Event Reports

Report from the organisers:

The 40 Days for Life campaign in Melbourne is now over the half way mark and has been very successful in more ways than one. The timeslots are regularly filled with any number from one to 16 pray-ers.

On one occasion, a 'people mover' from St Peter Chanel turned up with 8 more pray-ers just as a tattooed woman in her late thirties passed the group and became very agitated! She accused the prayers, and anybody who wanted to listen, of condemning her for aborting her baby. Two pregnancy counsellors with the Helpers of God's Precious Infants asked her to come away from the group to allow her to vent her anger. She hesitated, but fortunately the rest of the pray-ers moved away and  continued praying with renewed earnest! That gave the counsellors the opportunity to allow her to express her pain and anger to them.

About 10 minutes later a counsellor and the woman embraced. It was very moving. It turned out that she was a lapsed Christian and was thrilled to be given the Divine Mercy chaplet and a Miraculous Medal -a memory of her youth. The woman was herself a counsellor for drug, alcohol and physically abused women. She was also grieving the loss of a close friend who had suicided after being forced by her family to have an abortion.

She was appalled to hear that the abortion clinic 'counsellor' was an employee of the clinic and not independent. The much subdued woman was given all the information she needed from the sidewalk counsellors to help start her own healing process.

On another occasion, late in the afternoon, a young Asian couple arrived at the clinic unaware that it had closed for business. This allowed some of the prayers to engage them in a friendly conversation. The young man was studying accountancy and his girlfriend was studying nursing. His girlfriend was pregnant; now a mother.

They did not really want an abortion but being overseas students they were not eligible for Medicare and so had to find $10,000 dollars to have the baby in Australia!!! Of course they did not have that kind of money! They could not go back home to have the baby because of their shame at failing their parents' high expectations. They were given brochures that showed the development of the baby and the pain of abortion and later the couple were found reading these in their car.

The important point here is that private prayer is of course important. However, do not let that be a cop out! We do need a real presence of pray-ers to show that there are people who care enough to be there praying for anyone contemplating an abortion or to offer any help which may be needed.

Our Lord is asking each and every one to do our bit to stop this slaughter of the innocents! Do you hear His call? Please register a time slot on the vigil schedule to be a witness for life!!!!