Meet Member Debi Hoppe

Debi was not always an NFP advocate. She questioned the church’s teaching on natural family planning. Though she felt in her “heart of hearts” that contraception was against church teaching, she and her husband did contracept the first ten years of their marriage.

While on a Marian pilgrimage, the priest who heard her confession was a big promoter of NFP. He advised she read the Billings book when she got home. She did read the book but found it “silly”. She just felt there was not enough information in the book to convince her, so she and her husband continued to contracept. After all, she rationalized, it (contraception) is what intelligent people did.

Following the pilgrimage, Debi’s prayer life grew. Her conscience continued to bother her, especially when praying the rosary. She continued to process the idea of NFP, though persisting in their use of contraception. She thought, after all, my husband is not Catholic, and we have been generous with life having had four children. She remembers those months as times of marital tension.

Following the advice of a priest, they took a class in NFP. Debi remembers being completely taken with the science behind natural family planning as well as the faith and holiness of the couple teaching the class. So, after twelve years of marriage, Debi and her husband began using and teaching the Sympto-Thermal Method. Debi recalls her husband began to have faith and confidence in the method as well. After a decade of using and teaching NFP, Debi’s husband became Catholic.

Debi initially taught Sympto-Thermal, and then SymptoPro. While retired from active teaching as a certified instructor, she continues to advise couples who ask for help. She teaches marriage preparation at her parish, and observes there are now fewer couples wanting to learn NFP and that marriage is in a state of crisis with the widespread use of contraception. In her marriage prep classes, she discusses all methods of NFP and tells the couples preparing for marriage that the best method of NFP is the one that you will use.

Debi, why do you support CANFP?
“I think that CANFP is a profound organization that links all methods and teachers under one umbrella. It helps the community and the church. It also supports like-minded people and all methods of NFP, and I want to support their mission.”