Roe No More
Ministries Newsletter
February 99
Amdg.
Winter, 1998
For the BODY of Christ,
It has been a year since our last newsletter, and
many things have happened during this short year. As many of you know by now, I
have left Operation Rescue and have been conducting my own ministry. The name
is: Roe No More Ministry, the birth-thought of Gary Thomas, my co-author of "Won
By Love."
We are a speakers' referral ministry. I have been the only speaker available
until now. Soon we hope to enlist other speakers, such as: Father Edward
Robinson, O.P., Prolife coordinator for the Diocese of Dallas, Father Frank
Pavone, the International Director of Priests For Life, Dr Bernard Nathanson,
Joseph Sheidler, Carol Everett of the Heidi Project, Pastor "Flip" Benham,
National Director of Operation Rescue, along with scores of others such as
yourself: you moms, little sisters, fathers and brothers, all of you who have a
testimony to give or a desire to speak for those whose lives have been taken by
an abortionist, the Womb Children, or to speak for those endangered children yet
waiting to be born.
Children who never had a voice, and given a funeral instead of a bassinet!
There have to be speakers out there who can share some information and shed some
light on how abortion has changed their lives!
Maybe it is you, Sir, who have a wife, sister, mother, or aunt who has had an
abortion, or a friend, whom you have helped turn around to the loving mercy one
gets from Our Heavenly Father, through repentance, and love for Jesus Christ,
His Only Son!
You, young man, whose girlfriend had an abortion that you didn't know about
until after the fact. Or you, whose wife had an abortion and doesn't speak of
it, then or now. Is there anyone out there who needs peace-of-mind through
forgiveness?
Look up into the heavens, as one old woman did, one hot Texas afternoon,
and say: "God, I was wrong, selfish, bold," thinking she had done the right
thing by getting involved in one of the most controversial issues of the
Twentieth Century, ABORTION, in a test case against the State of Texas, called
then, and to this day, Roe v. Wade!
She didn't mean any harm; she had been told that signing the affidavit would put
a stop to the rape and incest that was, and still is, running rampant.
She's been saved, Alleluia! Alleluia! Her turning to salvation came through the
child-like persistence of a little, seven-year old girl who wanted her to know
Jesus and didn't want her to go to hell. That's what little Emily saw: a grown
woman on the brink of destruction, a woman who had made a mistake and was paying
for it with further destruction: making appointments for others to kill their
own children. a woman who never did have an abortion, but was needing to undo
the awful thing she'd done by signing that affidavit.
And not only was she saved, in 1995, but went forward to become what she already
knew that she was, in spirit, a Catholic! She had been longing for the peace
which flows from a firm belief in God and in His divine Son, Jesus Christ, who
founded the Catholic Church. Through His church He gave us Himself in the Holy
Eucharist. Also He gave us His blessed Mother to be our spiritual mother. By
mothering Him, she played an exalted role in our Salvation.
There is hope for us all! We learn from listening to our parents and our
religious teachers, the Holy Scriptures, and the Holy Spirit. We do not carry
the burden of life alone; the good Lord is with us! And we are privileged to
share with those less fortunate than ourselves, by our prayers and by reaching
out to them in their need. our prolife efforts are a good example of that. We
love our neighbor as a means of returning to God the great love He has for us!
We walk with the Lord on the way of eternal life, a life of calmness and without
fear, a life of Love and of Life, a life with God in His Heavenly Realm. Think
upon that!
As we come to the close of the year I reflect back on the beginning of my walk
with Him. I am grateful for His understanding and graces by which He continues
to love and shelter me! During this summer, under the direction of Father Edward
Robinson, I undertook my studies, and was received into the Catholic Church on
August 17th. My classes, at the Dominican Priory, a sanctuary of faith and
knowledge, were enjoyable and filled with spiritual satisfaction. The homily
preached at my Reception Mass is included in this Newsletter. Thank you, Father
Robinson, and Father Frank!
To continue the Lord's work of giving life, we are all privileged and obligated
to witness our respect for human life and for God, the Author of all living
things. Especially we are pledged to uphold the right-to-life of our brothers
and sisters who are waiting to be born, and to save the dignity of their
parents.
Roe No More Ministry is in a unique position to assist you in your role as
prolifers. Because of a fascination on the part of many people to see and hear
the Roe of Roe v. Wade, our prolife issues are introduced and amplified
throughout the nation, often in places where we would not otherwise be welcomed,
such as in State universities.
Should you wish to assist in this work, your prayers will be most appreciated
and, if you are in a position to offer a small contribution toward the expenses
entailed in this work, your offering would be helpful also.
As a nation of considerable intelligence, we
learn (if we are lucky enough to have parents who care) by listening to our
parents and by listening to the Scriptures, the spirit of God, the Heavenly
Host, the One who knows all, sees all, hears all. And, despite our shortcomings,
He still grants us the privilege of living in a society where His name is
mentioned, in many cases, only in church, or between two believers, or simply
when we mess up and turn to Him for forgiveness and guidance, a show of faith,
the act of charity, and the grace of hope for all!
