Newsletter - December 1998
It has been a year since our last newsletter, and many things have happened during this short year. As many of you know by now, I have left Operation Rescue and have been conducting my own ministry. The name is: Roe No More Ministry, the birth-thought of Gary Thomas, my co-author of "Won By Love.
We are a speakers' referral ministry. I have been the only speaker available until now. Soon we hope to enlist other speakers, such as: Father Edward Robinson, O.P., Prolife Coordinator for the Diocese of Dallas, Father Frank Pavone, the International Director of Priests' For Life, Dr Bernard Nathanson, Joseph Sheidler, Carol Everett, of the Heidi Project, Pastor "Flip" Benham, National Director of Operation Rescue, along with scores of others such as yourself: you moms, little sisters, fathers and brothers, all of you who have a .estimony to give or a desire to speak for those whose lives have been taken by an abortionist, the Womb Children, or to speak for those endangered children yet waiting to be born.
Children who never had a voice, and given a funeral instead of a bassinet!
There have to be speakers out there who can share some information and shed some light on how abortion has changed their lives!
Maybe it is you, Sir, who have a wife, sister, mother, or aunt who has had an abortion, or a friend, whom you have helped turn around to the loving mercy one gets from Our Heavenly Father, through repentance, and love for Jesus Christ, His Only Son!
You, young man, whose girlfriend had an abortion that you didn't know about until after the fact. Or you, whose wife had an abortion and doesn't speak of it, then or now. Is there anyone out there who needs peace-of-mind through forgiveness_
Look up into the heavens, as one old woman did, one hot Texas afternoon, and say: "God, I was wrong, selfish, bold," thinking she had done the right thing by getting involved in one of the most controversial issues of the Twentieth Century, ABORTION, in a test case against the State of Texas, called then, and to this day, Roe v. Wade!
She didn't mean any harm; she had been told that signing the affidavit would put a stop to the rape and incest that was, and still is, running rampent.
She's been saved, Alleluia! Alleluia! Her turning to salvation came through the child-like persistence of a little, seven-year old girl who wanted her to know Jesus and didn't want her to go to hell. That's what little Emily saw: a grown woman on the brink of destruction, a woman who had made a mistake and was paying for it with further destruction: making appointments for others to kill their own children, a woman who never did have anabortion, but was needing to undo the awful thing she'd done by signing that affidavit.
And not only was she saved, in 1995, but went forward to become what she already knew that she was, in spirit, a Catholic! She had been longing for the peace which flows from a firm belief in God and in His divine Son, Jesus Christ, who founded the Catholic Church. Through His church He gave us Himself in the Holy Euchrist. Also He gave us His blessed Mother to be our spiritual mother. By mothering Him, she played an exalted role in our Salvation.
There is hope for us all! We learn from listening to our parents and our religious teachers, the Holy Scriptures, and the Holy Spirit. We do not carry the burden of life alone; the good Lord is with us! And we are privileged to share with those less fortunate than ourselves, by our prayers and by reaching out to them in their need. Our prolife efforts are a good example of that. We love our neighbor as a means of returning to God the great love He has for us!
wWof Love and of Life, a life with God in His Heavenly Realm. Think upon that!
As we come to the close of the year I reflect back on the beginning of my walk with Him. I am grateful for His understanding and graces by which He continues to love and shelter me! During this summer, under the direction of Father Edward Robinson, I undertook my studies, and was received into the Catholic Church on August 17th. My classes, at the Dominican Priory, a sanctuary of faith and knowledge, were enjoyable and filled with spiritual satisfaction. The homily preached at my Reception Mass is included in this Newsletter. Thank you, Father Robinson, and Father Frank!
To continue the Lord's work of giving life, we are all privileged and obligated to witness our respect for human life and for God, the Author of all living things. Especially we are pledged to uphold the right-to-life of our brothers and sisters who are waiting to be born, and to save the dignity of their parents.
Roe No More Ministry is in a unique position to assist you in your role as prolifers. Because of a fascination on the part of many people to see and hear the Roe of Roe v. Wade, our prolife issues are introduced and amplified throughout the nation, often in places where we would not otherwise be welcomed, such as in State universities.
Should you wish to assist in this work, your prayers will be most appreciated and, if you are in a position to offer a small contribution toward the expenses entailed in this work, your offering would be helpful also.
As a nation of considerable intelligence, we learn (if we are lucky enough to have parents who care) by listening to our parents and by listening to the Scriptures, the spirit of God, the Heavenly Host, the One who knows all, sees all, hears all. And, despite our shortcomings, He still grants us the privilege of living in a society where His name is mentioned, in many cases, only in church, or between two belivers, or simply when we mess up and turn to Him for forgiveness and guidance, a show of faith, the act of charity, and the grace of hope for all!
Come to the Lord, the way of eternal life, a life that is calmer, without fear, with love and adoration, a Lif e that wants us to live, a iife with God in His Heavenly Realm!
