Sr Andrea in the Observer

A brief piece featuring Sr Andrea appeared in the Observer a few weeks ago, amid discussion of the HFE bill. Sr Andrea gives the ‘religious view’ as part of a larger collection that included the ‘medical view’ and first hand, if generally fairly one-sided, testimonies from women who’ve had abortions.

Sr Andrea’s part is pretty good, though the opening line “Sister Andrea Fraile devotes her life to persuading pregnant women not to have an abortion…” is perhaps not how we would have chosen to phrase it, but on the whole it’s a bit more balanced, a rather more accurate than most of the media coverage we receive.

You can read the whole article here.

Nicola, prayers answered and prayers needed.

We told you some time ago about Nicola, a young woman facing extremely difficult circumstances and family pressure to abort her unborn child. We’re thrilled to let you know that Nicola is determined to have her child and her pregnancy is progressing well. She’s still having problems with her family so do please keep up the prayers.

Furthermore, please pray for C. and P., neither of whom wish to be identified, both seriously considering abortion. As ever we’ll keep you updated if and when this is possible.

Thank you and God bless!

Sr Roseann at St Andrews Canmore Catholic Society

Last night Sr Roseann gave a talk, ‘Pro-Life: Pro-Woman’ at the wonderful Canmore Catholic Society of the University of St Andrews. Sr Roseann has been visiting Canmore for many (more than she cares to remember) years and many of the students (and alumni) are great friends of the Initiative and of the Sisters of the Gospel of Life. As always there was a good crowd and lots of questions and discussion afterwards. Thanks to all, particularly to Angela and the committee for the invite and for their hospitality, and to Katya for a delicious meal!

The talk should soon be available on the society’s excellent podcast page.

Glasgow Silent No More Gathering

Women speak out about their abortion experiences.

Date: Saturday, March 8, 2008
Time: 12:00pm - 1:00pm
Location: Corner of Byers Road and University Avenue, Glasgow.

HFE bill talk in Paisley Diocese

Very short notice but this evening (at 7pm) Fr Dan Fitzpatrick will be giving a talk on the Human Fertilisation & Embryology at St Joseph’s & St Patrick’s on Shore Rd, Wemyss Bay. If you’re in that area we urge you to go along.

Buggy appeal in the news…

From The Catholic Times 25/01/2008

World backing for the Gospel of Life
by James Hastings

The nun in charge of the UK’s best known pro-life group took a special delivery this week - a pram all the way from Chicago.

Sr Roseann Reddy, of the Sisters of the Gospel of Life in Glasgow, was stunned when the hi-tech pram arrived from America.

It follows an appeal on the order’s blog for baby buggies and baths. The order and its volunteers run the Cardinal Winning Pro-Life Initiative which provides practical help to expectant mothers.
 
But after a surge in babies being born over the Christmas period, the sisters found their pram cupboard practically empty.

Sr Roseann told The Catholic Times: “We placed a small notice on our blog and have been absolutely amazed at tghe responses we’ve received from all over the world.

“One woman in Chicago read about the appeal on a priest’s blog in the United States and she got Amazon to deliver a pram.

“Other people have been sending baby baths which are also desperately needed, while others are sending money.
 
“One priest in England sent us a baby bath and he is urging his parishoners to do the same.

“Best of all there are very kind messages from all over the world, praising the work being done here and offering prayers.
 
“It is absolutely wonderful and we want to give a bi thank you to everyone.”

The pro-life initiative was set up by the late Cardinal Thomas Winning of Glasgow in 1997 after claims from pro-abortionists and critics that the Church did not offer practical assistance to pregnant women.

So far more than 1,000 children have been born and mothers provided with items such as prams, cots and even nappies.
 
Sr Roseann established the Sisters of the Gospel of Life in 2000, the first female religious order founded in Scotland for 150 years.

The sisters and volunteer helpers provide counselling and information on issues like housing.

Added Sr Roseann: “We like to give mums the equipment around eight weeks before the baby is due, and we have a number of mums here at that period.

“If anyone has a pram or buggy, in good condition, that you no longer need, please do consider donating it to us.

“We have a particular number of women whose due dates are imminent and are in particular need of prams or buggies.”

Copyright The Catholic Times 2008

……………………………………………………….

