BOMA Family Spotlight

Interview with long-time BOMA Teacher, Pat Kuhlman, RN, of Florida BOMA – Pat, thanks for agreeing to be our featured BOMA Family Member for this month. Why don’t you start by telling us a little about yourself? How long have you been married?

Pat – Peter and I have been married for 38 years. Peter is an invasive cardiologist and he will occasionally refer patients to me to naturally alleviate pre-menopausal symptoms. BOMA – What a lovely family photo. Please tell us a little about each of your children? Pat – We have been blessed with seven children: ~ Peter Joseph (35) is the father of three children (Peter Daniel, Mary, Julie) and works as a pharmacy technician. ~ Joseph (33) is a priest in our diocese and is currently stationed at the Cathedral of St. Augustine. ~ Patrick (29) is married and doing his fellowship in hematology/oncology at Wake Forest. He and his wife, Kelsey, have three children (Blaise, Benedict, Stella). ~ John Paul (27) works as a teacher and basketball coach at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton School in Palm Coast. Justin is a third-year medical student at Florida State University. ~ Josie (22) graduated from the University of Florida this past year and is now training to play professional tennis tournaments as well as managing her blog (Beautiful Depths Blog). ~ Maria (19) is a sophomore at Belmont Abbey College where she plays basketball.

BOMA – When did you start using the Billings Ovulation Method®?

Pat - We have practiced Billings since we were 25 years old. After being diagnosed with endometriosis and hearing from two OB/Gyn doctors that we would be better off adopting, Peter and I proved them wrong by the grace of God. We had a ruptured tubal pregnancy and conceived seven healthy children on one fallopian tube after that. We had five sons first, and then were blessed at 40 and 44 with two beautiful daughters. We thank God for the Billings Ovulation Method® and the profound impact that it has had on our lives.

BOMA – Yes, I’d say from “diagnosed” infertility to seven children is a profound impact. Thanks so much, Pat, for that family history. How long have you taught the Billings Ovulation Method®?

Pat – We have been teaching Billings for 18 years. It has been a calling from God to minister to sub-fertile and engaged couples. We also educate seminarians, priests, and young, single women. Peter and I have spoken at St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary in Boynton Beach. I have been active at the University of North Florida, teaching the Catholic Ospreys the Billings Ovulation Method®. I hope to be involved at Belmont Abbey College in the near future through the help of the FOCUS missionaries. To educate the youth about Humane Vitae and God’s purpose for human sexuality is of utmost importance to the future of the family in modern society.

As a registered nurse, I teach Billings, with a special desire to help people with anorexia, endometriosis, and PCOS as well. Peter and I, with our passion to serve through the medical field, teach the Billings Ovulation Method®. As medical people, we thank God for Dr. and Mrs. Billings for sacrificing their private practices for the sake of The Billings Ovulation Method®. BOMA – What inspired you to become a Billings Ovulation Method® teacher? Pat – Nancy Fischer, RN, had called to encourage me to become a certified teacher. I told her maybe in about two years because I was so busy with 7 children and we had just moved into a larger house. Two weeks later, she and her husband died suddenly while walking across a street in Jacksonville, Florida! They were killed by a drunk driver who ran a red light.

Sitting in church at their funeral, I starting crying in a corner realizing that I had to take the certification course and begin teaching! God had blessed Peter and me with seven beautiful children and I knew it was His time to give back and educate others in the truth and beauty of the Billings Method! So, Peter went with me to San Francisco to take our girls to the zoo and streetcars while I went to hear the Australians at a Teacher Training Conference. So, it was a calling; a vocation and a ministry to young girls, engaged couples, married couples, seminarians and priests!

It has been 18 years and I feel called to spread this truth about Humanae Vitae by Pope Paul VI until the day I die!

God said He would never abandon us...he raises people up like Mother Teresa, Drs. John and Lyn Billings, Pope John Paul II, and Pope Paul VI to wake us up to live chaste lives in the service of the Lord. Romans 12:1-14

BOMA – We know that you contribute to BOMA in so many ways. Why do you think it is important to support BOMA-USA through financial donations in addition to your time?

Pat – Where your heart is, will be your treasure! Peter and I give ongoing to Billings to spread the truth!

