Walking the walk

In an effort to help single mothers and those in crisis pregnancy situations get the help they need to care for their children, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has promoted a new initiative, Walking with Moms in Need, which encourages expanded community outreach and advocacy spearheaded by local Catholic parishes across the nation.
 
The emerging program, initially launched in early 2020, was hampered in its implementation by the Covid-19 pandemic and gained little momentum until the nation began to return to normalcy. But it began to take off in 2022, particularly in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision last June in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that overturned Roe v. Wade, the court’s 1973 decision that had legalized abortion.
 
Through the WWMIN program, parishes and communities are invited to “walk in the shoes” of young mothers in difficult circumstances, support local pregnancy centers, and share other resources to help pregnant and parenting women.
 
WWMIN has already begun to bring about positive results and is fostering hopes for many more good things to come, coordinators say.

AUGMENTING EXISTING EFFORTS

Cathy Schneider is respect life coordinator at St. Brigid Parish in Johns Creek, GA, an Atlanta suburb. The dynamic group prays in front of an abortion clinic three times weekly and invites women who are contemplating abortion to speak with them about alternatives. Women may be offered basic baby supplies or more substantial help including furniture, housing, and vehicles. In 2021, for example, St. Brigid paid $20,000 to help mothers with rent assistance.

WWMIN augments these efforts. Using materials supplied by the archdiocese, parish volunteers now advertise their efforts with signage on the parish grounds and flyers distributed at apartment complexes. They have also received some funds for baby items.
 
Schneider said St. Brigid has assisted some women who had no support from their families and has responded to fathers of needy or unborn children who saw WWMIN advertising that led them to the parish seeking crucial emotional support. “It is our role to be a beacon of hope,” she said.

Up north in Wisconsin, volunteers from 40 percent of parishes in the Diocese of Madison have undergone WWMIN training. “We’re linking with as many other resources in our community as we can,” said Susanna Herro, volunteer coordinator for the program.

“One parish secretary we spoke to said, ‘We don’t have volunteers,’” Herro recalled, “so she volunteered to train herself.”

The idea of “walking with moms” in crisis pregnancies, she said, “is much more valuable than just saying, ‘here’s a check.’” The program also extends care far beyond pregnancy, however.
 
“For some that may be as early as helping a mom coping with an unintended pregnancy. For others, it may be offering assistance during early childhood years” or even through a child’s teen years, Herro explained. “Our Catholic Church recognizes that care for single mothers must be more than a few months of help. Rather, we can be a community for families who need one.”

SAFE PLACE FOR MOMS AND BABIES

Kathleen Wilson has worked in the pro-life ministry of the Archdiocese of Detroit for the past 10 years. She is coordinator of pro-life ministry and Project Rachel, a program that offers healing to women who have had abortions.
 
“WWMIN provides both a means for us to share the good news of what the Catholic Church has been and will continue to do, to support both mother and child before and after birth,” said Wilson, “as well as to increase our efforts to double down and work together to build a network of resources so that every parent knows there are real alternative life-giving choices to abortion.”

She said the archdiocese was discouraged that Proposition 3, which made a right to abortion part of the Michigan state constitution, was approved by voters in November, but since the election her office had received 60 inquiries from parishes seeking to become involved with WWMIN, joining the 80 already involved in the program.
 
The archdiocese’s goal, Wilson said, was to make each parish “a place where moms and their babies are welcomed and supported, and where the dignity of every human life is upheld and valued.”

Saint Patrick Parish in Brighton, MI, in the neighboring Diocese of Lansing, has begun to incorporate WWMIN into its pro-life efforts, reported parishioner Sarah Hinzman. One of St. Patrick’s key pro-life initiatives is called Embrace Grace. Through Embrace, pregnant moms enter a 13-week Bible study intended to “plant a seed about God and let them know the Church is there for them.” Two women enrolled in the program through St. Patrick’s completed the program in 2022 and received a baby shower with many needed items for their children.
 
Hinzman and other volunteers have begun advertising WWMIN in the community and using its resources to supplement their efforts. Part of the effort is to solicit donations of goods and services from local businesses to aid women in Embrace; a local body shop, for example, has offered to donate some car repair services, and a Knights of Columbus council is offering handyman services free of charge.
 
“We’re brainstorming ways on how get out more into the community and be more successful,” she said.

A TIME TO WALK

Back at St. Brigid Parish in Johns Creek, GA, Cathy Schneider noted that in the months since the Dobbs decision was announced and some states began passing more restrictive anti-abortion law, tens of thousands of babies have been saved from abortion. Working on the front lines of the abortion fight, she has noted that many women are relieved that changes in the law necessitate their finding alternatives to abortion, and others tell her they would not have had abortions in years past if such laws had been in place.
 
“Laws don’t dictate morality, but, in fact, do shape it,” Schneider said. And now that more women are giving life to their babies, “We need Walking with Moms in Need more than ever.”

JIM GRAVES is a contributing writer for Legatus magazine.