Florida Catholic |Dr. Angela Flippin-Trainer: Change of heart

Change of heart

KRISTIE NGUYEN | FLORIDA CATHOLIC STAFF

Published: 10.12.07 | Revised: 12.23.08

VENICE | Dr. Angela Flippin-Trainer wants to put her faith first — even in her work life.

Flippin-Trainer, an obstetrician-gynecologist from Tallahassee, will open a fully pro-life practice in Naples this fall.

She and her husband, John-William Trainer III, and their daughter are moving to Naples this month. By the end of October or beginning of November, they hope to open Caritas Obstetrics and Gynecology of Naples, which is being built in the Physicians Regional Medical Center on Collier Boulevard.

"My goal is for the practice to appreciate the dignity inherent in each person, respecting women and respecting the unborn child," Flippin-Trainer said. "To that end, I will not prescribe birth control pills, perform sterilizations or provide pregnancy terminations."

For more information about Caritas Obstetrics and Gynecology of Naples, contact Dr. Angela Flippin-Trainer at 239-784-9383 or workadft@comcast.net, or call the Respect Life Department for the Diocese of Venice at
941-484-9543

Aside from offering routine gynecology services and prenatal care, delivering babies and helping women in crisis pregnancies, Flippin-Trainer and her husband will teach classes in natural family planning, or church-approved methods of spacing births.

"Not enough women have a clear enough understanding about the positive benefits of natural family planning on their physical and spiritual health," Flippin-Trainer said.

The practice will eventually provide infertility treatments and services that also conform to the teachings of the church.

Until recently, Flippin-Trainer worked for a traditional obstetrics and gynecology practice in Tallahassee. Working in the college town — home of Florida State University, Florida A&M University and Tallahassee Community College — brought Flippin-Trainer into contact with many young women who had been wounded by the sexual culture.

"They would come in (having had) one or two sex partners, (having) contracted STDs and would be weeping and sobbing in the office and depressed about what happened to them," she said. "Over time, I came to realize that a lot of this was directly a result of contraception. I was hurting them by prescribing contraception."

Artificial birth control made women feel free to engage in intimate acts with men they barely knew or were not committed to them in marriage, Flippin-Trainer said.

"I thought, maybe the church was right on this and maybe I needed to rethink what I was doing," she said.

God had started speaking to Flippin-Trainer's heart when she went through the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults in 2002. During one session, a local family practice physician who did not prescribe contraception talked to the candidates about natural family planning.

Flippin-Trainer, who was previously a Baptist, came into the Catholic faith in 2003. In preparation for marriage a year later, she and her husband-to-be read "Good News About Sex and Marriage," an introduction to church teaching about married love by Catholic writer and teacher Christopher West. Flippin-Trainer then started reading and studying church documents about marriage and sexuality.

"The church really does have some wonderful documents describing why the Theology of the Body is good and how it (doesn't) stop you from doing something, but it frees you to understand yourself, how God made you and how your body relates to that of your spouse," she said. "If you're going to be married to someone for 50, 60 or 70 years, you want to learn to love that person the best way possible."

"The more I read, the more it inspired me," Flippin-Trainer continued. "The change of heart started there."

Flippin-Trainer's husband had also been secretly praying for change.

"One of our friends asked me if Angela ever thought about opening a practice that was fully pro-life regarding contraception," Trainer said. "I told our friend that I was praying toward that end and our prayers would help with that breakthrough."

Trainer had a background in moral theology from his previous studies for the priesthood. He started comparing and contrasting theology with his wife's medical background and found Web sites such as www.OneMoreSoul.com, a Catholic resource providing research on contraception's harmful effects.

"I read everything I could to help Angela and presented all of what I learned to the Lord in prayer and asked him to help us follow his plan for us," Trainer said.

The couple have also become coordinators of Catholic Engaged Encounter weekends for the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee, where they gave talks about natural family planning.

"It became harder and harder to reconcile what I was doing with what I believed," Flippin-Trainer said.

Pope Benedict XVI's encyclical, Deus Caritas Est, (God is Love) inspired Flippin-Trainer to name her new practice Caritas Obstetrics and Gynecology of Naples. Through her own use of natural family planning, "I 'have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us,'" Flippin-Trainer said, citing the encyclical. "God is love."

Flippin-Trainer's husband will serve as administrator of the new practice.

"We pray that by following God's will for us through the church's teaching, we can help build a civilization of love starting in the Diocese of Venice," he said. "Caritas OB/Gyn will show that there are real solutions to real women's health problems that do not involve contraception or artificial reproductive technologies (and) respect the dignity of patients and their relationships. Couples can realistically and joyfully embrace the Catholic Church's teachings regarding love, life, family planning and health care, and live much more enriched lives in the process."

Flippin-Trainer hopes to meet the needs of Catholic women who want a pro-life physician. She also hopes to show other doctors that science, medicine and faith are not independent of one another, and that faith can be integrated into their work lives.

"St. Catherine of Siena said, 'If you are what you should be, you will set the world on fire,'" Flippin-Trainer said. "I want others to know they, too, can live their faith."

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