Come Home

A Message from Bishop Loverde

~ Transcript from "Hurting After Abortion, Come Home" ~

The parable that Jesus once told us, it was the parable of the Prodigal Son. You'll recall it: a man had two sons; the younger one wanted it his way. So he took his inheritance and went off and squandered it in terrible living. And then, he came to his senses one day and he realized that he was in such dire misery even the servants in his father's house were better. So he made up his mind to go back home. And the father doesn't wait for the boy to come home, he runs towards him and welcomes him. Oh the young man begins this prepared speech but he never gets through it because the father doesn't want to hear all those words, he just wants to embrace him with love and mercy. He calls for a feast, gives him new clothing, welcomes him home.

That is a parable Jesus tells us to have us understand God's infinite love for us. So no sin - no sin - will ever keep us from being forgiven by God.

To come back home means that one must take the first step. But with that first step is the realization that there are so many people in God's name wanting to help. There are priests filled with the compassion of Christ who will assist spiritually and will be able to have you experience God's forgiveness in the Sacrament of Divine Mercy - the Sacrament of Penance. And then, there are trained counselors and staff who can also assist by giving good counsel and advice that you might truly experience a healing - a healing that's deep and genuine.

So please come home. We are waiting for you, but, more importantly, God is waiting for you. Please know that each day I am praying for you. I am praying that you will take that first step. To learn more about our confidential ministry, please contact us. We are waiting for you to come home so that you may experience true healing and God's mercy and love.



In Ramah is heard the sound of moaning,
of bitter weeping!
Rachel mourns her children,
she refuses to be consoled
because her children are no more.
Thus says the Lord:
Cease your cries of mourning,
wipe the tears from your eyes.
The sorrow you have shown shall have its reward...
There is hope for your future.

Jeremiah 31:15-17

My daughter, know that My Heart is mercy itself.
From this sea of mercy, graces flow out upon the whole world.
No soul that has approached Me has ever gone away unconsoled.
All misery gets buried in the depths of My mercy,
and every saving and sanctifying grace flows from this fountain...
...Sooner would heaven and earth turn into nothingness
than would My mercy not embrace a trusting soul.

Diary of St. Maria Faustina Kowalska, 1777

The Popes Speak to Women Who Have Had Abortions

The Church is aware of the many factors which may have influenced your decision, and she does not doubt that in many cases it was a painful and even shattering decision. The wound in your heart may not yet have healed. Certainly what happened was and remains terribly wrong. But do not give in to discouragement and do not lose hope. Try rather to understand what happened and face it honestly. If you have not already done so, give yourselves over with humility and trust to repentance. The Father of mercies is ready to give you his forgiveness and his peace in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. You will come to understand that nothing is definitively lost and you will also be able to ask forgiveness from your child, who is now living in the Lord. With the friendly and expert help and advice of other people, and as a result of your own painful experience, you can be among the most eloquent defenders of everyone's right to life. Through your commitment to life, whether by accepting the birth of other children or by welcoming and caring for those most in need of someone to be close to them, you will become promoters of a new way of looking at human life.

Pope John Paul II, Evangelium Vitae
(The Gospel of Life), no. 99 (1995)1

The Church, after the example of her Divine Teacher, always has the people themselves before her, especially the weakest and most innocent who are victims of injustice and sin, and also those other men and women who, having perpetrated these acts, stained by sin and wounded within, are seeking peace and the chance to begin anew.

The Church's first duty is to approach these people with love and consideration, with caring and motherly attention, to proclaim the merciful closeness of God in Jesus Christ. Indeed, as the Fathers teach, it is he who is the true Good Samaritan, who has made himself close to us, who pours oil and wine on our wounds and takes us into the inn, the Church, where he has us treated, entrusting us to her ministers and personally paying in advance for our recovery.

Pope Benedict XVI, Address to an International Congress on "'Oil on the Wounds':
A Response to the Ills of Abortion and Divorce"
(April 5, 2008), www.vatican.va