Besides the regular work of helping women in need that is created by counseling and praying outside of abortion sites each day, the upcoming weekends will be extra busy. For as soon as I come back from the World Prayer Conference for Life, which is co-sponsored by the Helpers, in Fatima, Portugal, October 4th to 10th and the excursus with the Helpers in Germany from October 11th to the 16th, the schedule at home remains full. Pray that the referendum on the November Voting Ballot to legalize abortion in Portugal will be rejected by the people. On the weekend of  October 20th, I will be going  to the Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio, at the invitation of Michael Riordan, the President of  the  Students Right to Life organization, to lead the students in a Helpers Prayer Vigil in Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania on October 21st. Libby Reichert, Carrie Barden and Theresa Costello who stayed at the Monastery this Summer for four days of training must have given  a  positive report to Michael.  Therese Dorobeck of Aquinas College of Nashville, Tennessee, has  invited me on November 4th to lead them in a Helpers Prayer Vigil. The students from Catholic University of America in D. C. and the students from Christendom College will be coming to the Monastery for pro-life training and take part in the Saturday October 28th  Prayer Vigil to be led by Bishop Daily. The students from Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, whom I led in a Helpers Prayer Vigil over a year ago, have been conducting their monthly Vigils to the present time.

     
     On November 10th,  I  will be leading a Prayer Vigil in Orlando, Florida, organized by Beth Burwell  and director of the Respect Life Office for the Orlando Diocese, Deborah Shearer; and on  the 12th and 13th of November, I will be leading a Helpers Prayer Vigil with the Helpers in Fort Myers, Naples and Sarasota, Florida. On the weekend of November 18th, Bishop Daily will be leading our Vigil to Choices, from St. Patrick Church. Keep in your prayers, Chris  Bjerke and the other Helpers in Miami, who are persevering  in spite of some unpleasant opposition. I will be grateful to see November 23rd, Thanksgiving Day, arrive, when finally there is a weekday of reprieve from the killing of the innocent children.

     
     On September 8th, the Birthday of the Mother of God, I spoke at St. Thomas University in Houston Texas about the Helpers. The next day the  students from the College joined the adults and Archbishop Daniel DiNardo in the Helpers Vigil for Life. It was organized by Dr. Marcella Colbert, the Director of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, Respect Life Office and Vicky Whynott, the Coordinator who has recently replaced Christine Melchor who for many years organized the Helpers’ Vigils. The Church was just about full in spite of the rain.  It continued to rain, as practically all who were in the Church prayed outside the huge Planned  Parenthood abortion mill.  I reminded the people that God reigns over this Apostolate, indeed, sometimes He even hails and snows. Thanks be to God, the America’s Women  abortion clinic closed the Tuesday following  the last Helpers Prayer Vigil at that site. The Houston’s Helpers next vigil is on October 21st, from Annunciation Church, starting with an 8:00 a.m. Mass.

     
     Besides Eva Cerovska from Slovakia and her daughters Petra and Adriana, David Nix from Colorado and Judy and Bob Minahan from Fort Myers, Florida, we have had students from more that a dozen Colleges here at different times during this past summer. The active involvement of so many young adults in the area of life, I believe, is in no small measure, the result of the seeds of life sown by the late John Paul II at his many Worth Youth Days.  A Second Spring is taking place in the pro-life movement.  Indeed there is hope for the flowers.

     
     As you know the ultimate goal of the Helpers is conversion of heart by bringing the light of Christ to those in the darkness of the Culture of Death. Thus it was with joy that on June 17th that Bishop Daily after Mass in Holy Innocents Parish, Brooklyn, led the Helpers in a Vigil of Thanksgiving outside Parkway Clinic in Boro Park, where the at times abortionist is once again a full time doctor. On September 16th Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio was the main celebrant at the Helpers Mass at St. Joan of Arc Church in Jackson Heigths. After Mass, the Vicar, Father Sean Ogle,  led us in  prayer at two different abortion sites. In Jackson Heights between 104th Street and 70th Street, there are 10 abortion mills aimed at killing Spanish babies. Joining us on this vigil was Barbara Spencer, a convert from Judaism to Catholicism, who lived in Canada but is now running a kitchen for the poor in La Paz, Mexico. She spent four days at the Monastery learning about the Helpers Apostolate, which she is going to start in Mexico. God’s way are often a total surprise to us!

     
     May God have mercy on the people running the El Diario Spanish Newspaper for weekly publishing their existence and addresses.  If an enemy had done this I would understand, but not a paper that is supposed to be serving the needs of the Spanish people. What are they thinking?  No other major papers in the city advertise the abortion providers. You can also include in your prayers for God’s Mercy, all the people working for the Yellow Pages, who print ads practically glorifying abortion and misleading the women in crisis pregnancies to have the “procedure” done; which not only destroys the unborn child but causes years of sorrow for so many mothers. They too are in need of conversion, for there is no way God can bless them for helping to destroy His precious infants and hurting emotionally and spiritually their mothers.

