By Tanya Connor
The Catholic Free Press
Putting prayer first and responding to pro-lifers’ weariness are reasons for a new initiative.
That initiative is a free pro-life morning of reflection. It is being held from 8:30 - 11 a.m. June 29 in the Cenacle on the lower level of St. Paul Cathedral, 38 High St., Worcester.
Allison LeDoux, director of the diocesan Respect Life Office, said she initiated it and hopes to make it an annual event.
Msgr. James P. Moroney, cathedral rector, is to give presentations titled: "How defenders of life pray" and "Four helps to a full life." There is also a continental breakfast and time for prayer.
Msgr. Moroney will explore how St. Pope John Paul II's encyclical "Evangelium Vitae" ("The Gospel of Life") can "guide our spirituality" in the pro-life apostolate, a flier said.
It said Msgr. Moroney will also "suggest four ways in which we can strive for that balance in our lives which can strengthen and sustain our work on behalf of those who are most vulnerable."
All are welcome to attend, whether or not they are involved in any pro-life ministries. All are asked to RSVP to the Respect Life Office by June 26 by emailing aledoux@worcesterdiocese.org or leaving a message at 508-929-4311, giving their name, parish or organization, and email address.
“I've been praying about this a long time," Mrs. LeDoux said; she wants to help bring pro-lifers "renewal and recommitment and strengthening."
"We need to be grounded in prayer and be continuously trying to grow in our spiritual life in order for our works to be fruitful," she said. "Prayer as the foundation for our work goes to the heart of the USCCB pastoral plan for pro-life activities."
Her office’s main task is to implement that plan of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, in various ways, she said.
She said the plan’s pillars, which any pro-life activity (especially at the parish level) should engage in, are: prayer, education, pastoral care and public policy.
The morning of reflection, which is like a retreat, focuses on prayer because that's first.
"Another inspiration for doing this retreat day is that, in talking to people, I’m sensing a lot of weariness" and discouragement, Mrs. LeDoux said. Some people involved in pro-life activities have been doing the work for many years, are getting older and are not getting enough replacements.
"The thing that's going to lift us out of that (weariness and discouragement) is the hope that comes from prayer and spiritual renewal," she said.
She said she thinks Msgr. Moroney is the perfect person to give the presentations, because he helped the USCCB Pro-life Secretariat prepare prayer resources "and he's done a lot of these pro-life days of reflection" elsewhere.
"He's so filled with the Holy Spirit and he understands the human condition so well that I'm very excited about this event," she said.