October Baby
March 19, 2012
Below you will find my latest column about a new pro-life movie called
October Baby which opens in theaters on March 23rd. Please go see
the film and encourage your friends to do the same. It is vitally important
to see the film opening weekend, as Hollywood gauges the success of films by
what is called a Box Office per-screen average. Ten-percent of all gross
ticket proceeds will go toward the Every Life Is Beautiful Fund,
which will help support frontline organizations helping women with crisis
pregnancies, life-affirming adoption agencies and those caring for orphans.
To locate a theater near you where October Baby will be opening, go to:
www.octoberbabymovie.net/theaters. If the film is not currently
scheduled to open in your town, you may become an Action Squad leader and
for a minimum purchase of 750 tickets your town can become part of the
expansion city list, which will occur on Friday, April 13th – for
information on becoming an Action Squad leader, visit:
www.octoberbabymovie.net/takeaction.
Please view my latest YouTube Video at
http://youtu.be/iWWmBznvqRY on which I talk about two important evens on
March 23rd.
I invite you to listen to the homilies I have been giving to the Sisters in
Amarillo, TX - The Disciples of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Find them at
www.priestsforlife.org/audio/amarillo.htm and share them with your email
list and on your social networking sites.
March 25th will be the seventeenth anniversary of the release of
Evangelium Vitae. This document is the most comprehensive and
authoritative statement of the Magisterium on the tragedies of abortion and
euthanasia, and on the good news of the dignity of the human person. For
more information see
www.priestsforlife.org/magisterium/gospeloflife.html.
On March 26th, the Church will celebrate the Feast of the Annunciation.
March 25th, which is nine months before the celebration of the Birth of
Christ, is the Annunciation, when Jesus was conceived within the body of the
Virgin Mary as she accepted her call to be the Mother of God. Priests for
Life, along with many other pro-life groups, urges believers to celebrate
this day as a Day of the Unborn Child, with special observances that
highlight the Church’s pro-life teachings. See
www.priestsforlife.org/annunciation.
Our prayer novena in remembrance of Terri Schiavo begins on March 23rd. Go
to
www.priestsforlife.org/novenas/terris-day.htm to find the prayer and
order prayer cards.
Finally, you are invited to stand up for religious freedom on March 23rd by
joining one of the Nationwide rallies which Priests for Life is helping to
organize. Thousands will take a stand to rally on that day to defeat the
Obama HHS mandate. For information on a rally near you see
www.standupforreligiousfreedom.com. For resources and talking points
about the mandate see
www.priestsforlife.org/hhsmandate/index.aspx.
Blessing,
Fr. Frank Pavone
National Director, Priests for Life
Praise for our Work
Dear Father Frank, Thank you for all you do for the cause of Life – May
the Good Lord bless you abundantly. You are an inspiration to all of us in
the pro-life movement – a truly dedicated and heroic Apostle of Life.
May God Bless & Keep you – Thomas and Mary
October Baby
by Fr. Frank Pavone
I don't recommend many movies, but on Friday, March 23, one that you really
should see is coming into theatres nationwide. It's called October Baby,
and it deals in a masterful way with a difficult topic, abortion.
Abortion is not and should not be an abstract debate. When I'm asked how the
pro-life battle has evolved over the decades that I've been in leadership in
the movement, I often respond that the 'issue' of abortion has gotten more
and more of a face. This is both desirable and inevitable.
The face of abortion is marked by both beauty and pain, hope and of despair,
tears and the joy of knowing the Savior.
The face of abortion is revealed in the photos of the babies -- the primary
victims -- and in the faces and voices of our Silent No More Awareness
Campaign, which mobilizes women and men who have lost children to
abortion and speak out about their pain and forgiveness.
And the face of abortion is increasingly revealed by its survivors, not only
because more and more of them speak out, but also because filmmakers are
using their talents to bring these faces before millions.
This Friday, that will happen again.
The movie October Baby is a fabulous, moving, powerful encounter
with the reality of abortion survivors, and the pain and healing they
experience. It is the story of a beautiful young woman who, on finding out
she was adopted after her biological mother's attempt to abort her failed,
goes on a journey in search of that mother. In the process, she journeys
just as much into her own soul, to find the grace to do what she doesn't
think she has the power to do.
Research has uncovered the wounds of those who have abortions, as well as
the wounds abortion inflicts on marriages and families. And among the most
fascinating research, still not as widely known as it should be, is that on
abortion survivors. October Baby makes use of some of this
research, done primarily by my friend and colleague Dr. Philip Ney, Canadian
psychiatrist. Dr. Ney identifies ten different categories of "abortion
survivors," one of which, as with the central character of October Baby,
is the survivor who is actually a victim of the abortion procedure but is
not killed by it.
But that doesn't mean that something doesn't die.
Abortion survivors feel guilty and anxious about living, confused about
their identity, and unsure of their psychological footing in a world where
love, parenthood, and even God seem to have betrayed them.
These dynamics take on another dimension when the survivor, as in
October Baby, is a twin survivor, and lives with the knowledge
that her companion in the womb was killed in an attempt that was aimed also
at her.
To love, educate, and serve our youth, we need to understand abortion
survivors better. October Baby is an important step toward that
goal, and Priests for Life is proud to co-sponsor its promotion. Don't miss
it!
Find this column online at
www.priestsforlife.org/columns/4127-october-baby
Listen to this column online at
www.priestsforlife.org/audio/audio.aspx?audio=603084-october-baby
Comments on this column? Go to
www.askfrfrank.com
Fr. Frank's columns are podcast. See
www.priestsforlife.org/podcast
Remember to support our work at
www.priestsforlife.org/donate/index.aspx
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