Looking after orphans and widows in their distress

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress" James1:27

 


In addition to their regular vigil at Whitfield Street, The Good Counsel Network are now running an additional daily outreach at Mattock Lane in Ealing. Consequently the number of women they are helping to choose life for their unborn babies is greatly increased. The support that they are offering to women is vital and life changing. Their work is a real act of faith as they commit to supporting these women, trusting that God will supply all their needs.

Last year I met "Lina" a young Eastern European woman who had attended a debate on "Anti abortion protestors and freedom of speech" organised by BPAS at the Conway Hall in London. She had been in the audience hoping to contribute her own experience, but had felt daunted and hampered by her poor English, so in the end said nothing but listened with growing frustration to the clever arguments for "choice" which seemed insensible to the situation which women like herself find themselves in.

The baby which she had brought along with her was about 7 months old. She told me that when she had become pregnant her boyfriend had quickly abandoned her. Her employer then let her go and she was left with no means of paying her rent. She wasn't entitled to benefits in this country and while she would have been given an abortion on the NHS, if she went ahead with her pregnancy she would have had to pay for any obstetric care she recieved. She was literally faced with destitution unless she "chose" abortion.

She told me that she went for counselling at the Marie Stopes clinic in Whitfield Street and explained her situation. The counsellor listened and then bluntly asked her " So how are you going to support yourself and a baby?" She explained that she didn't want an abortion and felt that if she could just have some help to get through the next year that she would be able to manage.

The counsellor's response was simply to offer her an abortion. Feeling defeated and believing that she had nowhere else to turn, she made an appointment.

As she left the clinic she bumped into a counsellor from the Good Counsel Network who offered her a leaflet and said that they wanted to help her and her baby. She was amazed that right outside the door had been the help that she had been seeking all along. It would have been so easy for the Marie Stopes counsellor to say " we can't help you with your needs, but see that lady out there? she's standing there waiting to help women like you. Go talk to her and see what she can do for you" But of course that doesn't happen, because " that lady out there" is stealing Marie Stope's business. So much for "choice" from Marie Stopes.

With the help of the Good Counsel Network she continued with her pregnancy and when I met her was back on her feet.

We both became tearful when she told me that she looks at her baby every day and weeps to think how close she came to losing her.

Lina is just one of the many, many mothers supported by the Good Counsel Network. They are invisible to pro choicers who prefer to believe that every woman who crosses the threshold of an abortuary looking for help is fully exercising "choice".

These mothers and their unborn children are the "widows and orphans in their distress" that our culture turns away from. Instead we offer them death. And the crowning insult is that we call it "choice" and expect them to celebrate the privilege.

If you want to help the Good Counsel Network to offer them life, please read this email which I received today and consider what you can do to build a culture of life in our city.

 

 

Please come on Good Counsel’s Annual Wandsworth to Wapping Sponsored Walk.



We are in urgent need of raising funds. Yet again this year we have broken all previous records for the number of pregnant women, planning to have an abortion, that we have counselled. This number has been rapidly increasing every year for a few years now. This means that we have been graced with the opportunity to counsel more Mothers than ever before and with the help of God save a greatly increased number of innocent unborn lives. This is very happy news, but means that our finances are stretched further than ever before.



When we are counselling women in order to help them to choose life for their child we offer them all the emotional, practical and moral support which is necessary for them to have the confidence to continue with their pregnancy. The emotional and moral support can take up hours of our time but in general does not cost very much. The practical support is much harder, and can include accommodation/help with rent, direct financial help to provide essentials such as food and clothes, legal advice, travel assistance to get to doctors/midwives appointment etc. etc. This is a huge burden upon us but it is vital that we are able to continue to offer this to all of the pregnant Mothers we see.



To give you an example of the work we are doing, this very morning we have seen two couples who were both definite in their decision to have an abortion. Both of these couples have left having changed their mind completely... One of these couples was a young married couple from Hertfordshire. They have very little money, and have to live in a very small studio with no kitchen and a bathroom which is shared with the restaurant which is beneath their home. They hadn’t intended to have a baby yet and were really worried about the future. They also knew their current accommodation was was not at all suitable for a child. They met one of our counsellors who was able to show them God’s plan for this child and convince them that Abortion is not a good choice for their child and also for their own future. They then visited our centre where we were able to give them a safety net for when the baby is born in case they are not able to afford better accommodation or provide the basic necessities for their child. This safety net, which we have committed to, is what gave them the confidence to continue with their pregnancy, and they left happy in their choice to choose life for their baby. As she left she said “This morning I was going to kill my baby but now I really hope it is a girl, do you think God will think I am asking too much?”


As you can see it is vital that we can raise the funds necessary to continue to offer this “safety net”. Our next big fundraising effort is our Annual WANDSWORTH TO WAPPING SPONSORED WALK which is approx. 13 Miles long and is on Saturday July 20th (starting with Mass at 10am and finishing at approximately 4pm with drinks and refreshments) and we want to get as many people as possible to join us and raise sponsorship for our lifesaving work. For more details please see our website



For our Facebook event page click here



To let us know you want to come and to get your fundraising pack please reply to this email with your contact details and we will send a fundraising pack with all the important details to you and keep in touch between now and the big day.



Thank you in advance for your support.



God bless



Conor Carroll

Good Counsel Network

www.goodcounselnetwork.com

02077231740









 

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