Reclaiming Our Children

Abortion Cards

Years ago one of our newsletter had an article about e postcards being sent to people after abortion, "Removing the Stigma of Abortion"(pg2). http://www.postabortionhelp.org/PrevIssues/spring07spreads.pdf

I, personally, felt that there are just some things cards do not seem appropriate for. It was even eerie to see the similarities between the pro abortion cards and the pro life cards.

http://www.lifeissues.org/eCard/index.html

http://www.4exhale.org/support/cards/index.php

I cannot imagine having gotten one when I was healing from my own abortion and if I did, I think it would have made me feel worse, not better.  However, to each its own, and I am sure some people have appreciated receiving them.

Well, it seems the cards are causing a stir once again in cyber land, especially the ones that address lost fatherhood. Of course, their reasoning behind it is completely different than mine. Abortion has, without a doubt, hurt countless men and their feelings deserve to be legitimized and heard, and they as well as the women who have lost a child, deserve healing.That however, is not the sentiment on these sites...

http://www.hometalkentertainment.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2915493

http://world-o-crap.com/blog/?p=2147

What do you think of the cards?

Allowing God to Love You

"God always loves us. However, it is necessary for us to allow Him to love us. If love means bestowals, then let us allow God to bestow forgiveness upon us." (The Two Pillars, pg. 114)

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The Compassion of Christ

 

I love this statue from the Santa Barbara Mission where I have gone for my yearly retreat for the last few years. It speaks so much to his love, compassion and forgiveness.

Not going to California this summer but heading up north to New England states...I will miss the serenity and beauty of Santa Barbara but I know Christ will provide a new and beautiful experience...

Camp St Joseph

Getting ready for our year end retreat for "Entering Canaan" this coming weekend. Every June we head up to Millbrook, NY to Camp St Joseph for a little work and lots of fun before taking a break in the months of July and August.

While Lumina is still available throughout the summer to help those suffering from a past abortion, the Entering Canaan retreats are on hiatus while the sisters and I renew and refresh with personal retreats and vacations.

Camp is always a great time...good company, good food, singing around the camp fire, making smors, hiking, sharing, and of course the sacraments. Fr Lawrence, CFR will be our director this year..

I would tell you the theme I picked but it is a surprise for the women.....I will post some pictures after the weekend.

Here are some pictures from past camps....

 

 

 

 

NY Reproductive Health Act - It's Back...

Things are backwards in this world.  Every day, I speak to women who are suffering and trying to make sense of why this right of abortion which is supposed to be such a good, feels so wrong. The truth of their experience and what they have been told don’t jive, and so they are left feeling confused and wondering if they are the crazy ones.

I read parts of a book written by an abortionist Susan Wicklund . Susan says she has received death threats and worn a bulletproof vest to work. But what really scares her, she writes in "This Common Secret," is the war on reproductive rights. This self proclaimed hero laments the shooting of abortionists in her book, and she should...any violence is wrong and it is far from being pro life if you display or act violently. But nowhere in her book did I find her lamenting the women who have emotional problems from abortion…no where was there a lament for those who have been left unable to bear other children due to “safe legal abortion, and no where did I read about the women who have died at the hands of abortionists. Were their lives not as important as the abortionists?  When an abortionist covers up or leaves a women bleeding to death, is that not worth a lament. Is the war on reproductive rights she speaks of, more important than women’s lives?

Apparently not. No laments from Susan Wicklund, or Governor Patterson and not Andrea Stewart Cousins who is sponsoring the Reproductive Health Act which will put more women’s lives at risk by exposing them to abortions performed by non doctors and by taking their rights away by not allowing criminal prosecution of an abortionist who maims or kills a woman. They say they believe in choice, but not for catholic hospitals who would be forced to either close or perform abortions and not for those of us who would be forced to pay for abortion coverage in their health insurance policies.

