NaProTechnology, in turn, enables one to go beyond their illiteracy in the area of the language of the body, to which this world is basically deaf. Creighton Model system questions the wild utlitilitarism which exploits the body and refuses to grant due respect to it.

So ‘”The Harbour,” to which Fr Jay has directed us for the last month, is a good place for the whole human being. For the marriage and the family. A place which helps in the process of civilizing our inner “savage” towards love.

Travel boradens the mind. Thank you, Fr Jay, for taking us with you.

Małgosia

Why Creighton Model FertilityCare System?

October 26, 2012 9:30 am

Because entering Creighton Model System is a new beginning in  marriage. Creighton Model, using the system of biomarkers, empowers both husband and wife to become more conscious of their talents and enables them to use those talents to take care of each other. To align their common goals practically to the Will of God in their unique life. It opens a window for lifelong support through NaProTECHNOLOGY in the monitoring their health.

It seems to be a difficult record including signs, like Balance Score Card under Kaplan´s for businesses. Comparing it, is less an accounting system, it is more a control system, using entrepreneurial language. But it is much more than this: Creighton Model System is a “decoder” of the language of the female human body – and of the procreative human body that marriage is.

The System is like “Mercedes Benz” if it were a car, or a new Mac if it were a computer, or “Rollex” – if it were a wrist watch… If you choose to follow CrM System, you have in your hands the most outstanding tool to manage and direct your life in love.

Beatriz

Hello Dear Friends in Poland, Germany and USA!

October 24, 2012 2:26 pm

So I had what I expected… The plane left Chicago with a 2-hour delay, so I was late for the plane in Munich. Fortunately, there was another plane at 14:30 which I managed to board, but of course it was impossible to make it for the 14:25 lecture in Warsaw. I managed to phone my students and say I was sorry for not turning up.

Since there were more such “delayed passengers” at the airport, we could share our travelling experiences. It turned out that what works best for us is sightseeing in the hotel rooms and conference rooms, together with airports and terminals.  Well, it’s better than nothing.

The last plane was also delayed, so I was back Home later, too. But I made it for the eveing meeting.

And now I can also say “thank You” for this wonderful time together, that we were given. And to thank all who prayed for me during that time. The Lord has done great things, which I could watch in close proximity, and now I’d like to invite you thank Him for that together with me.

It’s good you are there.

Fr Jay

On the way again

October 23, 2012 1:56 pm

This time I’m going to have to change twice. I set off on the journey by Amtrak (a train) at 6:30 from Springfield to Chicago. 3.5-hour trip. The ticket collector puts a piece of paper above the seat of each of the passengers. Probably it contains some notes on the destination, because the pieces are of different colours and he collects them every now and then during the journey.

In Chicago there will be a short stop, because even though the flight is scheduled for 18, it takes much longer to get through security. And here I am. It’s 16.45 and theoretically in a half an hour they should start letting us in. Theoretically, because the plane hasn’t arrived yet and we heard on the grapevine that we would be leaving half an hour later. The reason? Nobody knows. What I know is that my time in Munich, where I was to have had one hour for changing planes, has just got radically shorter.

So nobody knows if: 1. I’ll get to Munich, 2. I’ll make it on time to Munich, 3. and if the planes land in Warsaw (thick fog has recently been reported – and cancellation of many flights in).

All of that is of course some portion of adventure that one should experience during such a long journey. Only my students may be disappointed, because I’m expected to arrive for the lecture – and chances are I will, provided that all 3 of the above-mentioned conditions are met. But as you know, I like travelling, so I’m putting up with all those obstacles not only with a smile, but also enthusiastically. Each adventure makes our lives more diverse.

If I don’t write for a couple of days to follow, it means I am nobody knows where. Maybe then our Dear “Harbour” Team will let you know, what’s going on.

See you soon!?

Fr Jay

Program I+YOU=WE in Springfield

October 22, 2012 10:57 am

…has ended. Happily. The couples left content.

My fears about my language skills turned out to be… missed, because most of the participants expressed their appreciation for… the lectures. And “they could last longer”. Which was of course very nice of them and I was really pleased to hear it, but the most important thing was that each couple, no matter if they’d been together for 59 years or just for 1 year (not to mention the fiances), found something particularly important for themselves in the retreat. The prayer of so many people helped all the participants to open their hearts and experience God’s love.

Not to mention St Thérèse, who took the retreat right from the start under her protection, and gave us shelter in her room (Little Flower’s Room)* . She kept on praying, standing just behind the reatreat master. And it was her who received roses, placed at her altar in the church, after the Mass with the Vow Renewal Ceremony. There is so much to thank for.

And may God bless all of You who supported us.

