Intern training again in London

Alegandro and Alanis

Last Tuesday and Thursday afternoons I spent some time with Alegandro ( originally from Colombia ) and Alanis from England. I took them through  a SPUC schools presentation on abortion , shared my testimony as to how I got converted , then how I got involved with the pro-life movement in 1988. Lastly I spoke about my work at the UN and how the world is NOT overpopulated. Then I asked them  to write a small article on why they are pro-life and why they wanted an internship with SPUC this summer. See their articles below.

Alegandro wrote :

The Pro-life Movement and What it is like for me

Hello, my name is Alejandro Gómez and I am eighteen years old. Currently I am an intern at SPUC and today my fellow intern, Alanis, and I both had the enormous privilege and huge responsibility of doing side walk counselling. Rhoslyn, our very wise boss, had decided to teach us Monsignor Riley's technique on approaching women who were seeking an abortion. We did our best, however the two most important things which Monsignor Riley stated were the most important in preparing oneself for helping the women were undeniably essential: fasting and praying. I personally saw their fruits when I was given the chance to talk to the mothers. The worries I had of saying something wrong made me feel as though it was very difficult but with God's strength – given to me through the prayers of my friends was overwhelming. I cannot begin to explain how much joy I felt just from giving a lady a leaflet and her gladly receiving it. All of the devils efforts to try and make me hopeless were nothing with the knowledge that I had allowed God to use me as an instrument to help that mother. It kindled a fire in my heart like no other and now I know how much my efforts and those of everyone who are pro-life are needed to change the society of death in which we live in where women are told that their rights are important and that part of their freedom is the freedom to kill their magnificent, beautiful blessing from God, their child.

Sadly I have not always been as involved in the pro-life movement as I am now I was at all. I am originally from Colombia and I have lived in England for thirteen years. About three years ago my family was living in Bishops Green and one day my father asked me whether I would like to go to a pro-life vigil in Oxford. I was going through a difficult time and I believed that it would be something I needed to do. I knew I needed to fight for those who were oppressed either by their families or friends or even by themselves and who desperately required help. I said to my dad I would go with him. That day was miserable, it was pouring with rain and the freezing cold wind was blowing right through my soaked coat while I held firmly to my pro – life sign. It was whilst I was standing there shivering that a joy came over me and holding that sign I felt like the happiest man in the world and on that day my love for pro-life work began.

Alanis wrote :

Why I am Pro-Life

Having grown up as the eldest of my siblings, I have always been a person that cared for others, a ‘mother hen’ perhaps, and this is now a part of my nature.  My recent conversion to Catholicism, however, reinforced these maternal instincts, and allowed me to understand the truth about abortion in a modern context, and the lies that surround this false sense of ‘care’ and ‘liberation’ for women.

It was evident to me upon my conversion that abortion was gravely contrary to natural law. God, our Lord of life, has entrusted humans with the duty of safeguarding life: i.e. life from conception until natural death. Abortion is a direct attack on life, and goes precisely not only against the fifth commandment, “You shall not kill”, but against all ten. My conversion to the faith enabled me to realise that all life, from the moment of conception is sacred and worthy of protection, and that abortion specifically goes against God’s plan for us.  

In addition, growing up attending a secular school, the evils that have penetrated our  culture as a result of secularism became more apparent, particularly during my final years of High School. Without Christ, it was clear to me how the influences of modern ‘feminism’ distorts the true meaning of femininity and the theology of the body.  Reading Alice Von Hilderbrand’s ‘The Privilege of being a Woman’ enlightened me to how feminism has penetrated into our society, and  perhaps the biggest tragedy that has resulted from this is the acceptance of abortion. Woman by her very nature is maternal, and therefore all women are called to motherhood whether it be biological, psychological or spiritual. Women are life-bearers and therefore have a unique relationship with God, since at the moment of conception, God creates a unique soul inside of woman’s body, made in His image and likeness. Without this beautiful understanding,  it is evident to me how many young women have a distorted idea of their calling in life, and are therefore blinded to the evils of abortion, and thus might commit acts with devastating consequences due to ignorance even if not the desire to evil.  

I am pro-life because I believe that all life is sacred, and that abortion not only harms the baby, but the Mother too. I believe in a movement that seeks to care for both mother and child. Therefore, I had the desire to have an active involvement in the pro-life movement, and thus the internship with SPUC, which seeks to not only to secure legal protection for life, but also to spread a positive understanding of the issue that is in fact very simple and very indissoluble from modern society – that killing the unborn, is not only a direct attack on life, but the Mothers too. The internship will therefore provide me with life-lasting skills and knowledge which will beneficial in order to spread the message of life, and to be a part of a movement that seeks to convert the hearts of mothers to enable them to appreciate the beauty that lies in motherhood, which is in my eyes, true ‘liberation’.