Catholic leaders say new parents will need more assistance in a post-Roe world
Ailsa Chang
NPR
July 13, 2022
NPR talks with Sister Bethany Madonna of the Sisters of Life and Mike Phelan of the Office of Marriage and Respect Life in the Diocese of Phoenix about the Church's efforts to support mothers facing difficult or unexpected pregnancies.
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"...I've been very grateful to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, particularly Archbishop Lori and Archbishop Naumann, for launching Walking with Moms in Need. In anticipation of the shakiness of Roe, about two years ahead of time, the church here in the United States decided to focus again on making the parish... a center of accompaniment, a lot like what Sister Bethany is talking about - this readiness to receive and to help and to honor a woman who comes forward looking for assistance. And that training has been happening now for two years, and the church is beginning to really get this in place."
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Orlando parish walks with moms in need toward Jesus
Glenda Meekins
The Florida Catholic
July 15, 2022
"A mother walks into the old school at Holy Spirit Parish with an infant in arms while other little ones trail behind. Elaine Berner greets her with a broad smile, happy to see her again. She, like so many others, has come back to Walking with Moms in Need ministry, assured of support and accompaniment.
Berner helps run the ministry at the Lake Wales Parish together with Deacon Joe Iskra by providing diapers, wipes, other necessities and especially food for the soul. The goal: to help them know Jesus.
The ministry, launched October 2021, already serves almost 150 women, coming from as far as Winter Haven, Frostproof and Avon Park over the last quarter. They learn of the support through signs placed strategically throughout the city and in front of the parish.
'We pray for (the moms) and they know we are praying for them,' Berner said.
Deacon Joe Iskra comes to the program with four years of experience directing similar models in Detroit, even prior to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ official launch of Walking with Moms in Need in 2020. 'We share the love of Christ with all our moms – many of whom, despite tremendous economic, social and family challenges have chosen life for their babies,' Deacon Iskra said.
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Program will help expecting mothers,
new families at parish level
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Kayla Bennett
The Record
June 24, 2022
"... The revamped Walking with Moms in Need program will train volunteers to set up a ministry in their parishes that provides parents with aid they need.
'We heard from Little Way (Pregnancy Center) and (Louisville) Moms Helping Moms women that more than anything what these expecting moms … really need is emotional support,' DeJaco Crutcher said. 'They need social support because sometimes they don’t have a good social network of their own. They really need somebody to call, somebody to walk beside them.'
Walking with Moms in Need will provide in the areas of emotional, practical, social and spiritual support as well as resources.
'Maybe that means somebody comes to your house and rocks the baby while you shower or goes grocery shopping for you or meets you in the park to talk while the kids play,' DeJaco Crutcher said.
... 'This is a ministry,' she said. 'The same way we call people to the pastoral care of the sick. This is a ministry of accompaniment to the struggling.'"
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How Michigan's 150 pregnancy centers provide critical lifeline to women in need | |
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Gabriella Patti
Detroit Catholic
July 29, 2022
"... Nationally, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops launched an effort to make it easier for women to find and access pregnancy care resources through a network of services and parishes known as 'Walking with Moms in Need.' Soon after, the Archdiocese of Detroit partnered with Catholic Charities of Southeast Michigan to create a central repository of services available in Metro Detroit.
'(Walking with Moms in Need) equips and assists Catholic parishes and parishioners in raising awareness about and increasing resources that provide assistance to pregnant and parenting moms in need,' Andrea Spankie, program coordinator for Walking with Moms in Need and Project Hope, a ministry of Catholic Charities of Southeast Michigan, told Detroit Catholic in an email. 'This work of mercy provides a concrete means for all Catholics to live the Gospel of Life.'
Catholic Charities' website contains a list of 150 resources, including pregnancy centers, emergency helplines, abortion pill reversal, adoption resources and resources for miscarriages. In the weeks since the Dobbs decision, traffic has surged on the site, Spankie said, and new resources are being continually added."
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Now, more than ever, Catholics need to be for life
Madison Catholic Herald
June 29, 2022
"... As Catholic Christians we believe human life is sacred from conception to natural death. We are heartened and hope-filled that overturning Roe v. Wade will save lives.
But we also know that simply being against abortion isn’t enough.
We must show the world that we are compassionately and whole-heartedly for life — not just in the womb, but in the world.
...The Catholic Church has a long track record of supporting government policies designed to increase the physical and mental well-being of women, children, and families.
...Plus, support for a new program is underway: Walking with Moms in Need.
Over the past year, Bishop Donald J. Hying of Madison and the Diocese of Madison have offered their unconditional support for this critical program.
Pope Francis has encouraged Catholic churches to become 'islands of mercy in the midst of a sea of indifference.'
WWMIN is part of a national effort to do just that by helping pregnant and parenting moms."
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Column: A Catholic’s Duty
in Post-Roe America
Archbishop Paul S. Coakley
The Wall Street Journal
July 11, 2022
"'If you are pregnant and in need, come to the Catholic Church.'
The late Cardinal John O’Connor spoke these words more than 30 years ago, when he founded the Sisters of Life, a Catholic pro-life religious order in New York. His remark was a welcoming call to expecting mothers with nowhere to turn and a plea to the American church to act as guardians to all of God’s children. O’Connor’s words rang true then and are perhaps even more important now.
The church in America stands on the precipice of a new beginning. On June 24, the Supreme Court struck down the infamous precedent Roe v. Wade, returning the question of abortion to state governments and to the hearts and minds of all Americans.
Reversing Roe represented a necessary first step to bring about a culture of life, from conception to natural death, and end a culture of abortion and death. The court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization will save many lives and help to affirm human dignity at all stages of development. But the demise of Roe is, as Churchill put it, only the end of the beginning.
It also is a reminder of our duty as Catholics. By virtue of our baptism, we are called to see Christ in every human life, and to work and pray for a society in which laws reflect the inherent dignity of the human person. This commitment requires us to create alternatives to abortion and ultimately to make it unthinkable. The end of Roe challenges us anew to open our hearts, and our doors, to mothers and children in need through foster care and adoption—to what Pope Francis called 'the highest form of love, and of fatherhood and motherhood.'"
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May mothers and their children have access to quality, life-affirming medical care.
Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be...
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