Showing posts with label Praying to end abortion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Praying to end abortion. Show all posts

Friday, March 17, 2023

This Day God Gives me - our pilgrimage downtown - March 17 2023

"The Joy of the Lord is our Strength"


Pat and I took the train downtown this morning for the celebration of the Holy Mass at St. Patrick Basilica at 10:am



 but first, we prayed the rosary near the abortion facility 












We sneaked in a selfie 
In the lobby across the street from the Morgentaler abortuary.  
"I don't think that would be against the law: we weren't praying"


Saint Patrick Basilica

We arrived around 9:35 and we were able to sit near the front. 
Monsignor Robert Latour, a former pastor from Annunciation of the Lord Parish 
was sitting in the front pew so I went up to say hi. 
 "Pat said I should have given him a hug but I didn't think of it"

Another priest joined Monsignor Latour after a while. 
I believe it was Fr. Pierre Champoux. Mass was beautiful of course. 

Thank you, Archbishop Marcel, 

And the music was spectacular! What an awesome choir! 


Photos by Paul Lauzon at this link




Short video during Mass (a few short clips)
plus Dana singing "This Day God Gives me "following the video I love her singing 





 After mass 
Pat and Brian
"Pat is wearing her shamrock underneath her coat duh! "




After mass Pat and I went to Starbucks for a coffee
Check out Pat's awesome dance steps below!
Thanks Pat 





Friday, October 14, 2022

40 Days for LIfe October 14, 2022 - Annunciation of the Lord Parish

 Pat and I went for7AM 

God bless Alain and Father Josh who also arrived around the same time but they stayed for the entire day( as far as I know ) What a courageous Duo!!!

Below, Pat and Father Joshua are outside the bubble zone ( facing the abortuary ) As peaceful as we always are there is no freedom of speech for pro-lifers and it gets worse every year! I guess our beliefs are "unacceptable"?



CIBC doesn't like us praying too close to their building. Go figure!




Sunday, October 31, 2021

40 Days for Life Fall 2021 - Closing Rally - October 31

Today ends this years  40 Days for Life Campaign of Prayer and Fasting to end abortion. My sister Barbara and I plan on being at the vigil site this evening for the  Closing Rally

(southwest corner of Queen Street at Bank Street) at 7:00 pm. I will be attending mass at Notre Dame Cathedral at 5 this evening beforehand and after mass will make my way to the vigil site

Hope to see you there

Ok so I arrived at the vigil site around 6:30 after attending Mass at Notre Dame Cathedral. Barb arrived shortly after. By seven there were between 60 - 70 prayerful souls praise God! The weather was beautiful and there was a really nice lady ( Deanna) passing out chocolate bars which was kind of nice since I love chocolate and I think chocolate should be included as one of the main food groups. 

Anyways I took a few videos below 

Opening Prayer


He's Got the Whole World 
Queenship of Mary Community



Helena Prayer Co-Ordinator

Debbie Duval - speaks of Crisis Pregnancy Centres

Talk by Deacon Charles Fink from Saint Mary's Parish

Lord I Need You - led by Queenship of Mary Community

Salve Regina


Closing Prayer





Saturday, November 10, 2018

Overview of Ottawa's 2018 40 Days for Life Campaign

Dear 40 Days Reps and Friends:


It is with gratitude that I convey my sincere appreciation and thankfulness to all 40 Days Reps who took on this important and vital role in this fall’s campaign.

All your efforts are valued and have contributed to at times a logistically challenging campaign in church and ministry group participation this year.

Outreach to churches and ministry groups began in late July. From this outreach, 28 churches, 3 ministry groups, and 1 small faith community committed to vigil day participation.  Overall, 26.5 of the 40 days were committed vigil days, slightly down from overall vigil coverage last year. Special thanks to St. Hyacinth Parish, for committing to 2 separate vigil days this year. That was a first in our history of doing these campaigns.

As in previous years, efforts were made in other church communities to organize or strengthen themselves to eventually participate in a vigil day. Hopefully this will materialize with prayerful persistence and with exhortations of our pro-life responsibilities as people of faith.

We benefited from the intercessory prayer role of church communities that were either very small or very far out from downtown Ottawa. 

As in previous years, there were committed individuals who helped out with a regular almost daily prayer vigil presence in covering uncommitted hours. 

Thank You to all the clergy: pastors, assistant pastors, deacons, and religious sisters who participated in the vigil; your prayerful presence encourages the rest of us. 

Given the logistical challenges of recurring thefts of our vigil site supplies throughout this campaign, the overall coverage of vigil hour participation is not fully known. Not all on-site vigil participation got recorded in our sign-in book. Based on the current posted website calendar, there was 82% coverage of the 480 total vigil hours. This is down from our 91% coverage in past campaigns.  At the same time, we know that the 82% coverage was most likely higher because of vigil presences not recorded especially on uncommitted days.

