Healing Through Divine Mercy

By Joan Lamar (Jan 4, 2017)
We sat down with Marian Press author Theresa Bonopartis to talk about her new book on post-abortion healing, A Journey to Healing Through Divine Mercy. For Theresa, the healing from her own abortion came through Divine Mercy and praying the prayer Jesus, I trust in You. Her healing brought about a desire to dedicate her life to helping others heal from abortion. So, 20 years ago, she combined efforts with the Sisters of Life to found the ministry Entering Canaan, which provides retreats for women suffering from abortion. In cooperation with the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal (CFRs), she also offers retreats for men and siblings, and she trains people across the country who work in post-abortive ministries.

In your book, A Journey to Healing, you share about your own experience of post-abortive suffering. You have a powerful story of healing. Why is it important to tell that story today?

I tell the story so that other women (and men) who experience post-abortion suffering don't feel so alone. Just yesterday, I got a phone call from someone who has been keeping this secret to herself for 30 years. So, when people hear your story, and that you've gone through healing, they feel like there is hope for healing for them — that it's possible for them to get out of this hell they are living in. A big part of post-abortive suffering is that you feel very isolated and alone. Don't forget, the secular world tells us that there's no such thing as post-abortion and they really drown out the women who have struggled with it. So you feel like you are the only one who struggles with this and there must be something wrong with you for feeling that way. By sharing my story and the stories of others, I can help these women to feel that they are not the only ones who experienced these things. They are not alone.

In your own story, you said that when you went to see a therapist to seek help, he told you to forget about your abortion.

Right. He said, "That's not what's bothering you." I was told that I was suffering because my husband was an alcoholic. But, in reality, I married an alcoholic because I was such a mess from my abortion. I've heard the same thing from countless women who have sought help in therapy. For a long time, very pro-abortion people headed the American Psychological Association, and even today you have therapists saying there are hardly any adverse effects from abortion … so, you have the professionals saying there is no such thing as what you are living with every day of your life, and it makes you think you are even more crazy. Now we do have a database of some good counselors who recognize post-abortion suffering — though not nearly enough professionals to meet the need — but there are professionals today who will acknowledge that abortion causes pain and suffering [in the parent], and that it affects you not only psychologically, but also spiritually and sometimes physically as well.

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