Oct. 14, 2021
3
LOCAL
www.superiorcatholicherald.org
Project Rachel is a ministry sponsored by the Diocese of Superior/Respect Life Office, and is open to anyone in need regardless of their faith background.
Hurting after Abortion?
Project Rachel
Has anyone told you It's okay to cry?"
Don't give up hope. It is possible to feel whole again after an abortion. Project Rachel offers: e A confidential toll-free hotline for you to talk with someone about your experience: 1-800-5WE-CARE e Counseling with people specially trained to help you sort through unresolved feelings and conflicts. e A priest, sensitive to your particular needs, who can prepare you to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation. If you wish, you can be put in touch with a priest outside your community. e For retreats and other events, see the national office of post- abortion reconciliation & healing website at www.noparh.org. All inquiries are held in complete confidence
Call 715-394-0217
so wounds can begin to heal
wife and family live the Catholic faith, I would say, in the richest way of anyone I know. He is just incredibly humble and peace- illed. After one of OHaras talks, Hurtubise said he always leaves feeling both challenged and called to be a saint. Some speak- ers excel at making listeners feel good, while others are better at motivating their audiences; for Hurtubise, OHara does both: He empowers his audience. The topic this year is close to Hurtubises heart and pro- fessional specialization - the churchs disciple-making busi- ness, and the role of religious education teachers, Catholic school educators and parish staffers in carrying out that mission. OHara will talk about making disciples and offer an opportunity to refocus on that mission, Hurtubise said. In his second point, OHara will acknowledge that it is human- ly impossible to achieve that mission, and hell discuss the tendency to try to do things alone, and then to feel burdened by the responsibility. Its Gods grace that we can carry out this mission, Hur- tubise added. Finally, OHara will discuss what it looks and feels like for disciples to be in the disci- ple-making business, Hurtubise said. The pandemic has been stressful - particularly this latest phase, Hurtubise ac- knowledged, when everyone is waiting for COVID-19 to just go away - so diocesan icials are hoping schools and parishes will be able to create a retreat-like environment for attendees. They are asking priests to begin with a morning Mass - with a focus on making it liturgically beau- tiful and inspiring - and then to show Bishop Powers talk afterward. The diocese will provide reflection questions for the bishops address, as well as for OHaras talk, which will be shown following the first discus- sion. More time for reflection will be provided after OHara concludes. Some staffmembers may be in quarantine, Hurtubise added, so they will be able to watch the videos from home, and perhaps discussion can be facilitated via Zoom or some other platform. This is the first Fall Confer- ence since the establishment of Hurtubises department, the ice of Evangelization and Missionary Discipleship, was announced by the bishop in March. That the disciple-making mission is reflected in the theme of the 2021 conference is in no way a departure, Hurtubise commented. One of the hopes in creating the new ice was to give more clarity to that trajectory a little more name recognition to the sense that this is where the bishop is leading us (thats) kind of the way weve been go- ing for the last couple of years, he said. OHara will provide really rich and beautiful guidance but also practical direction, he added, to re-ground us in that foundational mission that we all have.
CONFERENCE, from Page 1
city jail, beat, tortured and hung from a lamppost by an angry mob. If you stand facing the life- size reliefs of the three men, you will read the large lettering above their heads: An event has happened upon which it is diculttospeakandimpossible to remain silent. I visited the block on Friday, Oct. 1, to participate in the 40 Days for Life prayer campaign and was struck silent myself by the odd life triangle of sorts from the crisis pregnancy center to the memorial, then walked back towards First Avenue - passing a pawn shop, adult entertainment center and the Eagles Wings Invite God Ministry - before crossing the street to where the pro-life were gathered in front of the Building for Women. Even as an undoubtedly pro-life woman, who has been through unexpected pregnancies both as a single and married woman, I couldnt bring myself to put on one of the Pray to End Abortion signs. I admit that I cringed watching the video taken by one of the counselors the day before of her pleas to have pity on your baby, which was called out to a client escorted into the building. There was a sincerity of love in her voice, no doubt. The loud punk music blaring from a boom box and the college-aged escorts with their umbrellas shielding the young woman from the side- walk counselors view and voice definitely attempted to create a wall between the pros and antis. Closing my eyes, it was hard to hear anything coherent rise above the cacophony of shouts and cries voiced in each of the three locations bridging the gap between life and death, free will and choice, justice and mercy. I found myself wanting to blow a bubble in which a calm con- versation could be had, stories shared and experiences heard. As important as racial questions are, many within the geographic area the Diocese of Superior covers might not have direct experience with those sit- uations. My guess is there is not more than a handful of readers, if any at all, whose lives have not been touched by a crisis or unplanned pregnancy. Like I mentioned earlier - and as one of the ultrasound technologists at the Women's Care Center confirmed - mar- ried women seek support and resources at a high rate. Eco- nomic circumstances, health challenges, personal and career goals, birth control failures and rape are not exclusive to single women. A positive pregnancy test can be just as overwhelming to a woman on the verge of making a dream come true or working through personal challenges whether she already has children or not. Terms such as unplanned and crisis are often used to de- scribe these pregnancies as op- posed to a wanted or sought-af- ter pregnancy. Even through the teaching of Natural Family Planning methods of fertility awareness, the tendency can be focus on the intentionality of the pregnancy. As such, anything not wholly desired is somehow tainted - but none of the factors of how, or with whom, the pregnancy came about touches in any way the value and validity of the child that was conceived. Yes, there are awful and tragic circumstances in which pregnancies result. Those conceived with most elements in place except the planning are much easier to switch gears and embrace. The truth remains - no mat- ter the circumstance - that each child is a gift of God in some way, shape and form. The question, then, seems to be our disposition of receptivity - and what obstacles stand in the way. Unexpected is a term used by the Women's Care Center to describe pregnancies of women they seek to support. Visiting their website - womenscarecen- ter.org - abortion, pregnancy and ultrasound are all tab op- tions across the top of the page, including locations. The Duluth site is one among almost 30 centers across 12 states. Parent is also a term used by the center's staffas one of the three options the woman has of how to respond to the pregnan- cy. Its not to keep the baby, or save the baby - but to parent, placing the focus back on the womans choice and its conse- quences.
40 DAYS, from Page 1
40 Days for Life participants can be seen in the distance, just one block from the Clayton Jackson McGhie memo- rial, which memorializes three innocent men murdered by a lynch mob, a stain on Duluth's history. (Catholic Herald photo by Jenny Snarski)
See PRAYER, Page 11
Previous Page