Sunday I took up the cause posted by my friend Fr. Finigan about swiftly gathering money and necessary things for a young woman in a “crisis pregnancy”. My post was here. I got on board because I know Fr. Finigan so well and I trust his judgment about what to support.
I have to say, WDTPRSers made me proud.
I pass this along from the person who was coordinating the effort to help the young woman. Edited and with my emphases:
Here is a little bit of info – you might want to share an update with the bloggers.
I must tell you that this young woman has been one of the most challenging situations I have ever dealt with! It is the most complicated, messy and difficult family situation.
The young girl was initially told by her family very directly that she had to have an abortion or she could not come home. Her mother rang up and booked the abortion for her.
Since then it has been an emotionally exhausting, continuous soap opera of months of trying to make things work for this girl. She has had a very tough time and through it despite the fact that everyone around her was against her she has shown tremendous courage and determination that she wanted to keep her baby.
But because her entire family was shunned she has been completely alone, financially the situation was impossible and no-one was on hand to come round and donate a spare pram or anything.
So on saturday she rang me and told me the baby was due in 5 days and she had absolutely nothing for when the baby arrived.
Due to the generosity of your bloggers and a few other benefactors who donated prams, cots etc we were able to kit her out with absolutely everything she needs for when the baby arrives (she is due tomorrow!) [OORAH!]
We had a thoroughly exhausting day- It took us all day and quite a few car trips to unload and reload to get everything in and I was worried that the young girl was going to go into labour in the middle of the baby shop because she was carrying two jumbo packs of nappies! At the end of the day her mother (grandmother of the baby) popped round – she has only just really accepted the idea that she has a grandchild but what was amazing was she was just so moved she just couldn’t stop hugging me. She kept saying “your heaven sent” (and this woman was a muslim!) It was an incredibly moving experience for them because everyone else has completely rejected them and they just couldn’t believe that people were this generous. [OORAH!] The young expectant mother walked me to the front door at the end and she turned to me and she said “you’ve made it possible for me to have my baby. Everyone told me it was impossible. But you’ve made it possible- it’s all thanks to you that I can keep my baby” Well I hugged her and quickly turned round as I began to cry.
This young lady has faced what seemed like an impossible situation on every level – Homeless, alone, rejected by everyone she loved, violence, financially unable to even support herself and no practical way forward. But the bloggers made it possible – because once you pave out a practical way forward ….once you put all the jigsaw pieces together and show them a lot of love….then it becomes not just possible but more than that….it’s actually quite incredible.
I must finish by telling you that I was losing a little bit of hope with this girl last week because I was just exhausted of all the family antics and I had to have some little words with Our Lady of Guadeloupe and entrust it to her. Well she responded on her kinda feast day which wasn’t a feast day because it was a sunday by absolutely blowing me away with some incredible people who were willing to reach into their pockets and do something very incredible.
Can’t tell you how moved I am with the generosity of your bloggers.
Your bloggers have made this baby’s first christmas an incredible one.
There it is, friends.
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Fr. Z.,
Thank you for this update! People have been storming heaven!
“Now Thank We All Our God . . . ”
Who knows what other miracles will come . . .
Again, thank you!
And this is how you end the day on a high note!
Thank you “Mother Mary”-you are our Mother of LIFE!
Thanks for the update, Father. Good to know that it really helps.
Great!
Today’s good news!
There are aspects of St. Blog’s which are frustrating. But it’s always tempered by hearing stories like this – which show the community at its best.
Congratulations to Fr. Finigan for making this happen – and gratitude to Our Lady for her intercession.
Thanks for this happy update!
I don’t understand. Of course I don’t know the situation in Great Britain, but if this young woman was completely without family and financial resources, are there really NO agencies, public or private, that would help her? I thought the UK had a huge welfare system. She was not entitled to a council flat? To free medical care and delivery? In nine months, there was no home for unwed mothers or charity for crisis pregnancies or anything that could or would help her in the entire country? Or was it that these things existed but for cultural reasons she did not avail herself? What about other charities — they could not or would not step forward to provide (or sell) a used crib and linens, diapers, used baby clothes, etc? I don’t mean to be insensitive but I don’t understand how this could be. In any case, of course I’m glad that it turned out so well.
This is a great result – and a reminder that if we truly wish to make the evil that is abortion a thing of the past we must work towards making this a world where no woman feels tempted or pressurised into seeing abortion as an option.
May God bless mother and child richly. I am surprised to learn that Muslims permit abortions.
