Due to my so-called health (and life piling up on me) recently, I didn’t get to go to the march in Birmingham last weekend. And I’m too broke to attend the events in D.C. this weekend. But all is not lost. The spring campaign of 40 Days for Life runs from March 9 to April 17 and I plan to put in as much time there as I am able.
Being down there, praying on the street outside the abortion mill, Continue reading “40 Days for Life Spring 2011, March 9 to April 17”
Prayer request from Abby Johnson, former director of a Planned Parenthood abortuary who is now working for Life. Please read her post and pass it around. And pray for Dr. Boyd, who: Continue reading “A prayer request from Abby Johnson”
I was thinking this evening about the pro-life campaigns in which I’ve taken part, and decided to share a memory with you, straight from my heart. But sometimes when I mean to write prose–why, only heaven knows–what comes out is in verse. That’s what happened tonight, so here’s what I wrote, for better or worse.
At the Abortuary
On a cold gray day in February,
I stand in the rain at the abortuary
And pray as a car pulls into the drive,
And watch the first client (not patient) arrive;
Watch the workers rush out the front door,
Watch them hurry to surround her before
She can read the words on the sign that I hold,
Or hear the words of the truth that longs to be told.
The voices of those who now surround her
Seek not to help but to truly confound her.
Oh, Lord, forgive them, they know not what they do.
As unto the least of these—O, Lord, they know not!—
So do they unto You!
—Disciple, Jan 21, 2011.
Today is “Ask Them What They Mean When They Say ‘Choice’ Blog Day”. Read more. And, please, join in!
I was walking down the sidewalk outside Planned Parenthood, reading a pro-life handbook one of our team leaders gave me when I heard a car slow down and finally stop beside me on the road. (Why do these big strong courageous men wait until little ol’ me is all alone to do this?) He lowered the window on the passenger’s side and said in a low voice:
“Why don’t you stop harassing those people?” Continue reading “Who is harassing who? Scenes from the sidewalk”
I saw a video by Nick Cannon today (video embedded below). It’s called “Can I Live?” and I gotta tell you, I love it. I never even heard of him before this afternoon but I fell in love with this song and the video. What a powerful witness. Continue reading “I saw a video by Nick Cannon and I love it”
She stood in the parking lot outside Planned Parenthood, talking with us (40 Days for Life vigil participants). She was trying to convince us, herself, somebody, that abortion was nobody’s business but the person making the decision. “It’s between them and their God,” she said.
What God is that, I wondered. Continue reading “None of my business, say what?”
I had a conversation (if you can call it that) over on YouTube with someone who tried very hard to convince me that to pray outside abortion mills would be an entirely useless and wasted effort. Well, not only did I know that wasn’t true then, but I have proof now. The spring 2010 campaign of 40 Days for Life has only been underway for six (6) days and we already have forty-five (45) saves! That’s amazing! And those are the ones we know about! We have no way of knowing about all of the saves that happen every day. Not all women will say anything to anybody about what they went through, the gut-wrenching decisions they faced or how they dealt with their situations. So don’t let anyone tell you that your efforts are wasted. Don’t let anyone stop you from speaking out against the culture of death. We need to pray, fast and keep our vigils. God will do the rest. Our God is an awesome God, quick to forgive, slow to anger, rich in mercy. Praise God!
People have told me that it is possible to be Catholic and pro-choice. People have told me, with straight faces, that the Church has not ruled on this yet. People have told me that the Gospel of Life is just an encyclical, from the Pope, true, but still just an encyclical. But I think maybe this situation takes the cake: a Dominican nun has been acting—volunteering, no less!—as a death-scort for an abortion clinic for six years.* Six years! She’s been outspoken in her opposition to key Catholic teachings and now I hope the bishops are going to do something that’s been needing to be done for a long time: take strong steps to denounce and punish such shameless and public defiance. Continue reading “Abortion mill deathscort is Dominican nun!”
Picture this: a car pulls into the abortion mill parking lot, a young woman at the wheel. A group of people standing around talking outside run to intercept her, calling out as they scamper toward her. How do you think this makes the woman in the car feel? Now picture this: two groups of people standing around talking outside the clinic notice the woman’s car pulling in and both groups high tail it over to her, both groups intent on intercepting her before the other group can have their say. True, one group cannot step onto the abortion mill property, and that group is actually acting out of love, wanting to offer hope and help to the woman, but if you were her sitting inside the car, watching all these people scampering toward you, how would you feel? Do you think you would find the whole experience disturbing? I know would. I found it disturbing when I witnessed it. Continue reading “How not to do sidewalk discipleship”
Just when I’m starting to think I’m accomplishing something, the Good Lord sends me a little lesson in humility. Check out the video (below) of the 40 Days for Life prayer vigil on New York City’s Abortion Row where there are around a hundred—that’s 1 0 0—abortion mills plying their trade day after day, along a strip that’s about a mile and a half long, filled with deafening noise from the overhead subway, street and foot traffic, and riddled with crime other than the legalized crime of abortion. A drug-related killing took place at the vigil site just days before the vigil began. Watch this and get inspired to get out there on the street wherever your street may be. And, please, share this with your friends, family, members of your community and church. Get out the word. Then get out there and pray! Continue reading “Taking it to the streets, New York’s Abortion Row prayer vigil”
These are photos from our prayer vigil at 40 Days for Life Fall 2009, more shots of the sidewalk chalk messages. I meant to take more today but I spent most of my time praying, especially after the adventure I wrote about in my last post. Maybe I’ll get more soon, if it doesn’t rain. Peace be with you. (Photos below. Click on any image to see larger version.) Continue reading “Images from the sidewalk, 40 Days for Life, Fall 2009”
I was walking down the sidewalk outside the abortion mill today, rosary in my hands, praying and meditating on the scenes of our Lord’s life called the Glorious Mysteries. I had just turned down the alley and had gone a few feet when I heard a car behind me, pulling, so I thought, into the alley. But he hadn’t turned down the alley. He pulled into the clinic parking lot, then across the alley in front of me to block my path. Continue reading “Keep out of sight, this is our neighborhood”
Catholic Heart and Mind 