Reclaiming Our Children

Our Father & My Father

"He understood that a vocation is a calling by God; not something we choose for ourselves, but something we are chosen to do"

Over the past years we have been very blessed to have Rev John McCartney work with us in our "Entering Canaan" post abortion ministry. Father John is full of compassion and a sure since of God's mercy in this world. Anyone who has been to our retreat when he has led them, can vouch for the spirit of God felt through his words and his presence.

Last week Father John lost his father, also John McCartney. Here is a link to his beautiful homily for his dad, and reminder to all of us of the blessing of our vocations and the call to holiness..

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=YzlkMGVkMWIxNmU5MWFlNzQ2MzIzYjUzODFjMWNhOTk=&w=MQ==

Anyone wishing to send Father their condolences can do so here:

St. Matthews Church

35 North Service Road

Dix Hills, NY 11746.

Newsletter

For those of you who may not get it, the new Lumina newsletter is out.

You can view it here http://postabortionhelp.org/Newsletter/newsletter.html

Make sure to click on the links in the green section to read the different articles..then, if you are looking for help, go to the retreat or resource section on the side panel.

If you would like to be added to our mailing list so you receive a hard copy of the newsletter you can email me your address: [email protected] and we will be happy to add you to the list!

you did the right thing

"What makes it worse is to hear people say " you did the right thing". When I went to the"Entering Canaan" post abortion retreat at the Sisters of Life, they say it is wrong, and that's why you feel so badly. They gave me permission to grieve and to feel the sadness of the permanent choice that I made which does carry very real consequences for one's soul to bear. It is not something I could bear alone. They  helped me to confront myself, admit what happened, mark the life with a formal ceremony, and begin to find healing through the healing power of Jesus's forgiveness. (H)

One of the big lies of the pro abortion movement is trying to get women to believe they feel badly or guilty because any but the fact that they have taken the life of their babies. They put the blame on religion, or relationships, or anything but the abortion.

The words above hold true for so many women. No one needs to tell us what we did is wrong, what they need to do is stop telling us it was ok..we know it is not ok. To deny the wrong we have done only adds to the grief and shame and invalidates all we are feeling.

We are human, we make mistakes, and abortion is certainly a huge one, but pretending it was ok does not help us move past it and heal. Admitting it and looking at what happened and forgiving ourselves and others and asking for forgiveness is what helps us...all in the arms of Jesus Christ.

A last word on Kennedy

I read the following words attributed to Ted Kennedy's mom :

"The most important element in human life is faith. If God were to take away all his blessings, health, physical fitness, wealth, intelligence and leave me with but one gift, I would ask for faith, for with faith in him and his goodness, mercy and love for me, and belief in everlasting life, I believe I could suffer the loss of my other gifts and be happy."

As Ted remarked in eulogizing his mother at her funeral, "She was ambitious not only for our success, but for our souls." http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0903846.htm

May the prayers of Rose Kennedy as with the prayers of St Monica for Augustine, have brought about the conversion of her son....

Kennedy & the Church

"I have never failed to believe and respect the fundamental teachings."

So go words from the letter Ted Kennedy sent to the Pope via President Obama. I must admit...I got choked up when I read his letter http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2009/08/priest_makes_ke.html?camp=localsearch:on:twit:pol and the Vatican response.

I kept wondering how he could actually believe that as he participated in legislation that would take the life of so many unborn children. Yet, isn't that what we all do to a certain degree? How many of my sins am I blind to? How many years did I run around in serious sin justifying and rationalizing my behavior and thinking I was a good person.

I won't attempt to judge Kennedy's soul..only God can do that. I pray his faith helped him to come to the truth about abortion before he died and that he was able to reach out for God's mercy which is ALWAYS there ready to welcome us if we are truly sorry. In some ways, he did that through his letter and I pray the beautiful response he received moved his heart to conversion.

"(the Pope)...has asked me to assure you of his concern and his spiritual closeness. He is particularly grateful for your promise of prayers for him and for the needs of the universal Church."

