Respect Life Month

MORRISTOWN  Today is Day 22. Some days are different than others outside of 196 Speedwell Avenue here. On some days, there will be a group of people. On other days there will only be one or two. But regardless of the number of people there praying, the mission is the same for members of Morris County Right to Life and many other pro-life advocates, who stand outside of this Planned Parenthood office — prayers to save the almost 1,000 babies who are aborted each year at the facility.

These pro-life advocates are standing in solidarity for 40 Days for Life, a national campaign of peaceful vigils outside abortion clinics. At halfway point of the 40 days, they have stood on these public streets in prayer, fasting and outreach to women coming to the facility. And they will do so again for the 40 days of Lent.

Five years ago, Lisa Hart, a parishioner of St. Patrick’s in Chatham, participated in her first public witness to life through 40 Days for Life. “I realized that this is a monumentally important battle and we need warriors to fight and protect babies in the womb, who have an equal right to live just like a baby outside the womb,” she told The Beacon.

Like many who stand up for the right to life, Hart has since counseled women on the sidewalk, spearheaded more prayer vigils, organized pro-life events and helped to get the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act in N.J. passed.

In the same spirit as Respect Life Month, earlier in September, the National Day of Remembrance for the Unborn was held in 183 locations throughout the U.S. Morris County Right to Life hosted this solemn day at St. Joseph Parish in Mendham. That day, in the parish’s cemetery, where two babies who were born but immediately abandoned — Baby Mary and Baby Hope — are buried, Father Stephen Prisk, parochial vicar, presided at the prayer service attended by two dozen people mourning together the loss of these babies and the unborn who are aborted.

Father Prisk thinks about Respect Life Month as an opportunity to bring together pro-life issues and social justice issues, looking especially to the examples of St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta, St. John Paul II and Pope Francis.

“I remember a podcast by Bishop Robert Barron (of Los Angeles) speaking about the divide between pro-life Catholics and social justice Catholics,” said Father Prisk. “We can’t be for the poor unless we are for life because life comes first. The liturgy is a great engine for social justice because it calls us every time after Mass to live the Gospel together in community, living with the poor and speaking up for life.”

During Respect Life Month, like many parishes, St. Patrick’s began publishing in its parish bulletins the Spiritual Adoption program, which invites parishioners to “spiritually adopt” a baby who is at risk of being aborted and pray for them every day throughout their nine months of development. In May, the Respect Life Committee at the parish will host a baby shower for these children and donate the gifts to local crisis pregnancy shelters. Through prayers answered, these babies are expected to be born in June.

In the bulletin, the Spiritual Adoption describes the stages in development the baby is experiencing, such as developing its own set of DNA and when its heart starts beating. Hart, who is a mother of four adult children, found it interesting to read about the development of the babies each month, thinking back to her own pregnancies. Those who participate recite daily a prayer written by Archbishop Fulton Sheen.

During Respect Life Month, the Morris County Right for Life encourages more people to participate in 40 Days for Life. “Many hearts are changed just by seeing someone present who offers a greater truth than the lie that an abortion is the answer to your unwanted or crisis pregnancy,” Hart said.

With abortion always a hot button issue in politics, many pro-life advocates believe it’s important that Catholics continue to fight for those in the womb.

Colleen Dolan, coordinator of the Respect Life ministry at St. Joseph Church in Mendham, who has also been participating in the 40 Days for Life, said, “The reason we continue in the pro-life movement is because we have an obligation to those in the womb. We pray for the babies and their mothers. When we are in front of Planned Parenthood, we are reminding the public what is happening in that building and we are inviting them to join us in prayer to end it.”

[To participate in 40 Days for Life, which ends Nov. 5, email [email protected]. Day and evening hours are available daily.]