News from St John's Pro-Life Group

As ever it's been quite a task to coordinate our diaries - mainly because most of the members of our Group are taken up with "pro-life in action", i.e. family life with all its often last-minute demands!  Praise God for it.  However on Monday of this week four of the Group - Katherine, Chris, Niki and Anneli - did manage to meet up for a somewhat overdue St John's Pro Life Group meeting in the church hall, with apologies from other members.  Here follows a brief rundown of our plans and discussions.

Same-sex "marriage"

For obvious reasons this has been high on our Group agenda lately.  Before the Commons vote some members of the parish had attended a very informative meeting held at our church hall by SPUC with the aim of equipping priests and lay people to campaign effectively against the same-sex marriage bill (see previous post here). It was a great day and we got loads of useful material.  Just one quibble though: understandably the meetings (held by SPUC at various locations through the country) were arranged rather hastily, but communication from SPUC HQ was a tad random, with for example Stella getting a personal 'phone call in advance of the day and Katherine (our group Chair) only finding out via a last-minute letter meaning she didn't have time to make the necessary arrangements to attend.  Hmm... The pro-same-sex marriage campaigners are very well-organised in their publicity and lobbying efforts.  We need to be, too.  But in any case, many many thanks to SPUC for an extremely helpful and heartening meeting.

Our discussions on Monday night ranged from the fact that, whilst carried and without as many abstentions as we might have hoped, the Bill was by no means a landslide victory with a significant vocal minority in the House ready to defend traditional marriage (we await the Lords debate with interest) to our MP's dismissive reply to a letter sent by Anneli and Edek on the topic recently (most of our points were simply ignored) and the widespread vitriol and vituperation exhibited by supporters of same-sex marriage to those opposing it.  If it is not permissible (and it certainly isn't) to bully gay people, why is it acceptable to send death threats to those who advocate keeping the meaning of marriage as it is or to bully their children in the playground? Does freedom of conscience only apply to the "in crowd"?

But I rant, exactly the behaviour I'm complaining about!  Pausing only to reflect, as we did on Monday, that the vehemence displayed by some supporters of same-sex marriage may be indicative of a superficial view of "individual rights" resulting from a lack of cognisance of the wider issues involved - and that doubtless some supporters of traditional marriage haven't been minding their manners either - we'll move on!

40 Days for Life

Katherine and Chris supported this campaign last time round and plan to go up again on Sunday 3 March where we have booked a slot to pray quietly and peacefully in front of the BPAS centre.  They will be joined by Anneli and any other St John's parishioners who would like to come.  Meet us at the 9am Mass at St John's or at Horsham Station where we will be catching the 10.30am London train.  If you aren't able to make it, please consider saying a daily Memorare for the Campaign during Lent:

Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help or sought thy intercession was left unaided.  Inspired by this confidence, I fly unto thee, O virgin of virgins, my mother.  To thee I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful.  O mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petition, but in thy mercy hear and answer me.  Amen.

Pro-Life Mass and All Night Vigil

Some of the most beautiful events held in our parish have been pro-life Masses followed by all night vigils before the Blessed Sacrament.  With our parish priest's permission we are hoping it will be possible to celebrate another in March. We've done this now (two? three?) times with the inclusion of all the mysteries of the Rosary, said for pro-life intentions, during the night.  The idea is that people sign up in advance for an hour's prayer slot, with two people at the minimum being required during each slot for the practical purposes of safety - but we've always managed at least that!

Sometimes it does seem that there's so little we can do.  The prevailing ethics of modern society can feel like a huge black Goliath of a supertank growing ever bigger as it guns and speeds onwards, with pro-lifers a small, small band of Davids standing knock-kneed before it clutching our slings and stones.  (Possibly I have been spending too much time watching my offspring play X Box games.)  There's something bigger and more powerful than the Goliath supertank though and that's prayer.  Every time we gather quietly to bring pro-life intentions before our Saviour, we raise up new strength and inspiration for ourselves and new power for the spiritual battle.  That all sounds rather "violent" but in fact we are fighting for hearts - the heart of our society, the hearts of humankind, the beating hearts of the unborn, vulnerable and elderly.

Other stuff

We aim to produce a pro-life newsletter approximately quarterly which is distributed to all parishioners at Mass and hopefully we will be able to release another one to coincide with the Vigil, trying to explain why we are opposing the same-sex marriage Bill and reporting on our trip to London.  We also aim to have another post-Mass Cake Sale (big respect to our Cake Team of Amanda, Demelza and Chris who know how to hold a cake stall like no-one else does) - I suppose we'll have to wait until after Lent for that one though!  After the Sale we will be making a donation to a local charity, as yet TBD.  We passed a resolution some time back that we would aim to support a different local charity each year through fundraising; last year Aila's Fund was grateful to benefit.

We're happy to report that all is well with the Memorial to the Unborn Child in Hill's Farm Cemetery, so lovingly restored and planted by Stella and her daughter Bekah, and would like to thank the staff at the cemetery for the kindly eye they are keeping on it so that it remains safe and beautiful.

