The NZ premiere of the documentary, sponsored by the Catholic Enquiry Centre, will be shown as part of the Family Banquet Conference next month.

The documentary seeks to explain the fallout of the hippie generation's free-love mindset and the prophetic nature of Humanae Vitae.

Humanae Vitae is Blessed Pope Paul VI's 1968 encyclical on love, sex and marriage.

The director and narrator of the ninety-minute documentary believes the sexual revolution that followed the introduction of artificial contraception in the 1960s may soon give way to a new and "real sexual revolution" that embraces Natural Family Planning.

"I believe with all my heart there is a rediscovery happening right now of Humanae Vitae," said the director, Daniel diSilva.

The fact that young people are increasingly turning to organic food and natural healthcare choices leads diSilva to believe "we're sitting on the cusp of a revolution of natural family planning," in which married couples use neither drugs nor devices but rather fertility awareness to delay or achieve pregnancy.

The documentary examines the history of the parallel developments of the pill and modern natural family planning framed within the dramatic life story of Alana Newman.

A musician and singer, Newman's life story as a donor-conceived individual searching for her biological father frames the film.

There is a focus on Drs John and Evelyn Billings, the pioneers in the Natural Family Planning movement.

The film also features commentary by more than a dozen Catholic experts including Dr Helen Alvare, Dr Peter Kreeft, and Archbishop Charles Chaput, as well as rarely seen video clips of St Mother Teresa.

The Family Banquet Conference will take place on Saturday, 10 November at St Christopher's Church, 167 Main Rd, Tawa in Wellington. Tickets are available at eventbrite or contact patricia@marriageandfamily.org.nz

Source

• Supplied: marriageandfamily.org.nz Patricia Sison
• sexualrevolutionmovie.com
• thecatholicpost.com
• imdb.com
• Image: Supplied

But Olivier and Xristilla Roussy said their experience with contraception was not a good one.

After their third child was born, Mr Roussy said, Xristilla was exhausted; they thought that using the pill for a few months would help their marriage, "but it had the opposite effect".

He said his wife was always "in a bad mood, desire was absent and her joy disappeared".

In addition, he said, they both "understood we closed the door to the Lord in our conjugal life".

So they resorted back to Natural Family Planning, but this too, was not always easy, Mr Roussy explained.

Sexual desire increases during a woman's fertile period, but talking to one another and exercising discipline teaches trust and tenderness, he said.

"We have found these methods are reliable," he said, "even though we must admit that when we did not contain our desire, an infant came nine months later."

At the synod, Brazilians Arturo and Hermelinda As Zamberline asked that the Church stop giving "contradictory advice" on contraception, which only aggravates confusion.

The Zamberlines, married for 41 years and with three children, admitted that many Catholic couples in Brazil don't feel troubled by using artificial contraception.

The couple said natural methods of family planning had an "unjust reputation of being unreliable".

But they said such methods were often badly explained and thus badly practised.

Introducing the couple to the assembly, Cardinal Andre Vingt-Trois of Paris warned of the demographic consequences of a widespread "contraceptive mentality".

In the first week of the synod, a married couple would give an address to start each new session of the gathering.

Sources

• National Catholic Reporter
• National Catholic Reporter
• Image: Eglise Catholique en France