MERRY CHRISTMAS!

We hope you and your family are blessed as you celebrate the Incarnation and birth of our Savior Jesus Christ! This December, we had 16 people come to our Torchbearers event where the Flynn family (TrialsOfFaith.com) shared their beautiful testimony. We lead outreach at Capital University and counseled at Your Choice Healthcare for the first time (this is the only other abortion facility in central Ohio). We met a mother there who took our information on abortion pill reversal. Please pray for her. On the Third Friday, we took a group of thirteen to counsel at Planned Parenthood before leading a street outreach at the Statehouse. As we explained to one of the 4 men who changed their mind that day that we believe abortion is wrong and should be illegal, he said, “Yeah. I believe that too now.” We also got the chance to evangelize several fallen-away and non-Catholics. In addition to keeping you updated on our monthly efforts, I wanted to take some space to reflect on the first year of our apostolate.

This has been a wild and blessed year for Catholics for Life. After starting our apostolate on January 1st, we have spent the last twelve months striving to love the least of these in the womb while working to share the Gospel of Life with hurting souls. Although we originally planned to lead street outreaches weekly, we were convicted a few weeks into our apostolate to make a presence at Planned Parenthood the priority if no one else was there to intercede for the children and offer help the families. Since that decision, people volunteering with us have held around 200 outreaches at Planned Parenthood! During our counseling, we have helped 17 women turn-away from the abortion facility! Praise God for using us to help these mothers! Next year, we plan to not only make sure two days a week at Planned Parenthood are covered, but to recruit volunteers to fill every hour both facilities are open.

We have also still led a dozen street evangelizations with a pro-life focus during our First Tuesday Torchbearers events and new Third Friday initiatives. We have held these at the Ohio Statehouse and three university campuses. During our outreaches, at least 34 people have confirmed with us that they changed their mind on abortion and now oppose it completely! We have had over 40 volunteers join us from 8 different parishes in the Diocese of Columbus. We have handed out sacramentals, gave out resources, food, and water to the homeless, introduced 7 post-abortive parents to healing ministries, and prayed with and for many. Next year, we will continue to conduct street outreaches about every other week and hopefully organize some evening or weekend events for more to participate in.

Aside from our regular outreaches, we have participated in one procession and organized another. We hope to soon have a Eucharistic procession to Planned Parenthood. We took a group of 21 to the National Men’s March to End Abortion (our group was covered by over two dozen news sites)! We hosted eight trainings and were invited to speak three times, reaching 183 total participants in our presentations! Next year, we will be reaching out to several groups and parishes to hopefully speak and inspire more people to work to protect the babies.

None of this would be possible without your support! May Our Lord bless you abundantly this Christmas and New Years for all you do and give to recue children and save souls! AMDG!