Mary's Shelter December Newsletter

A Message from DAVID BEREIT, National Director, 40 Days for Life

"My family and I enthusiastically invest in the work of Mary's Shelter because we completely trust Kathleen Wilson and her leadership team - and because we see the tangible results of their work and know that our donations are directly helping mothers and saving babies in our hometown. The 40 Days for Life movement - saving children from abortion on the front lines outside abortion facilities across America and around the globe - depends on ministries like Mary's Shelter that come alongside women during their time of need, helping them throughout their pregnancy and after they give birth. I am proud to support the work of Mary's Shelter and encourage you to join me in supporting this great ministry as well."

A Letter of Testimony

from one of our biggest fans

"I wasn't always a Catholic. Baptized and confirmed Catholic as an adult, but never really a Catholic. That is a story for another day. I went to mass on Sundays and days of obligation, and confession every couple of months, but that is where it ended and I thought I was a pretty good Catholic. This went on for about 5 years, and then I "moved on" to other things. God was just someone I spoke to when I needed or wanted something, or was lonely, or unhappy.

Most of my adult life I felt that having an abortion was a woman's right to choose. Of course, I didn't think it should be used as a method of birth control, but that it was fine if it was rape, incest, or if the woman's life was in danger. Had the need ever arisen, I know I would not have hesitated to use abortion as a means to terminate a pregnancy. It truly never even crossed my mind that this was a human life with a soul.

A few years ago, I had a heart attack and nearly died. During my recovery,
I met the most amazing man. He was Catholic. A real, faithful Catholic. After about 4 months of dating him, I started to go to mass. I didn't receive communion, and didn't think I ever could again. I sat in the very back, and couldn't even go close to the altar. I was very uncomfortable as I knew that I wasn't worthy of God's love anymore, and knowing what I believed about abortion in particular, felt I couldn't even begin to pursue a relationship with Him.

One Sunday, we went to mass at St. Matthews in Spotsylvania. My new man "Joe" was going to be moving to this parish, and wanted to check it out. We sat in the back, as usual. I remember thinking that I liked this little church, and kept looking back and forth between the statues of Mary and Jesus and the crucifix. Right before mass started, the priest came up to Joe and asked if we would bring the gifts to the altar. Joe said yes. I panicked. I told him no, that I couldn't touch the bread or wine and couldn't go anywhere near the altar. He said that until the priest consecrated the gifts, they were just bread and wine and it would be fine. I was still very uncomfortable .

I was looking through the missal when a young woman came forward carrying a darling little baby that she introduced as Moses. She started thanking the people of St. Matthews for what they were doing to help these "Moms" whose families wouldn't support them when they chose Life over abortion. That because of "us" this little baby was alive and well and would live the life God intended for him. She repeated that without "us", he would have been another aborted life. I can't begin to describe what happened to me next. For the first time in my life, I realized that what I thought was okay to "terminate" was a human being. That if it had been up to me, little Moses would have been killed a long time ago and never been there with us on that Sunday morning. I began to cry and couldn't stop. All I could think of was little Moses being dead, and it being my fault. I sat there crying and begging for God's forgiveness.

It was almost impossible for me to compose myself enough to carry the gifts to the priest. He smiled at me and said "God Bless you guys". I could barely make it back to my seat without thinking that he wouldn't have said that if he had known what I had done.

I finally stopped crying, and knew immediately that I wanted to confess everything I had done for the last 15 years against God's laws and his commandments. I knew I wanted to be a faithful Catholic more than anything and experience God's love again. I also knew that I had some serious work to do starting with helping Mary's Shelter and all the babies born and unborn like Moses, and to pray for the souls of all the little ones that never had the chance to breathe the fresh air before their lives ended.

Joe and I were married, and are now active and happy members of St. Matthew's parish. I started working with and for pro-life groups to try and convince other people like me that life begins at conception and that it is then that God gives us our souls.

I never saw Moses again, or met his Mom, a woman who demonstrated God's love to me in a very profound way, but I know that somewhere out there is a little boy who brought me back to God, and played a large role in my journey to a new life. I thank God every day, for little Moses and that beautiful Sunday morning in Spotsylvania. "