In the pro-life movement, over the past decade, one of the most effective spiritual instruments God has been leading us in, are 40 Days for Life Campaigns.  God has been encouraging us to keep on doing these campaigns, and as of Monday, Nov 5th, 414 known lives have been saved through this fall’s campaign.  To God be all the glory!  The final international results will be known later this month.

Given the current legislation criminalizing free speech and expression outside abortion facilities in Ontario it is tempting to grow fatigued in our enthusiasm and resolve to participate whole-heartedly in these campaigns.

However, it may well be that God is testing our resolve to participate fully in these public prayer vigil campaigns, after over a decade of doing them in Ottawa. With the current bubble zone restriction, do we slacken in our participation or do we keep on labouring? In my view, our response should be tied directly to our reality.

Which is: on average 1 in 5 babies are aborted in the womb; there are an estimated 100,000 abortions a day, and over 45 million abortions a year worldwide. In Canada, there are approximately 280 babies a day lost to surgical abortion, and this number does not include chemical abortions. These estimated overall numbers are declining somewhat in recent years, but they are nonetheless staggering. Abortion remains the leading cause of death in this country. At its root, abortion is a spiritual crisis, and 40 Days campaigns are a strong spiritual response to this pervasive crisis. 

Comfortable Christianity and comfortable Catholicism isn’t an option with what is happening under our watch, because we know what our obligations are to those little ones that do not have a voice.

Please keep praying and challenging more of our pro-life brothers and sisters to support us with their sacrifices and prayer presence at the vigil site during our fall campaigns.  We need them.

I will end with this short prayer taken from the daily devotionals of the American 40 Days Headquarters report on Canadian vigil sites in Ontario.

Father, help us to embrace the fact that we are our "brother’s keeper." When we try to cast off this responsibility please call to us to account, that we would be pleasing to you and to our "brother." Through the help and grace of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Thank you so much for your participation in this year’s campaign. 

For the least of our brethren, 
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Helena Szakowski
Church and Ministry Co-ordinator
Ottawa’s 2018 – 40 Days for Life Campaign

Friday, November 2, 2018

40 Days for Life Ottawa, Closing Rally, Sunday, November 4, 2018

We are coming to the conclusion of the 2018 – 40 Days for Life campaign

If you want to join the prayer vigil at Queen and Bank streets one more time before we end for this year, you can still come out to pray on Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 7 am to 7 pm.

This weekend we have a time change. Remember to fall back one hour.

Please join us for the closing rally on Sunday, November 4. We are gathering on Queen St. at Bank St. at 7:00 pm. Everyone is welcome.

We are pleased to have as our guest speaker, Rev. John Counsell, a dynamic leader in Ottawa’s Christian community. 

At 7:30 pm we will have a candle light procession to St. Patrick’s Basilica for a reception. And we will conclude at 9:00 pm.

Come out and meet your fellow prayer warriors and share your experiences over the last 40 days.


Yours for Life,


Wanda

Wanda Hartlin

Co-ordinator

40 Days for Life, Ottawa


Thursday, September 27, 2018

Today at Bank and Queen


 I arrived at Queen and Bank around 10:30  and prayed silently with Helena from Saint Mary Parish . Shortly after I arrived Mimi from St Patrick Basilica came by. By the time I was about to leave for 12:15 mass at St. Patrick Basilica there were 6 faithful souls praying on this corner. Thank you Lord for your Goodness and your Mercy and for such a peaceful time with you



















 Lunch with my sister Barb after Mass at St. Pat's



Tuesday, October 18, 2016

40 Days for Life, Ottawa - Sunday October 16, 7:00 pm: Mid-Point Rally

VIDEOS

a few short video clips
 
 Heartwarming Talk by Francis Barrett
 
___________________________________________________________________________
Photos


































Friday, October 12, 2012

40 Days for Life in Ottawa - October 12 2012

 The students of Saint Paul University were covering the times on the vigil roster today and when I arrived around 11,  Father Adrian was  proclaiming the Word.  During the 40 Days for Life here in Ottawa, the Bible is proclaimed between 11:00 AM and 1:00PM. 
In spite of the really cold temperature and heavy winds there were six people present when I was there.

for greater detail see Father Adrian's blog
http://adriansharp.wordpress.com/2012/10/13/day-18-of-the-40-days-for-life/

Also here is an excellent article written by Father James Whalen 
on Pro Life Stewardship
 
Fr. Jim Whalen, Former National Director of Priests for Life Canada died suddenly while conducting a Pro-Life Parish Mission  On Sunday, February 24, 2008, at the age of 68. 

