Pastoral Ministries

Respect Life Office

The Gabriel Project accepts donations of these following items to fill needs throughout the Archdiocese. There is a constant demand for large items like cribs and car seats, which are often too expensive for our expectant mothers.

Clean, gently used items are gratefully accepted. Please bring all large items directly to Morkovsky Hall located at St. Dominic Center, 2403 Holcombe or call 713-741-8728.

Baby food and formula are donated to  local St. Vincent de Paul pantries.

Large material donations are tax deductible. Forms are available from Gertrude Ryan.

Parish baby shower donations provide us with items like these to make baby layettes for Gabriel Moms.

You can donate all supplies and clothes to the Mother and Baby Assistance at Morkovsky Hall, 2403 Holcombe Blvd., 713-225-5826, or to your parish social assistance or local Birthright. Send all food to your parish pantry of St. Vincent de Paul Society. Please bring large items directly to the Little Flower Thrift Store at 5334 Washington Ave., 713-862-7347. Hours are 10 a.m. to 1:45 p.m., Monday – Friday.

Vouchers for Mother and Baby Assistance are available from Gertrude Ryan at 713-225-5826 (Friday AM).  The Gabriel Angel keeps the vouchers and assesses the mother’s material needs.  The mom then brings the voucher with her to the Little Flower Thrift Store where she can collect needed items.
 

·         Consult your pastor.

·         Display bulletin announcements and a flier in the two weeks coming up to Mother’s Day, or day of the shower.

·         Include each group in the parish in the preparations, the school, the CCE classes the Ladies Guild, etc., and give each group specific tasks to do and times to attend at the tables.

·         If you have a parish school, involve the children in your parish baby shower. They can make posters to advertise the shower and contribute small items.

·         Contact the school religious education teacher.

·         Coordinate the shower with a week of Pro-Life educational activities at school.

·         Request gently used as well as new items.

·         Decorate the tables with pink and blue, balloons and bunting.

·         Serve cake and punch after each Mass.

·         Leave a crib in a prominent place for donations.

·         Remember, everyone can become involved; baby food costs $.50 a jar, so all can bring something.

·         Provide a bowl or basket for cash donations.

Go HERE to download / view / print an example of a Flyer for a Parish Baby Shower.

Project Rachel includes:

• Information and advice

• Return to the sacraments, particularly Reconciliation and Eucharist

• Healing Masses, retreats, and spiritual guidance

• Individual counseling by telephone or in person

• Assessment and referral for medical or other professional intervention

• Support groups

• For more information and confidential counseling, call 713-741-8728

Tears Speak But Spirits Soar

Abortion destroys more than one life.  A small group of women who have suffered the experience of abortion gather once a month to share, heal and grow.  The purpose of the group is not to provide professional counseling, but rather for these mothers to provide each other with understanding and comfort.  Groups currently meet in the following parishes:

• St. Bernadette                                 Madonna Haarman
• University of St. Thomas                     Dr. Rabecca LeBlanc

• St. Martha                                        Bonnie Deville

Women experiencing abortion aftermath are likely to report: grief, depression, sense of loss, guilt, low self-esteem, suicidal ideation, alcohol or chemical abuse, sexual dysfunction or promiscuity, phobias, nightmares, “baby” dreams, flashbacks, intrusive thoughts concerning the abortion, compulsion to become pregnant again, involvement in abusive relationships, anger, eating disorders, increased anxiety in subsequent pregnancies, episodes of uncontrollable weeping, inability to form intimate relationships, inability to adequately bond with subsequent children; some experience Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Men experiencing abortion loss exhibit rage, a sense of impotence, grief, and will often describe risk taking behavior, alcohol or drug abuse and sometimes become very involved in father’s rights issues.

Siblings will often develop the symptoms of survivors syndrome, particularly guilt or feelings of abandonment by their parents.

In addition, grandparents sometimes suffer confusion and grief over the occurrence of an abortion. In some cases, they feel responsible for the abortion decision. Other times, they were unaware of the pregnancy and the subsequent abortion, and this may lead to a sense of inadequacy and anger at being overlooked in the decision process. Grandparents often express deep concern for their children who have procured an abortion. Some experience a sense of outrage at having been denied the opportunity to support their child and denied the much desired experience of grand-parenting.

The death of a pre-born or born child is a great sorrow for all involved, particularly for the mother. The mother feels separated from God, the Church, herself and her child. Offering a memorial Mass for such a death can help bring comfort and God's healing presence for those involved. A liturgy guide is available. To arrange a memorial Mass in your parish, call Marcella Colbert at 713-741-8728

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Fertility Awareness and NFP

Love & Chastity

Love is the sincere and unconditional gift of ourselves to another.  We learn to love by receiving the gift of love from others, particularly our family, and from God, who is love itself.  Love is necessary for human fulfillment, for it is through true love we learn who we are.  Love gives our life meaning.

