The Whole Person and the Whole Mission

When I was growing up, my family had a phrase we would say pretty frequently:

“You’re going to do what you want anyway!”

It was a sassy phrase, often iterated by my mother in a half-hearted attempt to encourage us to not-do-a-thing that we were definitely going to do.

That’s a bit of the sentiment I felt when my husband came home from Mass one morning earlier this year and suggested we start a service focused primarily around natural family planning (NFP) classes.

A few months, lots of phone calls, some video conferences, a handful of meetings, and several hours spent on the computer later: here we are, launching Whole Mission!

So how did we come to this point? What is Whole Mission and what are we hoping for?

Way back in 2015, I learned to use the Marquette Method during the postpartum/breastfeeding transition back to fertility after my youngest child was born. I LOVED it (as much as one can really love NFP). I was so encouraged in the objectivity of use and evidence supporting the method that, with my husband’s great support and encouragement, I became an instructor.

In the course of establishing a teaching service, both online and in-person, my husband saw the struggles that I went through and could see as an outsider how that might prevent some instructors from broadening their reach. Both of us felt very strongly that it should be easier for couples to find an instructor to learn the Marquette Method. Additionally, we were so impressed by the quality and amount of research in the Marquette Method that had already been conducted, but we could both see that for research to continue there would need to be an increase in awareness by users of fertility awareness, medical professionals, leaders in the church, and the public at large.

This is where I become that lady who talks about NFP all the time (I literally spent an entire grocery store trip talking on the phone about NFP the other day. Sorry about that, Aldi.)

Through Whole Mission, we truly hope to make it easier for couples to learn the Marquette Method. We are making it simple to find a class, sign up, and talk with your instructor. We offer high-quality classes with updated presentations provided by qualified healthcare providers. Personal follow-up is included to bring a dynamic healthcare service available at a reasonable price.

Instructors also need a good deal of support to give them more time to work with couples and provide the comprehensive education from a healthcare provider that is the best part of the Marquette Method. We are taking some of the administrative load off of teachers so they can focus on those ministries that really build up and encourage the couples they reach.

Through all of this work, we want to “give back” to support more research and increase awareness of NFP and the benefits for women, couples, families, and society. This isn’t some bizarre fertility-awareness-based-entrepreneurship. This is a way to improve NFP methods to make it easier and more effective for real couples by funding research and advertising the science behind the method.

A large influence on our work is the Catholic encyclical Humane Vitae (found here). While the document itself is over 50 years old, the content is immensely relevant today. Our name, “Whole Mission,” comes from a translation from the Latin document:

“...the whole person and the whole mission to which human beings have been called will be taken into account, for this [mission] pertains not only to the natural and earthly existence of human beings but also to their supernatural and eternal existence.” (Humanae Vitae, §7)

We’re not interested in just promoting a highly effective method of avoiding or achieving pregnancy. We want to encourage each and every person to live in such a way that will build them up physically, emotionally, spiritually and wholly.

We’ve got big plans, and we hope you’ll hang around to see what we’re up to, and spread the good news about love!

Divine Mercy, have mercy on us and on the whole world!

Pope St. John Paul II, pray for us!

St. Gianna, pray for us!

You can read more about us and see our vision here

To sign up for a class in the Marquette Method, go here