Gaining his wisdom Dr. Wetzel was born and raised in the San Fernando Valley of Southern California. His father was an engineer, and he was one of four children. His family was more than nominally Catholic but was
not devout. He met his future wife, Dominique, at the Catholic
Newman Center while attending the University of California at Los
Angeles. After graduating with a biology degree, he earned his medical
degree in 1984 from Albany Medical College in Albany, New York. By this time, he had broken with the Church, believing its teachings on sexuality to be outdated and unrealistic. Dr. Wetzel and Dominique
married in 1985 and settled in Huntington Beach, California,
about an hour’s drive south of Los Angeles. Huntington Beach was
also where he began working as a family physician. During their
engagement, Dominique had informed him that she would be
using natural family planning instead of artificial birth control.
Dr. Wetzel had reluctantly agreed, believing she would soon change
her mind. But it was he who would change his mind. “A few years into
my marriage and using NFP, I came to realize that something
good was going on,” he explained. He came to believe that contraception
was harmful to a couple’s relationship and led to many evils,
such as abortion. By 1989, he was refusing to prescribe contraceptives
for his patients. He began studying the Catholic faith intensively
and was particularly impressed with Pope John Paul
II’s encyclicals Veritatis Splendor (The Splendor of Truth, 1993) and
Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life, 1995). It wasn’t long before he
wanted to share his newfound knowledge with others. “Richard
has always wanted to save the world,” Dominique remarked.
“He’s a dreamer. He even thought about becoming a missionary.”  
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