     
     Gretchen Moylan, the Director of the Helpers in Omaha, Nebraska, recently informed me that on September 16th, Archbishop Elden Curtis of the Omaha Nebraska Archdiocese, following the 8:00 a.m. Mass at St. Mary’s Catholic Church, led more than 500 men, women and children in a prayerful procession, praying the Rosary and singing hymns, on their way to the infamous Leroy Carhart abortion center, which was involved in the disgraceful Partial Birth Abortion Decision of the U.S. Supreme Court. The Vigil closed with Benediction at St. Mary’s. Gretchen gave me the further encouraging news that 18 of the major seminarians, each from a different diocese throughout the U.S., who attended the Summer Institute for Priestly Formation in Omaha, prayed with the Helpers outside of the Bellevue abortion mill every Saturday during the summer. One of the seminarians was Thomas Vassalotti, from the Diocese of Brooklyn.

     
     Recently we had a wonderful Sunday afternoon get together of more than seventy-five Helpers here at the Monastery. The young college activists, pro-life students of the Missionaries of the Eucharist, joined us. During the Summer, under the leadership of Patrick Yungwirth, they walked from Maine to Washington D.C., stopping and praying outside of abortion clinics along the way. It was good to see a number of  young people from Jovenes de Valor (Young People of Courage) at the last Vigil. Recently, at the invitation of Kairy Marquez, I spoke to the young people about life and the Helpers Vigils.

     
     Fathers McFadden and Welsh, together with John Stanton and Gene Krueger, continue to organize the Helpers Vigils in  Philadelphia, PA.  On October 21st, after the 7:00 a.m. Mass at St. John the Evangelist Church, Cardinal Justin Rigali will be leading the Rosary Procession to Planned Parenthood. On October 28th, in Harrisburg, PA, Capuchin Father Kevin Thompson will be leading the Vigil from St. Francis of Assisi Church.

    On September 16th, the Helpers in Cincinnati celebrated their tenth anniversary of Helpers Vigils. Congratulations and God’s blessing upon Dean Weber and all the members of the Board of Directors of the Cincinnati, Ohio, Helpers  and on that extraordinary pro-lifer, Robert C. Cetrulo, as well as a very special priest, Fr. James Kelleher and all the good Bishops and  priests and dedicated religious and lay  people who have participated in the Vigils for the  past ten years. Your example captured on our video  has been used all over the world.

    In Detroit, Michigan, under the humble dedicated leadership of Dan Goodnow, Bishop Walter Scoenherr led the Vigil on June 24th and Monsignor Zenz led the Vigil on September 23rd.

     
     Mother Agnes and Sister Kathleen, of the Sisters of Life, located here in NYC, were recently in Australia. In Sydney they met the wonderful pro-lifers, Paul Hanrahan and Gail Instance, who first invited me to Australia ten years ago. In Melbourne they met wonderful pro-life families like the Forster, Grant and O’Brien families. Paul asked me to come again to Australia. The next World Youth Day with the Pope is in Sydney. Maybe we could plan a pro-life Vigil for the young people, as we did in Duselldorf, Germany. 

     I just received from Sally Hall of Cape Town, South Africa , a twelve minute DVD using footage from the first Helpers Vigil in Cape Town. It is excellent. They give it to priests who are  going to lead the  monthly Large Prayer Vigil.

     
   My gracious friends from the Helpers of God's Precious Infants, Vienna Austria,  were kind enough to record several of the talks I delivered at the World Prayer Conference for Life, at Fatima, Portugal, earlier this month. I've posted three of them here for your edification. Just click on any talk below:

         Thursday, October 5, 2006     "Humanae Vitae, Donum Vitae"    
       
         Thursday, October 5, 2006     "Evangelium Vitae"      
         
          Friday,  October 6, 2006         "Golgotha Today - Standing with                                                                                Mary and John at the Foot of the Cross"

   If you have a dialup connection and are having difficulty listening to the talk, or if you would simply like to save the talk to your hard disk, right click on the talk. In the drop down menu click "Save Target As...". You will then be prompted to choose a download directory. Once the file is saved, simply
double-click on the file name to open it in your default media player.

   Printable Version of Talks:  Click on talk to view or print complete text. (.pdf format)  

          Thursday, October 5, 2006     "Humanae Vitae, Donum Vitae"       

     
    Recently, Barbara McGuigan of  EWTN’s Open Line Global Radio interviewed me for an hour on the Helpers Apostolate. It was pre-recorded, so you may still have time to listen to it. 

     Emily Faugno, a retired pharmacist, has been our faithful Saturday sidewalk counselor for the  past 16 years outside of Choices abortion mill. Margaret Driscoll, a lawyer, has been her partner for many years. God has used them as his instrument to save countless precious infants. In the book, ”Dance in the Rain”, published by Paulist Press, Emily and Margaret tell about their experiences and reflections outside the abortion ‘clinic’. Margaret has now opened the Driscoll Law Office in Syracuse, N.Y., where she specializes in Abortion Medical Malpractice suits. Not too long ago, I received a letter from Emily, who has for years taken care of her beloved sick husband and is herself not as young as she used to be. May I close by sharing with you her letter to me:

                                                                                                      Love,  
                                                                                                                   Emily