Better Than Shouting Your Abortion Is Walking with Moms

I f you are pregnant and in need, come to the Catholic Church! That was the message of Cardinal John O’Connor 30 years ago when he founded the Sisters of Life in New York. That community of Catholic women religious (“nuns”) was founded to do just that: protect and enhance the sanctity of human life. The Sisters today are in the New York metropolitan area, Arizona, Denver, Philadelphia, Toronto, and Washington, D.C. But they are far from the end of the story of the resources available to women. During the recent meeting of the U.S. Catholic bishops in Baltimore, most of the headlines were about what they would or would not say about the scandal of having a Catholic president who wants to expand abortion access rather than work for protection for the unborn.

But perhaps more important than the president is what we are doing on the ground. And with more than 2,700 pro-life pregnancy-care centers in the U.S., Kansas City bishop Joseph Naumann, the outgoing chair of the bishops’ pro-life committee, essentially reissued O’Connor’s pledge, urging every Catholic parish in America to step up to the plate and let resources be known. “We’re committed to help women not just through birth, but to thrive and succeed in life,” Naumann said.

It is not the law but love that will meet pregnant and parenting mothers. And if the Supreme Court in June throws out Roe v. Wade, it will be up to the states to determine what their abortion laws will be. States such as mine — New York — will still have abortion, and probably more, without a sea change of education to turn hearts to the possibilities for life, even in difficult pregnancies.  The bishops’ Walking with Moms initiative, which Naumann recommended to his brother bishops, launched in March 2020, when the world shut down, so the pending Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision by the Supreme Court is an opportune moment to re-up the challenge. Do you know what the resources in your community are for women who want support to have their babies? Because if the word isn’t out, Google searches and just about every indicator — and sadly medical resource in places like NYC — will send women right into the arms of abortion clinics.

Naumann talked about the churches that had already taken the Walking with Moms challenge to see what resources are available and to increase their connections and support so they can truly be safe havens for women seeking support. They’ve been encouraged with all that already exists. Walking with Moms takes an issue — abortion — and makes it a place of unity. If you care about women, if you care about social justice, you can rally around women whatever your position on abortion. Whatever the law is, women need to know what their resources are. The Dobbs case is an opportunity to rally around mothers in a new way, letting all the helps be known.

The Walking with Moms initiative began at the 25th-anniversary mark of the publication of Evangelium Vitae (“The Gospel of Life”) from Pope John Paul II, in which he wrote:

With great openness and courage, we need to question how widespread is the culture of life today among individual Christians, families, groups and communities in our Dioceses. With equal clarity and determination, we must identify the steps we are called to take in order to serve life in all its truth. At the same time, we need to promote a serious and in-depth exchange about basic issues of human life with everyone, including non-believers, in intellectual circles, in the various professional spheres and at the level of people’s everyday life.

In his presentation, Bishop Naumann cited Pope Francis as well: “Dear brothers and sisters, how greatly I desire that all those places where the Church is present, especially our parishes and our communities, may become islands of mercy in the midst of the sea of indifference!”

During the bishops’ discussion, the bishop of Las Vegas mentioned that his diocese supports the Loving Hearts initiative: “We are encouraging politicians and all of the community to enter into a rigorous adoption option campaign.”

And the culture of life isn’t just about abortion-minded mothers. “There are many children languishing in the foster-care system,” Naumann said. This has got to be a part of our pro-life work.

Texas had already made a significant commitment to help crisis-pregnancy centers. And the funding only increased with the “Heartbeat bill.” We should be able to reach across parties and denominations. At a recent Live Action vigil outside Manhattan’s Planned Parenthood, an atheist welcomed a Franciscan priest to say a prayer. The pro-life movement can truly be about unity, if people knew we were more about overturning Roe v. Wade. We want that. But even more, we want to connect with anyone who wants to make sure that “women really have a choice, a choice they can live with,” as Naumann put it. We will soon enter a season about a pregnant woman and her husband who were refused a room for childbirth. The Catholics Church has room for you. Our hearts yearn to help you. And we’re doing it, all across the nation, and increasingly. That was the most constructive, hopeful, entrepreneurial, and underreported message of the Catholic bishops’ meeting this November.

This column is based on one available through Andrews McMeel Universal’s Newspaper Enterprise Association.