Gail F,
People think that there are emergency welfare programs in Great Britain. There are not. When I “lost” my husband fifteen years ago, I was a stay-at-home mum. Because I had a mortgage and not rent, I could not get aid. Because I had not worked for so many years outside the home, I could not get aid. For awhile, my parish helped me, but then, as I could not find work, wanted to be around trad Catholics, and I still had a very young one at home, I came back to the United States. As to this woman, she was probably kicked out of her house, if she was a Muslim, as pregnancy outside of marriage is a serious crime in that community. She could have been killed. My guess is that there is an element of secrecy here about keeping her safe.
Once she has a permanent address, and is in a rented accommodation, she can apply for all sorts of things. The hospital bill is not the issue, but the daily needs, such as clothes, food, etc. are. There are very few aids for new babies and new moms if they are homeless.
All praise and thanks be to God and to our Blessed Mother, Mary! This is such good news! This is what being pro-life is all about. Thank you Fr. Z. for letting us in on this good work and thanks to Fr. Finigan and his partners accross the pond for the love they showed for this young woman and her baby.
Do let us know when the baby arrives, please?!
Subsidiarity in action leads to a happy ending of the beginning. Now the bigger question is, how will the story end? Will the young woman take the next sacrificial and loving step in regards to her baby’s welfare and future, and see to it, that the child ends up in a stable, loving, two parent household? Please keep us posted, Fr. Z. Merry Christmas.
This is an awesome situation. Thank you, Fr Z and Fr Finigan, for using the internet resources you had to carry out such a great work of mercy.
This is wonderful news!
Let us remember this young mother in our prayers as she moves forward in her new life.
There was a situation involving a distant relative of mine – very similar, but back in the 60’s when there was really a stigma attached with a pregnancy out of wedlock, unlike today. The girls father went to great lengths to try to bring about an abortion. My mother and father picked up the girl and took her in until she had the baby.
Some weeks later, my mother took the woman and her newborn for a visit to her father’s house, parking car down the street. As the walked in front of a row of houses, my mother told her to hold her head up high. After getting over his “humiliation” very quickly, once that grandpa laid eyes on his grandson, he embraced them both and brought them back home. He cherished that young man until the day he died.
I pray this family will look into the eyes of this baby and feel the unconditional love which comes from this baby and return it in kind.
Wonderful news!!! :) Deo Gratias!
Deo gratias!!
\\The young girl was initially told by her family very directly that she had to have an abortion or she could not come home.\\
What happened to her right to choose–in this case, choose LIFE?
Where are the pro-choice fans supporting her choice?
Best news of the year. Deo Gratias
Fr. Z,
I thank you and ask God to bless you many times over for being the emissary who invited us into this crisis. I don’t have words adequate to express how blessed I feel to have been able to help.
Pax et bonum,
Keith Töpfer
Thank you Fr. Z for letting us be a part of this.
It’s a great example of how a community (even a virtual one) can rise to the occasion.
And the comments above on ‘social services’ simply confirm what has always been my experience — sclerotic government bureaucracies simply cannot respond to anything but the “usual” case, which far too often leaves out those in real, crying need (and includes the usual complement of bludgers and frauds). Individuals joining together in faith (and led by sensible people like Fr. Finigan and Fr. Z who can gather the facts and assess the situation on the ground) are the fairest, nimblest, and most efficient way to get help to where it’s needed. Subsidiarity indeed.
As an adoptee myself, I have to second ChronicSinner’s comment above (in fact it is the first thing I thought too).
It’s a commendable (albeit should be expected) thing to HAVE the baby in such trying circumstances, but to have the baby then guarantee it a much greater chance of a life of hardship by not giving it to a stable two-parent home and KEEPING the baby is a supreme act of selfishness in itself. [“supreme act of selfishness”?]
This is such an inspirational story! Thank you so much for sharing it with us and bringing it to our attention.
Are donations still needed?
I, a 24 year-old male who loves sports and action movies, nearly choked up reading this. My God! what a story.
This child is Willed to be born. Deo gratias!
Abortion cannot be “just a choice.” White or wheat bread is a choice. Abortion, aside from the taking of innocent life, cannot be watered down to the term of “choice.” Stories like this one – of families dividing, of help nowhere to be found, of despair replacing hope – show that abortion is not a friendly “choice.”
Thank you, Father, for posting this. You’ve put things into perspective for all of us. When things get difficult, recall the story of an unborn child whose mother fought for his life.
Father, will you let us know of this baby’s birth?