Chastity is rightly-ordered sexual behavior.  Another way to say it is:  Chastity is using one’s sexual capacity properly, according to your state in life.  Love between married people is expressed genitally as well as many other ways.  Sexual relations are for marriage alone.  Affection and friendship are forms of love which are not expressed genitally among chaste people, except within marriage.

Conjugal love is both unitive and procreative.  It is the union of two people spiritually, emotionally, and physically.  To be truly open to the gift of love we must be open to the gift of life.  In God’s plan there is no separation of the unitive and procreative aspects of marital love.

Marital chastity,  demands that each act of sexual union not be artificially ‘sterilized.’  We are created man and woman in God’s very image.  As a result, human sexuality has a spiritual dimension and significance, its own unique dignity.  This spiritual, sacramental dimension of sex is part of its unitive power for humans.  It follows that, in a mysterious way, contraception harms both the unitive and the procreative effects of the act.

Barriers to union are

• Sexual thoughts and acts by oneself (masturbation)

• Sexual thoughts or acts for your own pleasure (lust)

• Sexual thoughts or acts between unmarried people (fornication)

• Sexual thoughts or acts with someone other than one’s spouse (adultery)

• The use of “scientific” means of conception which separate the procreative from the unitive (e.g., test-tube babies or in vitro fertilization, artificial insemination, cloning, destructive embryonic stem cell research, etc.)

Biotechnology   The use of “Scientific means of conception".  A child is a gift from God.  A child is never a right.

• IVF in vitro fertilization natural father and mother

• eduction abortion,

• donor egg - donor sperm

• surrogate motherhood

• all combined, a child could be from a donor egg and sperm, carried by a surrogate mother for another couple.  Five parents.

Research on human embryo's

• storing embryos

• medical experiments on embryos,

• harvesting tissues and parts,

• embryonic stem cell research /Adult stem cell research,

• cloning, therapeutic /reproductive

Barriers to procreation are:

• The use of birth control pills, intrauterine devices (IUD’s), or patches, shots, and implants for which all cause abortions. They are called contraceptives but they are not.

• The use of barrier contraceptives:  condoms, diaphragms, cervical caps, spermicidal gels, foams, sponges, or douches

• All forms of surgical sterilization – tubal ligation (getting the tubes tied) or hysterectomy (removal of womb) with the intent to sterilize in women, vasectomy in men

• Coitus interruptus (withdrawal), sodomy (anal sex), fellatio or cunnilingus (oral sex to completion), etc.

Natural Family Planning (NFP)

NFP is an umbrella term for certain methods used to either achieve or avoid pregnancy, without using contraception, sterilization, or morally-objectionable fertility approaches.  NFP is based on observations of naturally-occurring signs and symptoms of the fertile and infertile phases of a woman’s menstrual cycle.  Couples using Natural Family Planning to avoid pregnancy abstain from intercourse or genital contact during the fertile phase of the cycle.  No drugs, devices, or surgical procedures are used to avoid pregnancy.

NFP can be thought of as “fertility awareness in action.”  When trying to become pregnant, users of Natural Family Planning have the advantage of being able to identify their most-fertile time as a couple.  In this way, couples with low fertility are sometimes able to get pregnant using NFP, when they were previously unable to do so.

NFP honors the dignity of the human person within the context of marriage and family life.  It promotes openness to life, and recognizes the value of every child.  By respecting the love-giving and life-giving natures of marriage, NFP will enrich the bond between husband and wife.

As a method of family planning, NFP:

• Calls for mutual responsibility by husband and wife

• Fosters deep  personal communication in marriage

• Is based on scientific research into the processes of human reproduction

• Treats each menstrual cycle as unique, and teaches the couple to observe signs of fertility on a day-to-day basis (unlike “rhythm”)

• Has no harmful side effects; instead, it builds wellness for the wife through greater awareness of     her normal bodily functioning

• Is effective for achieving or avoiding pregnancy

• Can be used in special circumstances – such as post-partum depression, , during breastfeeding premenopause, finantial difficulty or emotional difficulty etc.

• Is virtually cost-free.

The Billings Ovulation Method is very simple to learn and use.  The fertile time is observed by checking the consistency of cervical mucus.

The Couple to Couple League teaches the sympto-thermal method where the woman’s body temperature is measured each morning.  Cervical mucus is also monitored.  It is easy to use, and the League is also a lay movement with spiritual and human support for parents and children.

The Creighton Model presents a form of the ‘ovulation method’ for Natural Family Planning.  Also known as the Medical Model, Creighton is excellent for couples with fertility problems, helping them to learn about their combined fertility.  In addition, it assists the woman in recognizing hormone problems, and in maintaining good health.

See brochures or call Joe DeVet, NFP Consultant
in the Office of Family Life Ministry, at 281-723-5686
email: Nfpflm@aol.com