Visitation House moms and babies grace new cards

By Tanya Connor | The Catholic Free Press

Want to congratulate or console someone? With prayer? While promoting life?
Folks at Visitation House now have an answer to those needs and theirs – Mass cards they created using  photos of some of their mothers and babies.
Representatives of this home for pregnant women in crisis displayed the cards at the diocesan Catholic Men’s Conference on March 17.
They officially launched this fundraiser on April 2, according to board member Christine Farmer. But she said they really hope to get sales going at the 13th Annual Visitation House Benefit Dinner & Silent Auction set for April 25 at St. George’s Orthodox Cathedral. The keynote speaker for that already-filled event of more than 500 people is Chris Slatterly, founder of crisis pregnancy centers in New York City.
The cards provide a way to share with the community that Visitation House is on the front lines of saving lives, Mrs. Farmer said.
The cards cost $30 for a packet of six and promise that the recipient (or their loved one, in the case of sympathy cards) will be remembered in one of Visitation House’s monthly Masses. The Masses are held in the house’s chapel at 5:30 p.m. on the third Tuesday of each month.
Several card recipients can be prayed for aloud at any one Mass, said Deborah LeDoux, Visitation House’s marketing developer, who created the cards. She said when buyers call in card recipients’ names, they will be invited to the Mass and dinner afterwards, as space allows, starting next month.
Five of the cards have a photo of a present or former Visitation House mother and baby on the back, under the proclamation: “The smallest gift from God is our greatest treasure.” The sixth has an expectant mother with an ultrasound picture of her baby. The general congratulations cards also feature babies on the front, while the sympathy cards have photos of flowers, all taken by Ms. LeDoux.
The cards also have encouraging Scripture verses and information about how to donate or order more cards.
Visitation House resident Rachel Hernandez said she was happy to have her photo with her son Luis Greo on one of the cards. She saw that her photo had been chosen when she helped package the cards, she said.     
“I felt jealous,” said another mother, who asked not to be named; she would have liked her son’s photo on a card.
The residents give Visitation House permission to use their photos.
“We’ve always had Mother’s Day and Father’s Day cards,” Mrs. Farmer said. She said Father Michael J. Roy, Visitation House’s chaplain and pastor of St. Roch Parish in Oxford, prays a novena for recipients of those cards. People can get those cards at some of the parishes or by contacting Visitation House, Ms. LeDoux said.
She said they are planning to create more cards.

– For information about how to donate go to visitationhouse.org; or to order cards call 508-798-8212 from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Monday-Friday.