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Dear Mike and Brian —
Most dioceses in the United States
have a post-abortion ministry, a
ministry to Catholics who have been
involved with, or have lost children
to, abortion. The ministry may or
may not be called Project Rachel™.
The words "Project Rachel" are
now trademarked and are the (United
States Conference of Catholic Bishops'
(USCCB)) name for the Church's outreach
to the "post-abortive".
You can learn a lot about it and
about abortion's aftermath at:
This is the USCCB's Jubilee web site,
and it includes contact information
for all United States diocesan ministries.
Any program bearing the name Project
Rachel must include a network of
priests who have been trained in
post-abortion ministry, and a network
of counselors who have been educated
in:
- the aftermath of abortion
- how to deal with it, and
- a central number to call for
referrals to either or both issues.
In my experience, the abortion aftermath
is not primarily a psychological
problem. It is a problem of reconciliation
on all levels of the human person.
Once someone comes to spiritual and
intellectual resolution, by making
a new choice, so to speak, on a deep
level, many of the psychological
sequels sort of dry up, because they
were functions of denial, guilt and
repressed grief. Overcome denial,
resolve guilt, and put grief in the
proper context, and the other symptoms
improve. To help people reconcile
properly takes some time and knowledge.
Priests would never have the time
to meet 3-4 times with all the women
who have had abortions, so retreats
and groups are popular. We do both
here, but I also like to train pastoral
ministers, of all sorts, to:
- recognize the problems
- know how to inquire about abortion,
and
- help people come to a resolution.
True resolution comes from the Sacrament
of Reconciliation, for which a person
has been helped to be deeply disposed
to receive the graces. Reconciliation
culminates, of course, in the Eucharist.
The problem with many psychological
professionals is they feel that they
can't touch the religious aspect
(which is key), and they can't bring
up stuff that the patient doesn't
bring up, which
is stupid. Also, even those
who are trained, tend to keep using
the psychological bag of tricks in
a psychological way, in order to
help people. Nevertheless, more is
needed. Psychological professionals
are important, because there are
many people who develop serious problems
after abortion and need support,
prior to or, during their experience
of ministry. There are some psychologists
who do post-abortion ministry as
it needs to be done.
One problem with the way post-abortion
recovery is handled is that it always
starts with the abortion. In my experience,
it is best to start with foundational
reality of creation and Baptism.
Sin should only be looked at in the
context of Redemption. I always start
people off with a sense of their
God-created goodness and dynamism
to the good, and also, of their choice
and consecration by God in Baptism.
The power of being and the power
of grace together are very powerful
forces for healing.
I hope this has been helpful. I did
a study a few years ago on the state
of Project Rachel ministry in the
United States in the Jubilee year,
with a theological reflection at
the end, and it went over like a
lead balloon. You can imagine the
attractiveness of combining abortion
with theology and statistics. :)
If you need to know anything more,
let me know.
The best site for information on
the aftermath of abortion is:
AfterAbortion.org,
the site of the Elliott Research
Institute.
You also may be interested in Project
Rachel on Face book.
Finally, when a woman is resolved in having an abortion, one of the best ways to stop it is to encourage them to consider the questions asked on this page:
Abortion Safety Checklist
You have to appeal to the self interest of the woman, who is sort of in the position of a hostage taker. It is akin to bills to improve standards and require hospital admitting privileges. There are two victims, and when we can't save one, we try to save the other. The Church has said we can take incremental approaches as long as we keep the ultimate pro-life goal in view and are not intending abortion.
Mary Ann
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