Reclaiming Our Children: A Blog About Healing After Abortion

One of the things that came up yesterday and comes up often is the fact that our ministry "Entering Canaan" consists of post abortive women and The Sisters of Life. Very often I have been asked what they would know about being a post abortive woman? In answer to that question I wrote the following article a few years ago. I know the women who taped with us yesterday found what I wrote below to be true…

Saints and
Sinners                                 2005

Rare
is the post abortive person who has not felt as though they were alienated from
the church and condemned to hell. I can remember the days before my own
healing, terrified to walk into a church, certain there was a neon sign on my
back stating I had killed my child and that the walls of the church were going
to cave in on me.

 I
have heard similar stories over the years from women and men I have worked
with.  One in particular I remember,
saying, “When I saw the ad advertising the ministry I thought it was a trick. I
was certain when I came I was going to get yelled at, yet, I was so desperate I
decided to take the risk.”

Over
the last nine years I have been working with the Sisters of Life in a ministry
for those who are post abortive named “Entering Canaan”. It has evolved slowly,
and is, I believe, unique, not because of what the Sister do, but
because of who the Sisters are.

In
the Constitutions of the Sisters of Life you will find the statement; “At the
heart of the vocation of a Sister of Life is the call to love as Christ loves…a
sister has an awareness that no one is excluded from Christ’s love…Both in
prayer and apostolic activities she is a sign that “love cast out fear”(1 Jn
4:18)

 “She
is a sign “. A sign of God’s acceptance, and presence. A sign of His love and
forgiveness. By opening their home, they open the possibility of heaven to many
who have felt heaven was unattainable. By finding the unique person behind each
abortion story and offering Christ’s unconditional love, they uncover the path
of hope and walk down it with each individual no matter how long the healing
journey. They have made their convent a safe haven, a place where women and men
are able to write the names of their children in the Immaculate Heart of Mary
book. A book with a special cover image of Our Lady painted on cooper designed
by one of the Sisters. A book they know will be ever present in the chapel in
the presence of the Lord who hears their prayers.

 To
be sure, the heart of the ministry is truly run by the post abortive people
themselves. It consists of three phases, a Day of Prayer and Healing, a one day
retreat whose sole mission is to give hope to those who are struggling. Through
the testimony of another women, sharing, the sacrament of penance and the Holy
Sacrifice of the Mass, those who come find out they are not alone, that there
are many others who experienced the same pain and have now found healing. Phase
two consists of  ongoing groups called
“Gatherings”. These times begin with Eucharistic adoration with a meditation on
a specific post abortion issue (grief, guilt, shame, connectors, etc).
Adoration is followed by time in the common room where the women share their
experiences, growth and struggles. Lastly, are the weekend retreats, times of
intense work and intense love; working through hell in the midst of heaven as
the Sisters serve the retreatants in the beautiful surroundings they have
created just for them.

 We
have been truly been blessed to serve those who come to us and are so grateful
for the many who have reached healing. I am confident if you ask those who
participate in the ministry they would all tell you the same thing, that who
the Sisters are as a sign of Christ is confirmed, for they have found Christ’s
love and the courage to face their abortions through the casting out of fear by
love as stated in the Sisters constitutions.

 Theresa
Bonopartis