That just about concluded proceedings, though in a rare burst of efficiency we managed to put a date in the diary for our next meeting in April!  A  big vote of thanks to our amazing Chair, Katherine, who manages to keep the Group alive and active despite having a thousand other calls on her time.  If anyone reading this would like to get involved, please do contact her via this blog.

Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us.

Thank you thank you thank you!

Thanks to all you angelic people who helped out!

Having been away for the weekend, I've returned to the fantatastic news that the Pro Life Group cake sale this morning raised a wonderful £510 for Aila's Fund!  Thank you SO MUCH to everyone who baked (or made cards or marmalade), everyone who helped sell, everyone who bought.  It's a really amazing start to our fundraising efforts and Aila was blown away by everyone's generosity.

Thank you and God bless.

Updates on the Fund: our Diamond Jubilee Concert is now confirmed for Friday 1 June, 7.30pm in St John's RC Church, Horsham... do put the date in your diary if you can.  News is soon to follow on how you can sponsor a friend and parishioner who will be cycling from London to John O'Groats in June.

Meetings, MPs and Missals

Attendance goal for our next meeting

Last night saw the St John's Pro Life Group, or more accurately a remnant thereof, getting together for one of our regular meetings.  Unfortunately half term and illness had between them spirited away several members: we offer ongoing prayers for Chris and Stella that they may soon be restored to wholeness and health.  The remaining three of us gathered upstairs in the church hall and, with the assistance of Our Lady, prepared to fight the good spiritual fight.  Whilst it would of course be wonderful to see large numbers gathered together in the pro-life cause, there's something paradoxically encouraging about being one of just a few getting together and entrusting ourselves to the Lord.  I suppose because it reminds us that we can only achieve anything in God's strength - the only way we are doomed to failure is if we rely on our own puny efforts alone - and that for Him, "all things are possible".

Fighting the good fight last night mostly involved wielding flowers and cakes.  Some years ago a local SPUC group, sadly no longer in existence, established a "Memorial to the Unborn Child" in our local cemetery (Hills Farm).  Over the years people have been visiting to remember their children lost before birth for any reason, be it miscarriage or abortion, as evidenced by the touching mementoes often to be found there; but without regular maintenance the site was looking a little bit sad and run-down.  As someone involved in the original fundraising and setting-up of the Memorial, I was delighted when the new Pro Life Group enthusiastically took it up as a project and already Stella and her daughter Becca have worked wonders digging the ground and tidying the site.  Becca plans to visit soon to nourish the ground with some horse manure (might keep a distance during that period) and then at the end of March we should be able to get planting, in order to surround the Memorial with all-year colour and provide both a fitting remembrance for these little ones, and a beautiful, peaceful place for their parents to sit and hold them in their hearts.

Sometimes the weapons of spiritual warfare look like this

Our cake and home-made cards sale goes ahead this Sunday after 9am Mass in St John the Evangelist Church hall (3 Springfield Road, Horsham; do visit if you're anywhere near and buy yourself a pre-Lenten treat!).  Again, I am really grateful to the group who are donating all proceeds from the sale to Aila's Fund.

Two of us had received replies from our MP, Francis Maude, in response to our letters about assisted dying (see this earlier post) for which we thank him.  The letters, whilst avoiding overt personal commitment to specifics, read very encouragingly, particularly a sentence which commented "I am concerned that leniency towards those assisting in euthanasia will send us further down the slippery slope to legalising euthanasia itself".  Our Group had not itself offered any view about how either doctors or relatives assisting patients to die under our present laws should be dealt with, but we were delighted with this implication that Mr Maude is not in favour of legalised euthanasia (for so the sentence would seem to read).  We were also happy to read Mr Maude confirming his belief that "human life is intrinsically valuable" and that "terminally ill patients should receive the highest quality palliative support and that those patients, and their families, should be certain that their end-of-life care will meet all of their needs".  It follows, of course, that adequate resources and energy need to be expended towards providing that support and not diverted towards assisted dying...

A heartening evening.  In meetings like this, there is a sense of fellowship in shared goals and efforts that gives one courage to continue.

A beautiful Missal for a beautiful Mass

OK, the following isn't strictly speaking "pro-life", but I'm so thrilled that I have to mention it. My evening was completely made after the meeting when Katherine produced a 1953 Catholic Missal that she had found on eBay saying "Saw this and thought of you".  She knew that my husband Edek and I are trying to attend Extraordinary Form Masses twice a month as we are privileged enough to have several regular EF Masses within reach.  It contains (in English) all the prayers and readings for every Sunday of the Year (traditional calendar, obviously) and Holy Days of Obligation, set out in full for each Sunday so that one doesn't need to go backwards and forwards.  It's got a gorgeous embossed leather cover, gilt edged pages and is full of sumptuous colour pictures... I love old books anyway and what can be better than an old book that is also holy and useful?!  (Sadly it doesn't show off properly in this photo taken on my mobile.  My mobile... let's not go there...) Thanks Katherine!

Note to Demelza (also there last night):- I am not trying to flaunt my gift before you, please remember that you were offered a fab Ipsos Mori biro that is bound to be a collector's item in 100 years.  When that happens look back and remember that you were given the chance of ownership.  Note to blog readers:- Demelza makes AMAZING cakes and she is making LOADS of them for Sunday's sale!