BOMA – What do you like to do in your free time? And, do you have any final thoughts to share?
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Pat – In our free time, Peter and I love to spend time with our beautiful children and six grandchildren. We travel to basketball games, tennis matches, and love attending Masses celebrated by our son, Fr. Joseph, at his parish. Athletics have taught our family much about the relationship between sport and virtue. Peter is a runner and I play tennis to stay in shape as we age.
As a family, we are very grateful for the Billings Ovulation Method®. Who knows...without the knowledge of the Billings Ovulation Method®, we may not have been blessed with seven amazing children.

​The conference was opened up to the public on Friday and Saturday. Hundreds of smiling faces poured into the Ontario Convention Center. Although many were strangers, a feeling of camaraderie filled the air. Attendees enjoyed presentations from many world-renowned speakers including Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, George Weigel, Janet Smith, Christopher West, Patrick Coffin, Pia de Solenni, Patricia Sandoval, and Ray Guarendi. In a break-out session, the Executive Director of BOMA-USA, Sue Ek, represented the Billings Ovulation Method on a panel of the modern methods of NFP. In her 10-minute presentation, she was able to include information on the Pockets of Shaw and the work of Dr. Erik Odeblad. 

Ek, who also staffed the BOMA-USA table in the exhibit hall, said, “Our exhibit table was well received with several teachers coming to either introduce themselves or give a friendly hello.”  

After a phenomenal weekend full of encouragement, theology, and science, the conference ended with a gala to celebrate Humanae Vitae Heroes, among whom Drs. John and Evelyn Billings were honored. 

BOMA-USA board member Carlin Gould said of the weekend, “HV50 was a wonderful conference with GREAT speakers and a chance to meet new friends and reconnect with old ones committed to learning and spreading the good news about HV. My husband, Deacon Dave, really liked the opportunity to meet with other clergy for the special Clergy Day, learning how to get the message out from the pulpit! We learned a lot and can't wait to share with others.”

If you were unable to attend, CANFP will be offering videos of the conference talks, without cost, on their website www.CelebrateHV50.com. 

“What will the next 50 years bring? May we all be inspired to carry the message of Humanae Vitae far and wide, with love and compassion, and to start a true sexual revolution.” -- Lynn Keenan, President CANFP.

​Every year, WOOMB Australia sends a small team of representatives to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City, to share how The Billings Ovulation Method® (BOM) helps advance the rights of women around the world. Alison Dreher, the lead instructor for the Sisterhood of Catholic Women and Adolescents, Education Coordinator for the St. Augustine Foundation, and a BOMA-USA teacher and member, has been on this small team for the last four years. Alison’s work with the UN includes influencing the delegates of the UN member states, assisting with and attending the side events that surround the commission, and raising awareness about the BOM and its benefits for women from all over the world. The team attends events, networks with other groups, holds parallel events, and every other year they partner with the Holy See to hold a side event as a contributing nation.

​This past March, the CSW’s theme was “Empowering Rural Women through the Use of Technology.” Alison orchestrated the parallel event to present the benefits of the BOM to anyone who wished to attend. In the planning stages, she had a stroke of genius to use technology to “bring rural women” with her to New York by using a video conference program on the projector as part of the presentation. She hoped that other groups, who are opposed to her message, would not hear about her idea and steal it. Her hope was realized, and WOOMB’s presentation of rural voices via technology was a unique and beautiful implementation of the CSW’s 2018 theme.

The presentation, entitled “Empowering Rural Women and Girls with The Billings Ovulation Method® ,” began with Louise Allard, an experienced teacher trainer with extensive international experience, and her colleague Emily Iradukunda, a WOOMB fertility awareness consultant and teacher trainer. They shared the outcomes of their work with the BOM in a rural context.

The second portion of the presentation featured Alison. She began by sharing her own story of empowerment through the BOM and then opened the floor to the voices of 12 rural women who, as a result of using natural fertility regulation, have felt empowered in their relationships and overall health. One by one, each woman spoke from the comfort of their own homes, transmitted all the way to New York to speak to this event open to a worldwide collaborative body. In between each testimony, Alison read several stories from rural women around the world including stories from women from the Kikuyu tribe in Kenya and Lagos, Nigeria.

The parallel event was a success and all the participants were thrilled to be able to add their voices to this cause. The Billings Ovulation Method® continues to engage the culture with the truth, beauty and empowerment that comes through the knowledge that every woman ought to have.