 "his concern & spiritual closeness". I am sure many prayers were said for Kennedy's conversion.  What is one of the most pressing needs of the church? The sanctity of human life...

"...granted the precious grace of joyful surrender to the will of God our merciful Father."

Ted Kennedy in the end was a child of God...God loves him and desires the salvation of His soul...While it may have been hard for us to watch the glorification he received the past few days, (I know it was for me)God never turns his back on us but tries, to our last moment of life, to bring us back to Him.
We can only pray he did surrender to the will of God and experienced His Mercy...something we all need.

New post abortion blog

Check out Theo Puringtons new blog on post abortion. Theo's witness was in the last Lumina newsletter
http://postabortionhelp.org/Men/witness2.html

So happy to see more and more men speaking out and reclaiming their children!
http://theopurington.ning.com/profiles/blogs/3919582:BlogPost:30

Our Lady of Czestochowa

Today is the Feast Day of the painting of Our Lady of Czestochowa, patroness of our post abortion ministry. If you don't know her or why she is our patroness, email us for a brochure!

Prayer to Our Lady of CZestochowa

 

Blessed Lady, Mother of the Church

With the choirs of angels and with our patron saints

We come before your heavenly throne

 For centuries you have granted your miraculous favors

On the great of mountain of Czestochowa, the source of your mercy

Hear our prayerful hearts filled with love and devotion

 Help us to live the gospel, fortify our faith, and enkindle our love for the church

Grant us your pilgrims these special graces

We ask these things of you

Under the title of Our Lady of Czestochowa

(3 Hail Mary’s) Our Lady of Czestochowa..pray for us!

http://www.catholictradition.org/Mary/czesto.htm

Jim Caviezel

By Hilary White

August 25, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Jim Caviezel, the actor who took the film world by surprise with his moving depiction of Christ in 2004, said this week that abortion has nothing to do with helping women and that he is willing to risk his career to say so.

Caviezel gave an interview with the US magazine Catholic Digest, in which he spoke about the challenge he received from a colleague to adopt a disabled child as a demonstration of his well-publicized pro-life stand. Earlier this year Caviezel adopted his second child - a five-year-old girl with a brain tumour from the Guangzhou region of China.

Reflecting on the 51.5 million surgical abortions to date in the US since Roe v. Wade, Caviezel began by saying, "I was listening to Johnny Mathis the other day and I said, 'What an amazing voice'. I have yet to hear another person sound like Johnny Mathis.

"Look, I am for helping women. I just don't see abortion as helping women. And I don't love my career that much to say, 'I'm going to remain silent on this'. I'm defending every single baby who has never been born. And every voice that would have been unique like Johnny Mathis's. How do we know that we didn't kill the very child who could have created a particular type of medicine that saves other lives?"

Caviezel told interviewer Julie L. Rattey that the Christian is obliged to act in accordance with his faith, regardless of the risks. He compared the injustice of abortion to that of the mistreatment of women in some Arab countries.

Caviezel's latest film, "The Stoning of Soraya M," released in June this year, is based on a novel that purports to tell the true story of a woman stoned to death on a trumped up charge of adultery in modern Iran. The novel's author, the late journalist Fereydoune Sahebjam, was dedicated to exposing injustices in Iran under the Islamic regime.

"The man who wrote this book chose to get involved in something that cost him his entire life. There were many a bully who went after him. They had been hunting this man down for years."

"When you go to church on Sunday, it's absolutely worthless unless you apply what you've learned to your everyday life. What I hope they take away is the same story Jesus tried to tell years ago, which was the Good Samaritan. At some point, we all play a character in the Bible. We all think of ourselves, Oh, I'm Peter. I'm Paul. I'm John. I'm Jesus (laughs).

"But nobody says, 'I'm Pontius Pilate'."

Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

With Adoption of Second Disabled Child Jim Caviezel Makes Good on Pro-Life Convictions http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/apr/08042907.html

http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/aug/09082505.html

The Agony of Diagnosis

This will be the third year Lumina is offering a "Day of Prayer and Healing" for couples who aborted due to a poor pre natal diagnosis, so, it was with great interest that I read the article in this September's issue of Marie Claire Magazine http://www.marieclaire.com/world-reports/news/latest/abortion-debate on late term abortion due to poor diagnosis.

The article chronicles two women, Holly Rossiter, who along with her husband chose to bring their baby Aubrielle, diagnosed with Trisomy 13 to term, and Tricia Miller, who agonized but believed terminating the pregnancy would spare her baby from suffering.

There is no doubt that Holly seems to be doing better, while Tricia not only lost her unborn baby, but is carrying around the guilt and shame of having terminated her pregnancy.

"Looking back, I know I made the right decision—I wanted to prevent my child from a painful death. But because of my religion, I feel I will never be forgiven for making the choice I made. I no longer feel I can even be called Catholic, another loss altogether." (Tricia Miller)

It is heart breaking that Tricia, like so many other post abortive women, feels that she can never be forgiven or called a Catholic again. My prayer for her is to find the help she needs to come to know Gods Mercy and I am definitely going to try to reach her to tell her about our "Day of Prayer and Healing" for those who aborted because of a diagnosis.

APA's continued denial of PAS

Abortion does not cause psychiatric damage, but the claim that it does is a prime strategy of the anti-abortion movement, which has convinced many people in the US,” Stotland said. “So if it wasn't a psychiatric issue before, it certainly is now, and we psychiatrists have an obligation to know about it."

American Psychiatric Association Continues Denying Abortion's Mental Health Risks
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
August 24, 2009

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Ignoring both peer-reviewed studies showing such risks and the direct evidence of millions of women who suffer from an abortion they now regret, the American Psychiatric Association continued denying any abortion-adverse mental health risk at its annual convention.

The APA came under national condemnation in August for releasing a report claiming abortion causes no mental health issues for women. The report was criticized as ignoring evidence presented by some members.

APA members met in San Francisco, California at its recent annual meeting and heard from a past APA president, Nada Stotland.

“Abortion does not cause psychiatric damage, but the claim that it does is a prime strategy of the anti-abortion movement, which has convinced many people in the US,” Stotland said. “So if it wasn't a psychiatric issue before, it certainly is now, and we psychiatrists have an obligation to know about it."

Sotland's comments ignore a study conducted last November featuring numerous controls and a national data set that found a link between abortion and psychiatric disorders.

The research team found induced abortions result in increased risks for a myriad of mental health problems ranging from anxiety to depression to substance abuse disorders.

The number of cases of mental health issues rose by as much as 17 percent in women having abortions compared to those who didn't have one and the risks of each particular mental health problem rose as much as 145% for post-abortive women.

For 12 out of 15 of the mental health outcomes examined, a decision to have an abortion resulted in an elevated risk for women.

read the rest here: http://www.lifenews.com/nat5389.html

Be sure to respond to the APA and tell them how wrong they are!

ACTION: Contact the American Psychiatric Association at [email protected] or 1-888-35-PSYCH and ask it to acknowledge that abortion hurts women.

Here is my response:

Your continued denial of the harm of abortion on women is a travesty. In spite of evidence to the contrary, you continue to cling to a notion that post abortion suffering is just a strategy of the “anti abortion” movement.

 In truth, we both know this is not the case as evidenced by the numbers of women coming forward for help, as well as the increase of the numbers of studies showing that abortion does in fact negatively impact countless women.

 It is upsetting that your major concern seems to be casting a good light on abortion instead of helping women.The truth however, is beginning to win as more and more of us who have suffered from abortion are speaking for ourselves and more and more are coming forward.

Even people who did not want to speak about abortion in a negative light are now seeing its negative impact on women in their own circles.

The truth will win out because it is the truth..

 Your group is a disgrace and an injustice to women everywhere.

Theresa Bonopartis

Director,Lumina/Hope & Healing after Abortion