PRO-LIFE STEWARDSHIP 
by Fr. Jim Whalen
Priests for Life Newsletter Issue 3 - 2005
Stewardship is not an option for pro-life disciples. It is a necessity. It means responding to a personal call to “choose life” and imitate Christ, no matter what the cost. Catholics have a duty to be stewards of human life - Jesus did not hesitate to carry out His mission and expects no less from his followers: “I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly...” (Jn 10:10). Living as a pro-life steward means collaborating with God in His work of creation and cooperating with God in His work of redemption. A pro-life Christian steward is one who recognizes, receives, and respects God’s gifts of life thankfully - taking care, cherishing them in a responsible and accountable manner, sharing them in love and justice with others, and returning them with increase to the ‘Giver of Life’. A pro-life steward recognizes God as the origin of life, the giver of freedom, and the source of all they have, are, and will be. Once human beings have accepted their lives as gifts, the Spirit can use them as instruments to spread the ‘Gospel of Life’.

It is difficult to be a pro-life steward in the ‘Culture of Death’ society that surrounds and suffocates us. The contraceptive mentality we live in is due largely to the strong influences of materialism, relativism, hedonism, individualism, and consumerism. There is a strong tendency to marginalize faith, confining it to hearts and homes, excluding it from the media and marketplace, from where policy is often formed, where many acquire their view of life and its meaning. There is a lack of charity, a lack of love, and a selfishness which pervades our world. There are extreme disparities in wealth and power that hinder unity and communion. There is a need for solidarity and contributive justice, for the measurement of productivity by fulfillment of basic needs, employment levels, patterns of discrimination, and a sense of community. There is a persistence of religious conflicts and divisions. There is a need for mercy, forgiveness, and truth,
Stewardship of life, the Lord’s way, is not about comfortable living, feeling good, or pleasant experiences. It means surrendering ourselves through grace and choice.

We become stewards of life by grace, starting with our Baptism, which makes us into a royal priesthood and members of God’s family. This means sharing in the priestly work of Jesus and acting on His behalf. This means imitating Him. “For in Him all the fullness was pleased to dwell, and through Him to reconcile all things for Him, making peace by the blood of His Cross” (Col 1:19-20). It means putting aside the desire for possession, control and domination. It means seeking grace because it confers true liberation and eternal life. It also means the condemnation of sin and reparation: living a life of grace, reaching out, and accepting the call to greater conversion. It means accepting the divine mandate given to our first parents: “Be fertile and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it” (Gen 1:28). We are challenged to work, to cultivate, and to care for the gifts of creation, for life, and all living things. This is fundamental to our human vocation and necessary for human happiness and fulfillment. Vatican II emphasizes our task - the surpassing ministry of safeguarding life: “From the moment of its conception, life must be guarded with the greatest care...” (Gaudium et Spes, #51).

The principle of stewardship applies to all believers. In this age of unbelief we are asked to follow Christ, step by step, in the service of human life: “Each one of you has received a special grace, so, like good stewards responsible for all these different graces of God, put yourselves at the service of others” (1 Pet 4:10). We must give to God all that is due to Him. We must in charity and justice give to human persons all that is due to them. This means not only giving of ourselves and embracing pro-life discipleship whole-heartedly and cheerfully, but also in realizing our responsibility, we must also give the full amount for which we are accountable. “I will demand an account of every man’s life from his fellowmen” (Gen 9:5).

As stewards our first and foremost responsibility is to give ourselves - our lives. Jesus made this very clear: “Whoever shall save his life [live for self], shall lose it, but whoever shall lose his life [live for Christ and neighbour] for My sake and the Gospel’s, the same shall save it [in following Christ]” (Mk 8:34-35).
Pro-life stewardship means giving priority to God and our neighbor. The Holy Scriptures point us in the right direction:

- Loving God and others ( Deut 6:5).
- Be found faithful (l Cor 4:2).
- Choose Life (Deut 30:19).
- Pray constantly (1 Thess 5:17).
- To Evangelize (Mt 28:19:20).
- Seek justice (Zeph 2:3).
- Put self on the altar of sacrifice (Rom l2:1).
- Be holy (l Thess 4:3).
- Resist and oppose evil to the point of shedding blood (Heb 12:4).
- Be forgiving (Eph 4:32).
- Imitate Mary’s Fiat (Lk l:38).

