CHARLOTTE — On a cold Saturday morning, a group of 24 Catholics lined up on behind a crucifix and a banner of Our Lady of Guadalupe and processed down the sidewalk to the front of A Preferred Women’s Health Center, an abortion facility in east Charlotte. The marchers were there to pray and witness to the sanctity of life.
The procession was organized by the Helpers of God’s Precious Infants of Charlotte and led by Father Matthew Codd, pastor of St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in Charlotte. The prayer vigil began with Mass and exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. Attendees prayed one decade of the rosary, then some drove to the abortion facility’s location while others stayed at the church for Eucharistic Adoration, praying for conversions of abortion-minded women and the men accompanying them. After processing prayerfully to the facility, the Helpers continued with the rosary and the Divine Mercy Chaplet, sang Marian hymns, and then drove back to St. Thomas Aquinas Church, where the vigil ended with Benediction.
Monsignor Phillip Reilly of Brooklyn, N.Y., founded the Helpers of God’s Precious Infants in 1989. The U.S. Supreme Court ruling Roe v. Wade made abortion legal across the country 16 years prior, and in those days the reputation of the pro-life movement was known more for civil disobedience than peaceful witness. Monsignor Reilly knew that a new strategy was needed, so he founded the Helpers with the mission of praying outside abortion facilities and counseling women to choose life instead of abortion. Over the course of 30 years, chapters of the Helpers have opened all across the world, and God has worked through their processions and counseling to close abortion facilities and save count-less souls.
The Charlotte Helpers were founded in 2013 with the guidance of Monsignor Reilly.
The vision of the Helpers of God’s Precious Infants is that an abortion facility is modern-day Calvary, where all the sins accepted and legalized by the culture of death reach their end. Catholics must imitate the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. John as they stood at the foot of the cross. The Helpers, under-standing the horror and injustice of the abortion facility, use their voices only to pray and counsel. Monsignor Reilly, quoted in his biography “Pro-Life Champion” by Frederick W. Marks, said, “There must not be anything in our demeanor or manner on the street to suggest confrontation, anger or de-bate. If we bring light to darkness, God will do the rest.”
The purpose of praying outside abortion facilities is to go where the worst suffering occurs and to be a witness of love and hope in the darkness which is the culture of death.
“We pray to obtain God’s mercy for the abortionist and his staff who do the killing,” Monsignor Reilly wrote. “We ask each mother to change her mind. We reach out to her with the love of Christ; we do not judge or condemn her for what she is going to do.”
He and the Helpers are especially inspired by the example of St. Teresa of Calcutta and her Home for the Dying, in which the poorest of the poor were given comfort and loved as they died. “We recognize (the unborn) as our brothers and sisters, welcoming them into the human family. We embrace them, spiritually. We stand with them when they die. No one wants to be alone when they die.”
— Matthew Bosnick, Special to the Catholic News Herald. Matthew Bosnick is with St. Thomas Aquinas Church’s Respect Life Ministry.
‘Though we may be quarantined, Jesus is not quarantined’
Bishop Jugis marks Palm Sunday with livestreamed service from near-empty cathedral during COVID-19 pandemic
CHARLOTTE — There were no crowds waving palm branches, no joyful singing, no elaborate liturgies to commemorate Palm Sunday and the start of Holy Week. No, Palm Sunday in the middle of a pandemic took on a somber, simpler tone.For the first time in the history of the Diocese of Charlotte, all public Masses have been canceled for Holy Week and Easter because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In Charlotte, Bishop Peter Jugis celebrated Palm Sunday Mass, the liturgy that begins with a commemoration of Jesus entering Jerusalem among a jubilant crowd, inside a near-empty St. Patrick Cathedral.
The private liturgy was livestreamed on the diocese’s YouTube channel.
Despite the unprecedented isolation measures that have shut down most public activities and worship services throughout North Carolina and the United States, the bishop’s homily was a hopeful one.
Bishop Jugis encouraged people to follow the example of Mary at the foot of the cross, and “to stay close to Jesus these days, when we hear so much fearful news about the spread of the virus and sad news about deaths cause by the virus.”
“Let us remember: though we may be quarantined, Jesus is not quarantined. He desires to be with us always and everywhere, and we can stay close to Him,” Bishop Jugis said.
Bishop Jugis recalled Pope Francis’ livestreamed event March 27, in which the pope stood alone in St. Peter’s Square and gathered the worldwide Church in a virtual prayer service to end the pandemic that has claimed more than 65,000 lives in the past three months. The worldwide coronavirus pandemic is not God's judgment on humanity, but God's call on people to judge what is most important to them and resolve to act accordingly from now on, Pope Francis said.
This time of trial is a time of choosing, the pope said. “It is not the time of your judgment, but of our judgment: a time to choose what matters and what passes away, a time to separate what is necessary from what is not. It is a time to get our lives back on track with regard to you, Lord, and to others.”
Parishes across the Charlotte diocese distributed palm branches for the faithful to celebrate Palm Sunday at home, since there are no public liturgies for Holy Week. At St. Mark Church in Huntersville, clergy and seminarians gave out blessed palms in a makeshift drive-thru line on Saturday. (Photo provided by Amy Burger)Bishop Jugis continued, “During this time of trial and testing, what matters is Jesus. During this time of trial and testing, what is necessary is Jesus.”
The bishop encouraged the faithful to choose to be with Christ, and not to choose discouragement and despair during the pandemic.
Show Gallery“In the midst of the isolation in which we are experiencing the loss of so many things, let us once again listen to the proclamation that saves us. Jesus is risen, and He is living by our side,” he said.
Holy Week and Easter services will continue with livestreams on the Diocese of Charlotte’s YouTube channel, www.youtube.com/dioceseofcharlotte, as follows:
• Chrism Mass – April 7 at 10 a.m.
• Mass of the Lord’s Supper – April 9 at 7 p.m.
• Good Friday – April 10 at 3 p.m.
• Easter Vigil – April 11 at 8 p.m.
• Easter Sunday – April 12 at 10 a.m.
— Catholic News Herald. Photos by SueAnn Howell, Catholic News Herald
Related story: Pope on Palm Sunday: Life, measured by love, is meant to serve others
