Bishop Thomas John Paprocki will celebrate the 5 p.m. Mass with the dinner and presentation to follow in the Cathedral Atrium. Carlos Tejeda, director of the Office for Marriage and Family Life, expects a good response from what he calls “heroic” couples throughout the diocese.

“Married couples who live out the principles of responsible parenthood, which natural family planning (NFP) is just a part of, are exemplary workers in the Lord’s vineyard” said Tejeda in talking about the annual NFP event. Bishop  Galeone is a nationally known leader on the importance of married couples learning NFP.

Bishop Galeone, a native of Philadelphia, Pa., was installed as the ninth bishop of St. Augustine in August 2001. In 2010 he submitted his mandatory letter of resignation upon turning 75 and served until Pope Benedict XVI named his successor in 2011.

Bishop Paprocki devoted a March 2012 column to the topic of NFP by explaining that planning the size of one’s family can be done “in a morally acceptable manner” and not through contraception which is deemed “extrinsically evil” in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

“NFP reflects the dignity of the human person within the context of marriage and family life, promotes openness to life, and recognizes the value of all children,” Bishop Paprocki wrote. “NFP provides the knowledge necessary for married couples to live out the principles of Responsible Parenthood as outlined in #10 of Pope Paul VI’s encyclical letter, Humanae Vitae.”