Clergy and Seminarian Programs
“Superb! Religion meets science!” High praise from one seminarian upon completing CANFP’s week- long immersion for clergy and seminarians in God’s Design for Married Love.
CANFP supports clergy and seminarians in their preparation to counsel and guide couples and families on these vital aspects of marriage and family life. Over 500 priests, deacons (and deacons’ wives), and seminarians have completed the CANFP Clergy program, God’s Design for Married Love.
CANFP's God's Design for Married Love has been attended by over 500 Clergy and Seminarians
310 priests | 127 Seminarians | 70 Deacons & 21 Deacons’ Wives
About Our Program
The CANFP program consists of a series of presentations from the richly varied perspectives of CANFP experts/members, designed to provide a comprehensive and cohesive overview of the scientific, medical, health, relational, theological, and pastoral perspective. Professional CANFP Members—Physicians, NFP Teachers, and Clergy—present the expert information, and the lived experience is articulated from the heart by CANFP members who share their personal journey. While an abbreviated session of anywhere from an hour to a couple days is also valuable, a full four-five day seminar allows for more in-depth presentation and exploration of the topics covered In our experience this full length seminar allows for a deeper and more dramatic conversion for those who may have struggled with, or been lukewarm on, this teaching, and for all participants, a more in-depth embracing of the importance of this issue for today’s couples, and a higher level of mastery and confidence in teaching and preaching it.
The personal testimony of those who use NFP is a valued contribution, always a favorite, as witnessed by this seminarian “what most impacted me was the personal witness talks. It made everything truly palpable, real”.
We applaud the dioceses who provide this program, for recognizing the urgency and relevancy of these issues in our current cultural climate, the importance for couples and families, and the critical need to provide updates for clergy, and supplementary in-depth formation for seminarians.
CANFP is uniquely qualified to provide this service, with members and a mission that see NFP from a varied and collaborative perspective, confirmed by the positive response of participants, including this priest: “I have been coming to these convocations for 16 or 17 years. I have never enjoyed one more than I have this one. I go back to the vineyard renewed and refreshed, with a lot more ammunition for the battle. I would recommend this to anyone! Great job—God Bless You!”
Measuring the Impact
Pre and post surveys of seminarians and clergy attending the programs, confirm across the board increase in knowledge of the issues, confidence in preaching and teaching it, and passion for prioritizing it. The most dramatic growth is reflected in increased knowledge of modern methods of NFP, confidence in the benefits NFP offers couples, and familiarity with the resources available to them. Those attending the program have consistently rated the seminar, and presenters, highly. As one priest participant shared, “Deeply moving and empowering. I feel much more prepared to discuss these topics, and I also now know where to get further resources and information.“
Seminarian Program Results
- Pre-program, 53% clearly saw the negative impact on contraception on couples/ families and 71% clearly saw contraception as intrinsically immoral (rating these 5). Following the program, 95% clearly saw the negative impact of contraception and 90% rated contraception as intrinsically evil, with ratings of 5.
- Pre-program only slightly more than half gave the highest rating (5) to the importance of a priest addressing in a parish/plan to offer NFP in parish, and only slightly more than half expressed adequate (4-5) confidence explaining Church teaching on contraception. Post program, 82% expressed high (4-5) confidence in explaining Church teaching, and 84%/82% gave the highest rating (5) to the importance of priest addressing/planned offering in parish.
- Pre-program, only 39% knew the effectiveness of NFP, and of the remainder, most dramatically underestimated its effectiveness to avoid a pregnancy at between 50-85%. Post-seminar, 88% correctly identified the effectiveness of NFP, and the remainder underestimated only slightly.
- While 84% entered the program strongly committed (4-5) that IVF is never a morally acceptable option, only 25% felt prepared (4-5) to inform couples of morally acceptable infertility treatments, only 14% were aware (4-5) of NFP knowledgeable physicians to refer couples to, only 23% knew (4-5) where to send couples to learn NFP. Post program, 100% of participants were committed (4-5) that IVF is never morally acceptable and now 84% felt prepared (4-5) to inform couples of morally acceptable infertility treatment options, and 63%/66% knew (4-5) where to refer to a knowledgeable NFP physician/teacher.
While EVERY area surveyed demonstrated growth in knowledge and confidence by conclusion of the program, four pastoral areas of knowledge demonstrated sharp increases
Topic
% Rating 4-5 Pre
% Rating 4-5 Post
Knowledgeable on Modern NFP methods
20%
89%
Prepared to inform couples of morally acceptable infertility treatments
25%
84%
Aware of NFP only physicians to refer to
14%
63%
Aware of NFP services to refer to
23%
66%
Program Feedback
Clergy Program Results
Areas with the most significant change in perception reported following a 4 day seminar for priests:
The topic is relevant to me in my ministry
The Church teaching on sexuality is relevant to modern couples
I see contraception negatively impact modern couples
One day clergy event for 50th Anniversary of Humanae Vitae, attended by 75 Clergy:
- Participating clergy rated the Clergy Day a 4.8 (most rating it a 5 out of 5, and NONE rating it below a 4)
- 43% reported Humanae Vitae was a priority in their ministry prior to attending this Clergy Day…100% reported Humanae Vitae would be a priority in their ministry at the conclusion.
- 91% report feeling better equipped to share Humanae Vitae
- One Deacon reported that following the Clergy Day: “I included teachings of HV in my homilies and, with my wife, gave a 90-min. presentation to the teachers of our diocesan Catholic schools on HV/TOB and used the excitement of the conference to guide us in our presentation.”
When asked "What will you do differently as a result of attending this conference", attendees replied:
Priests:
- “Preach more boldly .”
- “Feel equipped to teach couples about HV”.
- “Continue on in ministry with renewed motivation, and some new ideas and verbalizations.”
- “I will refer to National Week of NFP at spanish masses this weekend.”
- “Begin a new cycle of preaching on Humanae Vitae and working with theology of the body for the youth.”
- “I am so happy the talks will be online! I will share them with many people. I will listen to them again. I want to re-live so many of the moments of that action-packed weekend! And take in what I didn’t have time to during the conference. And share with others the wonderful experience I had. The insights, the personalities, the networking, the exhibits, the momentum, the resources.”
- “Preach more frequently and with more conviction.”
Deacons:
- “Promote NFP in my Parish.”
- “Better prepared to preach on HV and do better marriage prep “
- “I’m an RCIA catechist and my approach will incorporate more HV facts and info.”
- “Propose HV to the Pro-Life ministry. Work it into my homilies.”
- “Try harder to work preaching on HV and chastity and Theology of the Body into my preaching.”
- “Be more confident in sharing the wisdom of the Church.”