Come and you will see the Light, the guiding Light of Salvation through Jesus Christ, for now and forever more!
We have just celebrated Thanksgiving and now the Christmas holidays are here. We all know that the end of this year is upon us. Everyone has miracles to be thankful for: a father who has been sick, a mother who was worried for a friend or a daughter or son or grandchild. So many of our concerns have been taken care of. May the Holy Spirit continue helping us throughout the New year!
With thanks for your encouragement, and wishing you and your family the choicest of God's blessings for Christmas and the New Year, may I close this letter by echoing that old, old story of Jesus and His love. I know of no better way to bring any good thing to its proper end!
In His Love,
Norma McCorvey
ABORTION (1973 - )
A Poem By Father RobinsonA red, red rosebud was unfolding Wlthin lta bassinet of green. In wonder, there I stood beholdlng, As though the hand of God were seen.
The sunlight sparkled on its beauty, Through a drop of dew upon its slde, But now It is the sadness of my duty to tell you how the rosebud died.
A little boy came swinging,
With hockey stick in air, And sent the rosebud flinging Broken treasures everywhere! The poor rosebud was a living flower, About to share lts blessings here, Transplanted fresh from Heaven's bower, With shiny dew-drop_ Perhaps, a tear_
This sad, sad story is not saying
That all abortlons ahow no care.
But I tell it as my way of praying To save God's creatures anywhere.
Norma McCorvey
HOMILY FOR MASS
Homily at Mass, for Miss Norma's reception into the Church:
We are gathered here to celebrate a "milestone" in a "journey." Because it has been a difficult journey, our joy is all the teacher, since victory is more glorius in proportion to the magnitude of the struggle to have attained it.
Each one of us is on the "journey of life" and each of our histories is unique to oneself, yet they all have something in common: No one of us is journeying alone! Miss Norma McCorvey would want me to make it clear that the victory we celebrate today is not primarily her victory, but that of Our Savior, The Lord, Jesus! And Miss Nonna would immediately add to this a deepfelt note of thanks to the human instruments which the good Lord used in accomplishing the victory. She beautifully recounts their help in her autobiography, fittingly entitled: Won by Love.
St. Paul tells us that "Grace builds on nature." In Miss Norma's autobiography we see a modern counterpart to the well-known Confessions of St. Augustine. In her early life, as in his, nature was not always disciplined by the guidence of intellect and will, and evidently not by the incorporation of God's grace. Harsh enviromnental circumstances were a very real factor in starting and sustaining her waywardness but, as she sees it now, it was the lack of the supernatural in her life which had clouded her thinking and her choices.
Of course, God never intended that our nature be sufficient by itself. We see that when He created our First Parents, in grace, as well as in nature. Along with the other people who were caught up in the Now Generation, Miss Norma became isolated in her present moment. We all know that when our external senses are busy with material things, it is easy for us to become ahsorbed in the present moment, and any consciousness of the past and future seems to escape us.
In her struggle for physical and emotional survival, Miss Norma was enticed into the role of Jane Roe in the infamous Supreme Court's decision: Roe vs. Wade. She lived that role for many years of her life, but it was never a source of happiness to her. Finally she saw her complicity in the evil of that decision, and became heartbroken over it. It was at that point that her human nature could be prepared by the grace of God to change the course of her journey.
She had the courage to "see the light" and responded to it! To assis Him in Miss Norma's conversion, God chose Operation Rescue and its Director, thc Rev."Flip" Benham, Ronda Mackey and her two children, Emily and Chelsey, Pastor Sheats, her long-time friend, Miss "onnie", Father Frank Pavone, and others from among her friends and acquaintences. It was their unconditional love for Miss Norma that had awakened her to the source of that love, her lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
In response to His love and theirs, Miss Norma has pledged the remainder of her life to making reparation for the publically acknowledged misdeeds of her past. She is now fully "pro-life" and lives her life in witness to respect for human life, and for God, the Author of all living things.
Today Miss Norma is completing the "twists and turns" of her life's journey. She is adding to her "salvation history" the final stage of a conversion begun with her baptism by Rev. "Flip" Benham, three years ago, and further nourished by the ministry of Pastor Sheats. Today, after having complated her studies of Church Doctrine, Miss Norma is fully prepared to begin her life as a member of the Catholic Church, beginning in this parish of St. Thomas Aquinas, Dallas, Texas. Honoring her request to be received into the Catholic Church, her new Pastor, Monsignor Pierschenk, now invites Miss Norma to profess her Faith in its teachings and, on behalf of the Church, welcomes her into the full participation of its Sacraments.
Now, the Profession of Faith
Then, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and Miss Norma's First Holy Communion.
Then, thanksgiving: Te Deum Laudamus!
NOTE: It is Miss Norma's request that her reception is not to be a "media event." She wishes only to be alone with Jesus, her riends and her Church, on this solemn occasion.
Father Robinson, O.P.
Peace,
Miss Norma
P.S. - And remember, I was WON BY LOVE.