5th Sunday of Easter
9 May 2004
Praised be Jesus Christ! Now and forever!
Dear Friends in Christ,
According to hallowed Christian custom, two months of the year are a time for special devotion to the Mother of God: May and October. One splendid way to honor the Mother of God is to promote the welfare of all mothers, especially those in need of assistance, and to that end I ask every family in the parish to share in a simple form of service to mothers with crisis pregnancies.
Birthright and the Piedmont Women’s Center are two organizations in Greenville which provide direct assistance to women with unplanned or unwanted pregnancies and who are probably considering an abortion. Such women are often poor, alone, and frightened, and they may be placed under great pressure from family and friends to kill their unborn child. Responding to the Gospel of Life requires us to give direct, practical assistance to these mothers in an effort to save the life of the child, and that means giving our financial support to the groups able to assist women in crisis pregnancies.
Twice each year, during the months of special Marian devotion, we will make available at the door of the church small baby bottles to be used to collect money for the support of mothers in distress. Today, Mother’s Day, the bottles are from the Piedmont Women’s Center, and in October the bottles will be from Birthright. An instruction sheet is found inside of each bottle; simply take a bottle and follow the instructions about the collection and turning in of money to support this essential work of charity. Every dollar, even every penny, counts in this simple but critical work of assisting troubled mothers to receive the lives of their children as a gift to be treasured, and in this humble service we honor our Mother in the order of grace, the Mother of God and Mother of the Church.
Father Newman
Our Lady of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, pray for us.