Come to the Lord, the way of eternal life, a life that is calmer, without fear,
with love and adoration, a Life that wants us to live, a life with God in His
Heavenly Realm!
Come and you will see the Light, the guiding Light of Salvation through Jesus
Christ, for now and forever more!
We have just celebrated Thanksgiving and now the Christmas holidays are here. We
all know that the end of this year is upon us. Everyone has miracles to be
thankful for: a father who has been sick, a mother who was worried for a friend
or a daughter or son or grandchild. So many of our concerns have been taken care
of. May the Holy Spirit continue helping us throughout the New Year!
With thanks for your encouragement, and wishing you and your family the choicest
of God's blessings for Christmas and the New Year, may I close this letter by
echoing that old, old story of Jesus and His love. I know of no better way to
bring any good thing to its proper end!
In His love,
Norma McCorvey
ABORTION (1973 - )
Father Robinson, O.P.
A red, red rosebud was unfolding
Within its bassinet of green.
In wonder, there I stood beholding,
As though the hand of God were seen.
The sunlight sparkled on its beauty,
Through a drop of dew upon its side.
But now it is the sadness of my duty
To tell you how the rosebud died.
A little boy came swinging,
With hockey stick in air,
And sent the rosebud flinging
Broken treasures everywhere!
The poor rosebud was a living flower,
About to share its blessings here,
Transplanted fresh from Heaven's bower,
With shiny dew-drop? Perhaps, a tear!
This sad, sad story is not saying
That all abortions show no care.
But I tell it as my way of praying
To save God's creatures anywhere.
Homily at Mass, for Miss Norma's reception into
the Church
Father Ed Robinson, O.P.
We are gathered here to celebrate a "milestone" in a "journey." Because it has
been a difficult journey, our joy is all the greater, since victory is more
glorious in proportion to the magnitude of the struggle to have attained in.
Each one of us is on the "journey of life" and each of our histories is unique
to oneself, yet they all have something in common: No one of us is journeying
alone! Miss Norma McCorvey would want me to make it clear that the victory we
celebrate today is not primarily her victory, but that of Our Savior, The Lord,
Jesus! And Miss Norma would immediately add to this a deep-felt note of thanks
to the human instruments which the good Lord used in accomplishing the victory.
She beautifully recounts their help in her autobiography, fittingly entitled:
Won by Love.
St. Paul tells us that "Grace builds on nature." In Miss Norma's
autobiography we see a modern counterpart to the well-known Confessions of
St. Augustine. In her early life, as in his, nature was not always
disciplined by the guidance of intellect and will, and evidently not by the
incorporation of God's grace. Harsh environmental circumstances were a very real
factor in starting and sustaining her waywardness but, as she sees it now, it
was the lack of the supernatural in her life which had clouded her thinking and
her choices.
Of course, God never intended that our nature be sufficient by itself. We see
that when He created our First Parents, in grace, as well as in nature. Along
with the other people who were caught up in the Now Generation, Miss Norma
became isolated in her present moment. We all know that when our external senses
are busy with material things, it is easy for us to become absorbed in the
present moment, and any consciousness of the past and future seems to escape us.
In her struggle for physical and emotional survival, Miss Norma was enticed into
the role of Jane Roe in the infamous Supreme Court's decision, Roe vs. Wade. She
lived that role for many years of her life, but it was never a source of
happiness to her. Finally she saw her complicity in the evil of that decision,
and became heartbroken over it. it was at that point that her human nature could
be prepared by the grace of God to change the course of her journey.
She had the courage to "see the light" and responded to it! To assist Him in
Miss Norma's conversion, God chose operation Rescue and its Director the Rev.
"Flip" Benham, Ronda Mackey and her two children, Emily and Chelsey, Pastor
Sheats her long-time friend, Miss Connie, Father Frank Pavone, and others from
among her friends and acquaintances. It was their unconditional love for Miss
Norma that had awakened her to the source of that love, her Lord and Savior,
Jesus Christ.
In response to His love and theirs, Miss Norma has pledged the remainder of her
life to making reparation for the publicly acknowledged misdeeds of her past.
She is now fully "pro-life'' and lives her life in witness to respect for human
life, and for God, the Author of all living things.
Today Miss Norma is completing the "twists and turns" of her life's journey. She
is adding to her "salvation history" the final stage of a conversion begun with
her baptism by Rev. "Flip'' Benham, three years ago, and further nourished by
the ministry of Pastor Sheats. Today, after having completed her studies of
Church Doctrine, Miss Norma is fully prepared to begin her life as a member of
the Catholic Church, beginning in this parish of St. Thomas Aquinas, Dallas,
Texas. Honoring her request to be received into the Catholic Church, her new
Pastor, Monsignor Bierschenk, now invites Miss Norma to profess her Faith in its
teachings and, on behalf of the Church, welcomes her into the full participation
of its Sacraments.
Now, the Profession of Faith
Then, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and Miss Norma's First Holy communion.
Then, thanksgiving: Te Deum Laudamus!
NOTE: It is Miss Norma's request that her reception is not to be a "media
event." She wishes only to be alone with Jesus, her Friends and her Church, on
this solemn occasion.