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On January 21, 2009, an ”Afternoon of Prayerful Remembrance” was held at the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Washington , DC , sponsored by The USCCB Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities, the Sisters of Life and Theresa Bonopartis of Lumina/Hope and Healing after Abortion. For further info call Lumina 1-877-586-4621 or email lumina@postabortionhelp.org
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We tend to think of abortion in terms of the mother and baby and sometimes the father, but so often we fail to look at the entire picture of how abortion has affected our nation. As a post abortive woman who was coerced into an abortion by my parents when I was 17 years old, my road to healing was long because no one would acknowledge my pain. It took me years before I found the help I needed.
In the Gospel of Life Pope John Paul the II states that we need to “Try rather to understand what happened and face it honestly”. It is never cut and dry, an abortion decision is complicated, with many dynamics involved. Through healing, I came to recognize the impact my one abortion had, and the need for healing for countless people…my parents, my sibling, my nieces and nephews, my friends, my future children, and yes, society as a whole.
I have been working in post abortion ministry for close to 20 years now. 13 years ago The Sisters of Life and I co-developed a post abortion ministry named “Entering Canaan, a Sacramental Journey to an Inheritance of Mercy”, http://www.sistersoflife.org/ec.html and my full time work at Lumina, a post abortion program of Good Counsel Homes which were begun by Fr Benedict Groeschel and Chris Bell.
About 4 years ago while before the Blessed Sacrament, I was inspired to write a prayer service for everyone. A service where all could participate in reparation for the impact of abortion, no matter what their role. I brought the idea to the Sisters of Life and together we developed “An Afternoon of Prayerful Remembrance”. "An Afternoon of Prayerful Remembrance" involves short testimonies of many key people regarding their roles in abortion and is a safe place to mourn and pray together without anyone knowing if you yourself have been involved in an abortion or not.
With the Sisters from the Archdiocesan Family Life Office of New York, we have been moving the prayer service to different parishes throughout the diocese each year for the past four years. The participants have been deeply moved by it. It is a beautiful service inspired by the Holy Spirit. It is 3 hours in duration but feels like one hour...you truly"enter in" to the prayer.
Each year, on January 22nd, at the March for Life, tens of thousands of people are in DC and at the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception to commemorate the anniversary of Roe vs Wade, however, there are tens of thousands of more people unable to make it to Washington. It is our prayer and hope that other parishes and diocese across the country will begin to offer this 3 hour service of “prayerful remembrance” so we will all be interceding before God and people in our communities will experience Mercy Himself in the prayer and the Sacraments of Reconciliation and the Eucharist.
- Theresa Bonopartis
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