After Jesus, it is Mary, Our Lady of Guadalupe, Queen and Mother of the Americas, Mother of Life, Star of the New Evangelization, Patroness of Life, who, by her example, teaches the meaning of stewardship. The essential elements are found in her life. She responded generously, creatively, and prudently to God’s call and gifts. She understood her role as handmaid in terms of service and fidelity. As Mother she was the first Protectrix of Jesus in the womb, and this continued on into infancy, childhood, and then adulthood - until the agony of Christ’s Passion and Death (Jn 19:25). As ‘Mother of the Church’ (Pope Paul VI, Discourse, 1964), Mary’s stewardship is articulated in the Constitution on the Church (Lumen Gentium). She is “clearly the Mother of the members of Christ” (#53). She is invoked in the Church under these titles: Advocate, Helper, Benefactress, and Mediatix (#62). Pope John Paul II explained her role in Redemptoris Mater: “Mary is one of the first who believed and precisely with her faith, as Spouse and Mother, she wishes to act upon all those who entrust themselves to her as children” (#46).
The pro-life disciple is called to share all he or she possesses as gifts and blessings with others for the sake of the Kingdom of God. Good stewards of life live with joy and gratitude for what they have received, living in communion with Christ and the Spirit and strive through diligence and hard work to multiply these blessings so as to offer them back to the Father. They have come to realize and understand their personal responsibility: “To each individual a manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit” (l Cor 12:7).

Pro-life stewardship is a position of trustworthiness and faithfulness. In many cases it is a matter of life or death choices. Of necessity, it implies competence and commitment to God and our neighbours. It involves proper use of initiative, talents, and abilities. It also means hard work and tremendous efforts. At times it includes taking appropriate risks courageously. It means accepting a sense of responsibility for one’s personal development: spiritual dimension, discipleship, etc.; for relationships within the family, the workplace and the wider community: follow the ‘Golden Rule’; for certain entrusted material, financial possessions, and resources: keeping promises, fulfilling expectations, loyalty, integrity, etc.

Catholics advocate that pro-life stewardship be Trinitarian, Eucharistic, Scriptural, Marian, and Magisterial. It means giving thanks to God for the gifts received and sharing them with others, “leading to works of charity and mutual help, as well as to missionary activity and to different forms of Christian witness” (Vatican II, Presbyterorum Ordinis, #6). It means living the fundamental pattern of stewards: “Serve one another through love..., bear one another’s burdens, and so you will fulfil the law of Christ” (Gal 5:13; 6:2). It means service of life by doing all for Jesus, through Mary, by doing all with Jesus and Mary (True Devotion, St Louis de Montfort).
 
One method of pro-life stewardship is to volunteer
for pro-life work. These are some of the Board Members
and volunteers of Priests for Life Canada at a recent
appreciation luncheon (June 2005).
 
Pro-life stewards are called to share the life of the Blessed Trinity: “Go, therefore, make disciples of all the nations: baptize them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” (Mt 28:19). Pro-life disciples model their lives on their Master, Jesus Christ, who said: “I have come not to be served but to serve and to give my life as a ransom for many” (Mt 20:28). +

NOTES: Information & Research
Stewardship, a Disciple’s Response, U.S.C.C.C.B. Publishing, 10th Anniversary Edition, Washington, DC, No. 5-465, 80 pp. See: www.usccb.org/publishing.
To be a Christian Steward, Summary U.S. Bishops’ Pastoral Letter on Stewardship, U.S.C.C.C.B. Publishing, No 568-2, 16 pp. See: www.usccb.org/publishing.

Go and Make Disciples, Evangelization Strategy, U.S. Catholic Bishops, No. 5-475, 104 pp. See: www.usccb.org/publishing.
Principles for Life, Robert Boyd, 1995, Chapter 12, Stewardship, pp. 109-114. +

Thursday, October 4, 2012

40 Days for Life Campaign - Annunciation of the Lord Parish prays for an end to abortion


Today parishioners of the Annunciation of the Lord Parish in Ottawa were at ground zero to pray for an end to abortion.  Many from across the city came to pray with us including Frances and Eileen who are there almost every day. There were about 4 to 6 people per hour and at one point during the proclamation of the Word there were 18 present. Both Our priests Father Jerry Gauvreau C.C. and Father Yves Marchildon C.C. were there as well as Jorge who is a Seminarian with the Companions of the Cross.
I strongly believe that our very good participation today was largely due to the strong support of our two priests.  Father Jerry gave a strong pro life homily two weeks ago at all our masses and invited us all to participate in this important event.

I also noticed more support from passers by than other years. I think this is catching on. Thank you Lord!

Thank you to our parish reps; Melanie, Theresa and Lois and a special thanks to all who came out today!
 
from Father Jerry's homily - Sept 23 2012
 
We cannot be silent any longer – it’s time to be Pro-Life in this culture of death – and don’t let anyone tell you to mind our own business, because this is our business – as Christians and as Catholics, the child in the womb is our responsibility .  
 
 

Monday, October 1, 2012

Good Shepherd Parish prays for an end to abortion

I joined my friend Jennifer Snell and parishioners of the Good Shepherd Parish, including several Legion of Mary members, as they spent the day in prayer at 65 Bank Street as part of the 40 Days for Life Campaign. Here are some photos I took. Parishioners also participated in the Proclamation of the Word between 11 and 1

For Jennifer's report click here
 
 Proclamation of the Word

















Legion of Mary
Our Lady of Guadalupe Praesidium