This bill has nothing to do with women. It has to do with enshrining abortion. Instead of this bill, if they truly cared for women they would be putting legislation in place to protect them, instead they are making the perimeters wider, leaving more and more room for  not only for the babies to die, but for the women as well.

The women I speak to are not crazy…they found out the truth the hard way. Abortion is no solution to a problem, it only creates other problems. It may take years…a few weeks ago I got a letter from a woman who aborted decades ago and is now suffering knows the truth...what about her Senator Cousins? The RHA bill needs to be stopped…Women deserve better

To voice you opposition to the bill please visit http://nyscatholic.org/pages/news/show_newsDetails.asp?id=343

Men and Abortion-From our newsletter

"I want my life back"

How many times has someone who has gone for an abortion felt that way? How many times are women led to believe that if they have an abortion their lives will go back to the way it was before they became pregnant. All too often they find it out does not..how can it. Having an abortion does not mean you were not pregnant, it just means your baby is gone and worse yet, you  participated in its death.

All too often with abortion the thought process is not worked through before women walk into a clinic. They want to believe the lies of abortion because they feel so trapped in the pregnancy or because they are so pressured by others. If only there were some looking glass so women can see themselves after the abortion.

I know many will say," but I know women it does not bother". Just the past month I had calls from 4 women in their 80's..they thought it did not bother them either and even if it does not bother some people the ones it does deserve to see the whole truth.

Like this girl who is chronicling her feelings after abortion http://shairascribes.wordpress.com/2010/06/17/5-and-a-half-months-later-my-feelings/

She is so right on in what she is experiencing. All the classic post abortion issues..abandonment, abortion connectors ,coerced abortion, atonement baby etc etc.

Pray for her and if you can offer her some support...for everyone we hear about there are countless others out there in silence....

In Times of Attack....

great quote! Thanks Tina from Facebook!

When the devil reminds you of your past, remind him of his future!
-- Saint Teresa of Avila

Remembering Father's

 

Mt 1:16, 18-21, 24a

Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary.
Of her was born Jesus who is called the Christ.

Now this is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about.
When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph,
but before they lived together,
she was found with child through the Holy Spirit.
Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man,
yet unwilling to expose her to shame,
decided to divorce her quietly.
Such was his intention when, behold,
the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said,
“Joseph, son of David,
do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home.
For it is through the Holy Spirit
that this child has been conceived in her.
She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus,
because he will save his people from their sins.”
When Joseph awoke,
he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him
and took his wife into his home.

 

As we come to celebrate Father's Day it is an opportunity to pray for the fathers of our unborn children and look at the ways we may have failed each other. We do not do this to judge or blame, but to understand what happened in order for us to heal

 

• In what ways was the father of your unborn child like Joseph?
• In what ways did he fail to be there for  you ?
• What was your role in the relationship with this person?
• If you have, how have you reconciled this relationship
• If not, why? Do you harbor resentment or guilt?
•  Do you pray for the father of your unborn child?

Good Counsel

Inaugural Concert for Good Counsels Daystar Home

 

Featuring Composer/Pianist Eric Genuis, Choirs, and Westchester County Musicians and Vocalists

 

Concert & Reception

Sunday, October 24, 2010

3:00-5:00 p.m.

Church of the Resurrection, Rye, NY

 

Leverage Your Support!

 

Don’t miss this opportunity to capture the attention and hearts of up to 1,000 guests and to leverage your support of Good Counsel’s home for mothers and babies by helping us meet two challenge grants!

 

If we raise $32,500 in early sponsorships, the Raskob Foundation and an individual with award Good Counsel with $17,500, with the goal of raising a total of $50,000 before the invitation is mailed.

 

Become a Sponsor with a Greeting in the Printed Journal

 

Full-page $1,000

Half-page $500

Quarter-page $250

 

Become a Sponsor now and also have your logo/name on the invitation and posters and flyers

 

To join the event committee, to make a sponsorship gift or inquiry, and/or to inquire about performing in the concert, please contact:

 

Jim Schaffer (203) 912-2802

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