Fr Jay

*St Thérèse of Lisieux – called Little St. Thérèse for her ingenious invention of a “little way” to sainthood, based on the acceptance of one’s own limitations and weakness, on limitless trust and simple love in daily matters – always “here and now.”  She said that the great saints filled her with fear, but she longed for the perfect love with which she could answer God’s love for her. In her autobiographical manuscripts and in her dialogues with Jesus she used to call herself “the little flower of Jesus.” [from the Ediotrs]

The Couples at I+YOU=WE

October 21, 2012 10:45 am

in Sprinfield are of different age. To begin with several years of being married, still expecting to become parents, to finish with the parents of 6 children and the spouses with 59 years of married life behind.

It seemed that with such variety of life experience it would not be easy to find some common ground. But both the youngest and the most experienced participants approach the workshop activities with an equal enthusiasm. And they are the first to look for the opportunity to thank me for that time, because until recently, whenever they heard the word “date,” they asked for explanation what it meant. 😉

Fr Jay

Springfield, Illinois

October 21, 2012 10:31 am

The long planned Program I+YOU=WE in Springfield is taking place at last.

9 married couples and one engaged couple have turned up. The Coach Couples are the participants of the Program in February this year, in Omaha: Elena and Carlos, Audery and Brad. We spent the whole evening together on discussing again all the workshops and the whole Program.

It seems all is ready. Almost all, because the exception is the lecturer. But I’m holding on to what freindly people told me: the participants will not detect my linguistic mistakes, because they will listen to WHAT I want to tell them, and not HOW I’m doing this. Which of course does not alleviate the frustration that this HOW is so far away from WHAT. But if the Program is a couple reatreat, after which the spouses grow closer to each other, maybe I should expect that also WHAT will grow closer to HOW?

There is still lots of work ahead of us, so I’m asking you to continue your prayers. And thank you for remembering me and for all the signs of this memory. We keep on struggling.

Fr Jay

I+YOU equals WE also in the USA

October 20, 2012 10:27 am

While we’re waiting for the continuation of the little known account from the history of NaProTechnology (in the US it’s been already over 30 years of infertility treatment using that method – what a pity in Poland it’s still the difficult beginning), we interject a request for prayer for the Program I+YOU=WE which is about to start in Springfield, Chiara Center, as a form of diocesian couple retreat.

Dear Readers may support Fr Jay and the Couples. We, wives and husbands, all face basically the same problems and struggles all over the world. So.. “For your freedom and ours.” 🙂 And we’re looking forward to a postcard from this blessed time, which is a quest into the unknown, a challenge – both for the Program Leaders and Participants.

The “Harbour” Team

St Louis, Missouri – the begnning of FertilityCare Centers

October 19, 2012 10:56 pm

It’s year 1974. Thomas W. Hilgers, MD, after completing his study comes here with his wife Susan to begin residency at St Mary’s Hospital. For the 4 years to come.

One day in 1974 he accepts the invitation from Missouri Nurses for Life (by the way, I wonder since when we’ve got to tell the pro-life doctors from the others – and shouldn’t we have in that nomenclature: pro-life and anti-life doctors – the neutral doctors do not exist, or do they?).

That group of nurses included Ann Prebil and Diane Daly. Dr Hilgers was asked to give a lecture on a pregnancy resulting from a rape and the special role of pro-life nurses in handling the patient after such a trauma.

A year later he called Ann with the offer of cooperation: she’s asked to take the post of an  Education Coordinator of a new program for Natural Family Planning at St Louis Univeristy. Ann accepts the offe, and initially shares her time between her work as a lecturer in a nursing school and this new program.

On February 12, 1976 the first meeting of the new program was held. It looked a bit like contemporary Education Programs. 6 people took part in it: Sue Hilgers, dr Thomas Hilgers, Ann, Diane and one more married couple who later left the project.

In January 1977 Dr Thomas Hilgers with his Wife and two sons, Paul and Steve, left for Omaha. A year later the first FertilityCare Center was opened in St. Louis.

What happened next and where the name Creighton Model of FertilityCare System comes from – in the subsequent parts of the story.

Fr Jay

Pope Paul VI Institute

October 17, 2012 1:20 pm

houses a truly beautiful Chapel on the last storey, actually in the attic. Next to the Chapel there is a meeting room with a library, and from there you can also participate in the Holy Mass. But this happens very seldom. Because the opportunity to take part in a Mass is rare here. There is a daily Service, for years faithfully celebrated by Deacon Tom. Traditionally, while I’m in Omaha, there is the Eucharist for all the staff.

Today we also had the Mass and then the visits to all the departments, with prayer over each staff member, together with blessing the Institute. Everyone here is very moved by the good things which have happened here and they all know it is a gift of God’s Love. And they ask for prayer, for God’s protection over the Institute, over their families and themselves. They too know that in all the places where good things happen – also the difficulties and hardships come along. As anywhere else.

It was good to be here.

Tomorrow I’ll have to be on the move again. It’s time for a “sentimental journey.” But I’ll tell you about that – tomorrow…

Fr Jay