What Priests Can Do To Stop Abortion

By Priests for life. Adapted to the UK by 40 days for life London

campaign team

www.priestsforlife.org www.40daysforlife.com/london

1) Offer Masses for Pro-life intentions. This can either be a "special

event" or a regularly scheduled Mass, the intention of which relates to
pro-life.

2) Establish a pro-life prayer group in the parish, dedicated specifically to prayers and

teachings on the value of human life.

3) Offer Pro-life holy hours, Rosaries, Scripture Services. Priests for Life provides

some devotional materials.

4) Promote the Be Not Afraid Family Holy Hours. Preach frequently on abortion, both with
entire homilies on the topic and by reference to it in other homilies.

6) Include mention of abortion in the General Intercessions at Mass.

7) Place inserts into the bulletin about pro-life. These can be full-page inserts that can be
given to the bulletin printing company in advance, or short (1-3 line) messages. These are
available from Priests for Life. You can order a free monthly pro-life insert for your bulletin,
which will be sent to you camera-ready.

8) Present pro-life topics in Bible Study, RCIA, meetings for school parents, marriage
preparation, instructions for sponsors, etc.

9) Invite pro-life speakers to make presentations at meetings which people are required to
attend, such as those for the parents of school or CCD children.

10) Have special educational evenings with speakers and/or videos.

11) Have a "Life Mission" with a guest speaker/workshops for several days.

12) Use the parish bookrack to make good pro-life literature and tapes available.

13) Use parish bulletin boards inside and outside the Church to convey a pro-life message.
Set up a permanent pro-life sign on the property.

14) Make pro-life resources (Precious Feet Pins, Stickers and Buttons, Pro-life Bank
cheques, etc.) available to parishioners. You can get order information from Priests for Life.

15) Sponsor a pro-life essay/poster contest among the children of the school and CCD
programs. Display winning posters in the school or in the Church vestibule, and print winning
essays in the bulletin.
16) Have readily available at all times
concrete information about alternatives to
abortion. Place one of more of these numbers
on the cover of your parish bulletin as a
standard item. Get this information to women
in need, to local doctors, and to the secular
press. Some of the national hotlines ready to
help women anywhere in the country are:

PREGNANCY HELP:

Good Counsel Network: 020 7723 1740

info@goodcounselnetwork.freeserve.co.uk
www.goodcounselnet.co.uk

Life Charity: 24 hour: 0800 915 4600, London: 02072401275

www.lifecharity.org.uk

City Pregnancy Counselling and Psychotherapy: 02076385440

www.citypregnancy.org.uk

HELP AFTER AN ABORTION:

Abortion Recovery Care and Helpline: 08456036501
www.archtrust.org.uk

Silent No More Recovery – 24 Hour

0141 226 5407
www.silentnomoreawareness.org
unitedkingdom@silentnomoreawareness.org

Abortion Recovery International

www.abortionrecovery.org

OTHER HELP:
Chastity Education for Schools and Natural Family Planning Training and Advice from FLI –
UK
02088579950
www.flionline.org

17) Have information available on post-abortion healing programs like Rachel’s Vineyard

(www.rachelsvineyard.org.uk, 0705904656).

18) Bring people out for a Peaceful prayer vigil on the street or at an abortion clinic.

19) Encourage a parish pro-life committee to form and grow. Give it constant

encouragement.

20) Commission the pro-life committee at a special liturgy. Priests for Life provides
a suggested prayer for such a commissioning.

21) Read good books and periodicals on the issue, consult with experts, and take advantage
of resources provided by the local diocesan pro-life office, the US Bishops' office for pro-life
activities, and Priests for Life.
22) Have a plaque or monument erected in memory of
the children in the community who died from abortion.
Have a school yearbook dedicated to those killed by
abortion.

23) Establish some sort of memorial to mothers who

have been killed by their abortion. A list of the names of
some of these women is available either in printout or
poster form. Contact Priests for Life for information.

24) Call for special parish days of voluntary prayer and

fasting to end abortion.

25) Establish a parish pro-life newsletter for the parish or community.

26) Participate as a parish in the National Night of Prayer, held each December to pray for
an increased respect for life.

27) Take part in The Gabriel Project, a pastoral programme whereby the local parish directly
assists pregnant mothers. Contact Priests for Life for more information.

PRO-LIFE ACTION ITEMS BY SEVERAL PRIESTS 

1) Review the current pro-life programmes of the diocese and discuss ways to foster them.

2) Plan regular pro-life holy hours and/or masses to be held in a different parish each time,
and promote each one in all the parishes of a given area.

3) Have an annual deanery/vicariate/diocesan pro-life Mass, with all the pro-life groups of
the area represented. Pro-lifers can have a chance to socialise with each other after the
Mass.

4) Plan educational evenings with a pro-life speaker. Draw on the population of a group of
parishes, vigorously promoting it in each one. Then, at the meeting, have key pro-life leaders
from each parish share what they learned in their own parish. A video of the talk can be
made and duplicated for the parishes. Similarly, audio taped or written summaries for the
bulletin can carry the message to those who did not attend.

5) Have an area-wide collection of baby and maternity items to assist a local crisis
pregnancy centre. Use this project as an opportunity to spread the word through Christian
and secular channels that alternatives to abortion are available to the local community. Make
sure every priest in your area has the phone number of the local crisis pregnancy
centre handy.

6) Have a procession, with participation from many parishes. Consult the Priests for Life
manual, "Our Media is the Streets."

7) Arrange pro-life lunch to encourage more clergy to be active in the pro-life movement and
to have local pro-life groups explain their activities.

8) Issue a joint statement on pro-life concerns to the local secular press. Such a statement
from a body of priests shows unity in the Church and encourages the laity.
9) Combine local resources to pay for an advert
carrying a pro-life message and a phone number for
local alternatives to abortion. A newspaper advert
can also reach women in need.

10) Speak with one voice to the local community by

deciding to publish certain items jointly in the parish
bulletin at various times.

11) Erect a local monument to the babies who have

died from abortion. This serves to remind the public that abortion takes real human lives, and
also assists mothers to grieve for their lost children.

12) Celebrate regional memorial Masses for the unborn, and Masses for hope and healing
for women who have lost their child through abortion or in other ways. Special opportunities
for penance can also be provided.

13) Have discussions among the clergy about homily ideas on pro-life concerns.

14) Arrange for pro-life retreats and days of recollection for both clergy and laity.

15) In individual parishes or jointly, sponsor the Rosary for Life. Have parishioners commit to
pray the full rosary once a week for an end to abortion.

16) In individual parishes or jointly, sponsor the Spiritual Adoption of Mother and Baby. In
this program, parishioners promise to pray every day for nine months for a mother and her
pre-born baby. Each month an update of the preborn baby's development can be given in
the bulletin. At the end of the nine months, a baby shower can be sponsored.

17) Enlist the prayers and sufferings of the sick, the elderly, and the homebound. There is no
such thing as a purely passive member of the Body of Christ or of the pro-life movement!

18) Produce a local TV programme on a pro-life theme.

For more information or to send us your own ideas, please contact:  Fr. Frank A. Pavone,
National Director, Priests for Life

Website: www.priestsforlife.org

or contact the 40 days for life London campaign team:

website: www.40daysforlife.com/london

40daysforlifelondon@gmail.com

07947698195