What Priests Can Do To Stop Abortion
1) Offer Masses for Pro-life intentions. This can either be a "special event"
or a regularly scheduled Mass, the intention of which relates to pro-life.
2) Establish a pro-life prayer group in the parish, dedicated specifically to
prayers and teachings on the
value of human life.
3) Offer Pro-life holy hours, Rosaries, Scripture Services. Priests
for Life provides some devotional materials.
4) Promote the Be Not Afraid Family Holy Hours. For information, contact the Apostolate for Family Consecration,
3375 County Rd.36 Bloomingdale, OH 43910 Phone: 1-800-77-FAMILY.
5) Preach frequently on
abortion, both by entire homilies on the topic and by reference to it in other
homilies.
6) Include mention of abortion in the General Intercessions at
Mass.
7) Place inserts into the bulletin
about pro-life. These can be full-page inserts that can be given to the bulletin
company in advance, or short (1-3 line) messages. These are available from
Priests for Life. You can order a free monthly pro-life insert for your
bulletin, which will be sent to you camera-ready. Call American Life League at
540-659-4171 and ask for the "Pro-life Bulletin Board."
8) Present pro-life topics in Bible Study, RCIA, meetings
for school parents, marriage preparation, instructions for sponsors, etc.
9) Invite pro-life speakers to make presentations at meetings which people
are required to attend, such as those for the parents of school or CCD children.
10) Have special educational evenings with speakers and/or videos.
11) Have a "Life Mission" with a guest speaker/workshops for several days.
12) Use the parish bookrack to make good
pro-life literature and
tapes available.
13) Use parish bulletin boards inside and outside the Church to convey a
pro-life message. Set up a permanent pro-life sign on the property.
14) Make pro-life resources (Precious
Feet Pins, Bumper stickers and Buttons, Pro-life Bank checks, etc.)
available to the parishioners. You can get order information from Priests for
Life (888-PFL-3448 or 718-980-4400)
15) Add the words "born and pre-born" to the Pledge of Allegiance when it is
recited in the schools and at other functions.
16) Sponsor a pro-life essay/poster contest among the children of the school
and CCD programs. Display winning posters in the school or in the Church
vestibule, and print winning essays in the bulletin.
17) Have readily available at all times concrete information about alternatives to abortion.
Place one of more of these numbers on the cover of your parish bulletin as a
standard item. Get this information to women in need, to local doctors, and to
the secular press. Some of the national hotlines ready to help women anywhere in
the country are:
CARENET/HEARTBEAT 1-800-712-HELP
CRISIS PREGNANCY HELPLINE 1-888-4-OPTIONS
BIRTHRIGHT 800-550-4900
PREGNANCY HOTLINE 1-800-848-LOVE
BETHANY CHRISTIAN SERVICES 1-800-238-4269
NURTURING NETWORK 1-800-TNN-4MOM
SEVERAL SOURCES FOUNDATION 1-800-NO-ABORT
AMERICA’S CRISIS PREGNANCY HELPLINE 800-67-BABY-6
GOOD COUNSEL HOMES 800 723-8331(Answering machine for this number after
business hours.)
18) Have information available on
post-abortion
healing programs like Project Rachel. Call 414-483-4141 or 1-800-5-WE-CARE.
19) Bring people out for a Life Chain or peaceful prayer vigil
on the street or at an abortion mill.
20) Encourage a parish
pro-life committee
to form and grow. Give it constant encouragement.
21) Commission the pro-life committee at a special liturgy. Priests for Life
provides a suggested prayer for such a
commissioning.
22) Read
good books
and periodicals on the issue, consult with experts, and take advantage of
resources provided by the local diocesan pro-life office,
the Bishops' office for pro-life activities,
and Priests for Life.
23) Have a plaque or monument erected in
memory of the children in the community who died from abortion. Have a school
yearbook dedicated to those killed by abortion.
24) Establish some sort of memorial to mothers who have been killed by their
abortion. A list of the names of some of
these women is available either in printout or poster form. Contact Priests for
Life for information.
25) Call for special parish days of voluntary prayer and fasting to end
abortion.
26) Establish a parish pro-life newsletter for the parish or community.
27) Participate as a parish in the National Night of Prayer,
held each December across the country to pray for an increased respect for life.
For information, call Anne in New York at 516-234-6921.
28) Take part in The Gabriel Project, a
pastoral program whereby the local parish directly assists pregnant mothers.
Contact Priests for Life for more information.
PRO-LIFE ACTION ITEMS BY SEVERAL PRIESTS
1) Review the current pro-life programs of the diocese and
discuss ways to foster them.
2) Plan regular pro-life holy hours and/or masses to be held
in a different parish each time, and promote each one in all the parishes of a
given area.
3) Have an annual deanery/vicariate/diocesan pro-life Mass,
with all the pro-life groups of the area represented. Pro-lifers can have a
chance to socialize with each other after the Mass.
4) Plan educational evenings with a pro-life speaker. Draw on
the population of a group of parishes, vigorously promoting it in each one.
Then, at the meeting, have key pro-life leaders from each parish share what they
learned in their own parish. A video of the talk can be made and duplicated for
the parishes. Similarly, audio taped or written summaries for the bulletin can
carry the message to those who did not attend.
5) Have an area-wide collection of baby and maternity items to assist a local
crisis pregnancy center. Use this project as an opportunity to spread the word
through Christian and secular channels that alternatives to abortion are
available to the local community. Make sure every priest in your area has the
phone number of the local crisis pregnancy center
handy.
6) Have a Life Chain or march, with participation from many
parishes. Consult the Priests for Life manual, "Our Media is the Streets."
7) Arrange pro-life
luncheons to encourage more clergy to be active in the pro-life movement and to
have local pro-life groups explain their activities.
8) Issue a joint statement on pro-life concerns to the local
secular press. Such a statement from a body of priests shows unity in the Church
and encourages the laity.
9) Combine local resources to rent a billboard carrying a
pro-life message and a phone number for local alternatives to abortion. A paid
newspaper ad can also reach women in need.
10) Speak with one voice to the local community by deciding
to publish certain items jointly in the parish bulletin at various times.
11) Erect a local monument to the babies who have died from
abortion. This serves to remind the public that abortion takes real human lives,
and also assists mothers to grieve for their lost children.
12)Celebrate regional memorial Masses for the unborn, and
Masses for hope and healing for women who have lost their child through abortion
or in other ways. Special opportunities for penance can also be provided.
13) Have discussions among the clergy about homily ideas on pro-life
concerns.
14) Arrange for pro-life retreats and days of recollection
for both clergy and laity.
15) In individual parishes or jointly, sponsor the Rosary for Life. Have
parishioners commit to pray the full rosary once a week for an end to abortion.
16) In individual parishes or jointly, sponsor the Spiritual
Adoption of Mother and Baby. In this program, parishioners promise to pray every
day for nine months for a mother and her pre-born baby. Each month an update of
the preborn baby's development can be given in the bulletin. At the end of the
nine months, a baby shower can be sponsored.
17) Enlist the prayers and sufferings of the sick, the
elderly, and the homebound. There is no such thing as a purely passive member of
the Body of Christ or of the pro-life movement!
18) Produce a local cable TV program on a pro-life theme.
For more
information or to send us your own ideas, please contact: Fr. Frank A.
Pavone, National Director, Priests for Life
Priests for Life Brochures
