Rigoberto “Rigo” and Deyaniry “Yani” Ortega have been practicing Natural Family Planning (NFP) for 12 years and say it’s strengthened their marriage bond and made them respect each other more because of what it’s taught them about a woman’s fertility cycle.
They’re looking forward to spreading the word about the practice to other Latino couples and are taking a course that will enable them to teach NFP classes in Spanish by the end of the year.
The online course, which consists of 10 classes spread over 20 weeks, is sponsored by the Billings Ovulation Method Association (BOMA), which has trained NFP teachers in more than 120 nations. The course is based on the Billings ovulation method of NFP, which relies on observation of mucus patterns during a woman’s menstrual cycle to determine when she is most and least likely to become pregnant during the cycle.
The Billings method is one of several methods of NFP through which couples can chart their fertility to plan and space children according to Catholic teaching.
NFP, though it is the one type of family planning approved by the Catholic Church, is not nearly as well-known as artificial methods of birth control. Many people familiar with NFP, including the Ortegas, learned about it through the Church.
“We had been practicing artificial birth control and didn’t know about NFP until we heard (the late) Angela Johnston (longtime Hispanic ministries director for the Diocese of Columbus) talk about it,” Rigo Ortega said. “We started looking for more information on the internet, but it was hard to find a Spanish-language version of what we needed.
“Eventually, we found out about an NFP class in Spanish conducted by an international organization known as the Couple to Couple League and taught by Erick Carrero of Cincinnati. Erick and his wife couldn’t travel, so the two of them ended up teaching about a dozen couples via conference calls and Skype. This was in 2010, long before COVID made Zoom calls and online teaching more common. It was inconvenient, but it worked.”
The Ortegas then told other couples about their experiences with NFP through marriage preparation classes taught in Spanish.
The couple also became part of a series of marriage prep classes conducted once or twice a year on Saturdays at Parroquia Santa Cruz, a parish established by the Diocese of Columbus for the Latino community. The classes meet at the former Columbus Holy Name School, 143 E. Patterson Ave. The parish shares worship facilities with Holy Name Church, across the street from the school, with Father Antonio Carvalho serving as pastor of both.
The course the Ortegas now are taking goes into extensive detail on the Billings method and the science behind it so they can be licensed instructors of the method.
“A lot of people’s eyes were opened in the first NFP class we took. It made us very happy because we were able to understand better that there’s more to intimacy than just sexuality,” Rigo said.
“Practicing NFP isn’t always easy, but it teaches that if you care for and love your spouse, the two of you will take better care of each other. It also helps us communicate better because you have to communicate if you want to know where a woman is in her fertility cycle on any given day.”
Rigo, 45, was born in Puerto Rico. Yani, 44, is a native of the Dominican Republic. They met in Massachusetts and were married there in a civil ceremony in 1998. They have raised four children: Rigoberto, 28; Richard Spraus, 25; Nadra, 22; and Yamileth, 12.
The Ortegas came to Ohio in 2005. “We wanted to live in Florida, but I took a couple of weeks off work to visit a relative in the Columbus area, and I fell in love with the place,” Rigo said.
“I asked Yani to pack up and come here, and she said, ‘Are you crazy?’ I told her, ‘We’ll roll the dice,’ so we moved here and are happy with our choice.” Both work at the Victoria’s Secret distribution center on Columbus’ east side.
Rigo said he was born and raised Catholic but drifted away from the Church in his teens. After a few years of marriage, Yani decided she wanted to learn about the Catholic Church because Rigo’s parents always have been Catholics. That led the couple to Santa Cruz, where they were sacramentally married in 2008. Rigo also was confirmed in that year.
“I was like the Prodigal Son,” he said. “Once I returned to church, everything I learned as a child came back to me. My parents planted a seed. We got deeply involved in the parish but were using artificial birth control.
“One day I went to the sacrament of reconciliation and confessed that we were doing this. The priest asked if we were going to do it again, and when I told him, ‘Yes,’ he said we needed to look at the situation. I told Yani about this, and we didn’t know what to do until we learned from Angela about NFP. That was a great blessing for us.
“After a while, we were doing less at church, cutting back on activities because we were trying to keep a business afloat, but it failed. Jennifer Fullin (NFP coordinator for the diocesan Marriage and Family Life Office) called us and asked why we weren’t doing marriage prep classes anymore, and we explained. Then she told us about the BOMA course for NFP teachers.
“We’re in the midst of that now and hope to be certified by the end of the year and resume our marriage prep work helping other couples.” Most couples who learn about NFP do so through marriage preparation courses.
“I think Jennifer’s call and what followed were God calling us to again be active in the Church,” Rigo said. “We’ve found that if you really want to live your faith to the fullest and are looking for a way to show more respect and love for your spouse, NFP is the answer.
“Society, including many doctors and nurses, seems to be pushing contraception as the only way to plan a family, but NFP is a much healthier way physically, mentally and spiritually.”
For more information about NFP classes in the diocese, call the Marriage and Family Life Office at (614) 241-2560 or email jfullin@columbuscatholic.org.