40 Days for Life

This Lent, our Lumen Christi Cohort 6 parishes are coordinating a three-pronged spiritual warfare assault on abortion in our county. This effort will begin on February 26, Ash Wednesday, and continue through April 4, the Saturday before Palm Sunday. This is a response to a crisis—every week, many women in our community of Mercer County suddenly find themselves in a Crisis Pregnancy Situation. Dozens seek a solution at the 5 abortion-providing or -referring clinics in Mercer. Most are unaware of the many free resources in our area that are available to support a decision for life.

Our three-pronged response to this crisis is Contact...Conversations...and Connections.

Contact

We need to let women in crisis pregnancies know that they have options. How can we reach them? By witnessing and praying in front of the place they go for an abortion. We can also enlist the help of our loving and powerful God by praying both at the clinic and in the nearby church.

40 Days for Life Witness: 

St. Gregory the Great Respect Life is taking the lead to organize a daily hour of Prayer and Public Witness.

Where? Both in St. Gregory the Great Church and across the highway on the sidewalk outside Golden Crest Office Park on Route 33 (where there's a Planned Parenthood clinic).

When? Feb. 26 to April 4 (that's Ash Wednesday through “Palm Saturday”),
On Tuesday through Friday, from 4 to 5 PM, and on Saturday, from 9 to 10 AM.

Who? Our parish has offered to take the Wednesdays of Lent, beginning on Ash Wednesday—we're counting on YOU! Other parishes have offered to cover the other days of the week, but you are welcome to show up on any day.

How? We will carpool over (so you don't have to be nervous about being alone), meeting in the parking lot at Our Lady of Sorrows between 3:30 and 3:45 PM.

You are welcome to join in!  Sign up to get the detailed schedule at https://signup.com/go/xyuCrCT. (It really does help if you take a minute to signup, in case of inclement weather, and to show others that they won’t be alone if they want to join us!)

Conversations

Skilled and loving conversations with women and men in a Crisis Pregnancy Situation can make all the difference. And it doesn’t matter where these conversations take place: sidewalk, parish, at home or out in the community. 

To help support both the ongoing vigils and the 40 Days for Life initiative, John Muka will be conducting Sidewalk Advocacy Training sessions, using a DVD-based program from Sidewalk Advocates for Life. The program will be presented in two sessions of three hours each, and will provide the skills and approach proven to work at locations throughout the United States (hint: it's all about speaking in love). You'll know what to say and how to says it whether you're witnessing on the sidewalk or among your family, friends, or community.
   

Sign up for class sessions here https://signup.com/go/xyuCrCT
For more information on Sidewalk Advocates for Life, see SidewalkAdvocates.org.

Connections

If you're putting yourself on the line to recommend a place where a woman can get help, you want to know what you're sending them to.

The Community Womens Center Bucks County, a Legacy of Life center (you remember, we did a Bottle Drive for them!) is a wonderful resource. The staff here provide loving support, explaining the options, providing a free pregnancy test and ultrasound, and life skills training and material support for up to three years after the baby is born. Located just 20 minutes from Mercer, this dynamic Pregnancy Resource Center has the proven methods that saved over 350 unborn babies last year. LOVING the woman through the Crisis is the key.

Unfortunately, our planned tour of this facility has been cancelled due to the Corona Virus outbreak.