Again it’s wonderful to see such a visible response to our appeal - this article featured on the front page of the most recent Catholic Times. There are a few small inaccuracies - the lady from Chicago who sent a pram (Ma Beck!) saw the appeal on Fr Tim’s blog, rather than on the site of an American priest. The English parish priest referred to is also Fr Tim, and he sent a buggy.

More personally, the description of the origins of this organisation is skewed somewhat, implying that the impetus came from the criticisms of the pro-choice lobby, rather than as a positive initiative of the late Cardinal Winning.

However it is on the whole a good article, and it was nice to be able to reach an audience perhaps unacquainted with the blogging world, as well as giving us the opportunity to once again publicly thank all who contributed to the appeal.

As well as a number of new buggies (ten or eleven I believe) we’ve received a good number of baths and two baby slings. A priest friend of ours also brought us three buggies. Thank you all so much for your support, for making donations, to Fr Tim and all who publicised the appeal.

Finally, a special thanks to Fr Neil ‘Postman Pat’ Donnachie and to Peter Creron for receiving and transporting several of the very large parcels.

Thank you all and God bless!

International Student Pro-life Conference

From our friends at SPUC Scotland:

SPUC Scotland is hosting the first International Student Pro-life Conference which will take place on 28th-30th March, in Carberry Tower Conference Centre, Edinburgh.

The theme of the conference is Civil Rights and the keynote speaker will be Martin Luther King’s great niece Celeste Beal.

Celeste will be explaining why she feels that the pro-life movement is today’s most pressing civil rights issue.

There will be a special screening of the much-acclaimed movie, Bella which has only recently been released in America.

Plus, there will be lots of other interesting presentations and the Arts will play a special part in the conference.

This conference provides a unique opportunity for young people to socialise with fellow pro-life advocates from around the world.

A weekend NOT to be missed.This residential weekend is open to 6th year pupils, university students and those aged between 17 and 35. For more details please check out our website.

tententheatre

Some of you may have joined us for our ‘Day for Life’ celebrations back in May. One of the events staged here at the Initiative was an excellent production of ‘Babies’ a play by Martin O’Brien and the tententheatre group.

Tententheatre exists to advance the social, moral, spiritual and cultural education of children, young people, young offenders, prisoners, teachers and the general public through drama and the performing arts.

‘Babies’ (for KS4, sixth formers, s4-s6 and adults) tells the story of Annie and Joe, a teenage couple facing an unexpected pregnancy and “covers a wide range of themes dealing with teenage pregancy, abortion, parenthood, relationships, marriage, family life, love and responsibility”.

Tenten have just embarked on a new project ‘Chased’ (for KS3, Year 9 or S3) which “explores issues of self-worth, respect for others, the value of sex and the influence of drugs and alcohol on decision-making.”

Over the course of 2008 tenten will be touring schools and parishes across Britain with both plays - many dates have already been taken but if you’re interested in booking them (and we very much recommend them) you can get in touch by:

emailing - info(at)tententheatre(dot)co(dot)uk OR
phoning - 0845 388 3162

For full details you can have a look at their website.

Pro-Life PowerPoint

We used this collection of pro-life quotes and pictures at our ‘Culture of Life’ evening, and quite a few people asked us to send it to them, so we thought we’d put it up here in case anyone found it useful.

The method by which PowerPoints are uploaded isn’t particularly helpful for downloading, so if anyone would like the original file just ask and we’ll send it.

SPUC Scotland Conference

Saturday saw the annual SPUC Scotland conference. Rev Dr John Fleming, director of the Southern Cross Bioethics Institute gave a fascinating and comprehensive account of the issues surrounding end of life decisions.

Fr Fleming was followed by Dr Calum McKellar, director of the Scottish Council for Human Bioethics. Dr McKellar’s talk was an excellent introduction to the issue of Human-Nonhuman hybrids, a topic on which the wonderful SCHB is a world leader.

The final guest speaker was Kathy Sinnott, an MEP for Ireland and tireless campaigner on family, disability and pro-life issues, who spoke to the conference on attitudes and progress on pro-life matters in European politics.

Ian Murray, Kaye Smith, Lucy McCully and Donna Nicholson of SPUC provided updates on SPUC campaigning and educational activities, as well as their thoughts on the future priorities of the pro-life movement.

The day came to a close with the premiere performance of ‘Dance for your Life’ a fantastic new initiative of the Arts Project for the Arch-Diocese of Glasgow, which tells the story of a young girl facing a crisis pregnancy, by means of drama and interpretive dance, pictured below.

‘Dance for your Life’