By Sr. Teresa Joseph –
The esteemed Sr. M. Annunciata RGS Golden Jubilee Award was bestowed on Anna and Valentino from Goa for their outstanding contributions to the Pro-Life on Sunday 15 April 2018 when the Archdiocese of Bombay celebrated Pro-life Day.
The Auxiliary Bishop of Bombay, Barthol Barretto, wrote, “My dear Vally and Anna, it gives me immense joy to inform you that the Diocesan Human Life Committee (DHLC) desires to honour you as a couple for the sterling work you have done, and continue to do, in spreading the teaching of St. John Paul II on the Theology of the Body.”
The NFP Way
The Church’s teaching – Humanae Vitae (HV) helped Anna and Vally to understand the beauty of sexual love when they practiced natural family planning (NFP) with the right attitude. “It blew our minds! A simple truth that no book, no priest, NO ONE had told us — until Couple to Couple League (CCL) did. We learnt to use NFP and struggled to live it in the truth. We experienced Jesus’ words: “and the truth will set you free.” The truth about NFP and the Church’s constant teaching against contraception is like a treasure of priceless value. It is the Gospel of Life. We could not keep the Good News for ourselves,” Anna said.
Anna and Vally are part of the Responsible Parenthood of the Family Sevice Centre of the Archdiocese of Goa and are the faculty for family social issues. They are experienced Natural Family Planning teaching couple. Anna and Vally are certified teaching couple for natural family planning with the Couple to Couple League (CCL) since 1999. They promote the Sympto-Thermal Method of Natural Family Planning. They are co-directors of the CCL India Chapter based in Goa, India. As team couples for Marriage Encounter and Engaged Encounter and team trainers for the Marriage Encounter, they have also incorporated the Theology of the Body (TOB) into most of their talks.
Five individuals and institutions were honored for their work to spread the teaching of Pope John Paul II in his theology of the body at the first national congress on this topic. “During a three-day congress, which was organized by the Philadelphia-based Theology of the Body Institute,The institute awarded Valentine and Ann Coelho of Goa, India; Father Richard Hogan of Crystal, Minnesota; the Daughters of St. Paul of Boston, Massachusetts; the Theology of the Body International Alliance of San Antonio, Texas; and Ruah Woods of Cincinnati, Ohio.”
“Valentine and Ann Coelho were acknowledged for their work over the past decade in spreading the teachings of John Paul II in India, through seminars for clergy, religious, seminarians, doctors, youth and engaged and married couples.”
As Anna and Vally applied as a candidate teaching couple, they were accepted even though they had 4 children, the younger ones being three years and two-years old at that time. Within a year they were certified teachers of NFP by the Couple to Couple League in June 1999 for three years. They had been re-certified for another three years… Constant prayer, study and reflection and a rigorous testing procedure were part of their becoming certified teacher of NFP.
In August 2008, Vally & Anna attended a Certification Course on Catholic Sexual Ethics, given by Dr. Janet Smith at Pennsylvania, USA and in September 2008 Vally attended a ‘Certification Course: Head & Heart Immersion II’ given by Christopher West. The Life-Generating Process is an ongoing one and Anna will be qualified as a certified leader.
Specialists in Homeschooling
Anna and Vally have joyfully opted to homeschool their three sons and two daughters. The proud father says, “There were three main reasons to consider home-schooling our children. One was the transport problem in our village. The second one was that we saw that our Catholic schools lacked good religious and moral education. The third was that after spending more than half the day in school, most children came home and go for tuitions for the rest of the day, with no time for play.”
Anna and Vally are by now experts in homeschooling. They are convinced that parents have to be good role models for children and are continually challenged to become better every day says Anna. She happily affirms: “We realized our responsibility to be the primary educators of our children. We have seen the fruits of our labour because today they are evangelizing us.” Anna and Vally are well aware that a “homeschooler’s personality is shaped by the family”. “Our eldest child Nadisha quit her job as a lecturer at a college to pursue a doctorate at the Indian Institute of Technology at Mumbai after receiving a scholarship. While our son Nimish has joined the Heralds of the Gospel, a religious congregation, after obtaining a BE (mechanical) from an engineering college in Verna.” Nimish’s two brothers and his youngest sister also have joined the Heralds of the Gospel. Vally is very much part of ‘Goa can Homeschool.’
A Glimpse of Anna and Vally’s Salvific Journey
It is amazing to listen to Anna and Vally as they narrate the milestones in their salvific journey. What astonishes those of us who are very familiar with this dear duo is the wonderful way in which they have discovered their salvific journey as a couple and how they are passionately committed to make other couples to discover and cherish their salvific journey. They joyfully acknowledge are appreciative and have expressed it aptly: “We are grateful to Marriage Encounter, Engaged Encounter and finally the Couple to Couple League for their roles in nurturing us in our salvific journey as a couple, enriching our family and other families we touch. We pray that we continue to grow in His love.”
Sr. Dr. Teresa Joseph, FMA is a Salesian Sister of the Bombay Province. She has a Masters’ degree in Science of Education with specialization in Catechetics from Auxilium, Rome and a PhD in Missiology with specialization in Inter-religious Studies from the Gregorian University, Rome. She has participated in a number of International Seminars and presented research papers. Teresa has authored several books and has contributed numerous articles for various journals in India and abroad. One of her books Dream Big! Dream True is a best seller published by Better Yourself Books and has gone to the 7th print. The 6th one was a revised edition. This book is translated into Marathi: Paha Mothi Swapna, Khari Swapna! and is recently transformed also into Braille in English and in Marathi. Sr. Teresa Joseph is Secretary for CBCI Office for Dialogue and Desk for Ecumenism.
It’s really wonderful couple doing the excellent job in imparting the teachings of the catholic Church especially TOB and NFP . I’m personally influenced by their life testimonials . God bless them