Helping Mothers to End Abortion

The Church of the Nativity in Alaska has helped pregnant women through providing financial support, food, clothing and counseling. It will extend its mission with Nativity Inn in Russia. A faithful mother/grandmother/attorney helps to conquer the abortion mentality by helping expectant mothers.

ANCHORAGE, ALASKA (CNS) - A brand new grandson and an interest in Soviet history brought Connie Hood into contact with one of the most desolate places in Russia.
Hood, a Catholic attorney from the Archdiocese of St. Louis, discovered the Church of the Nativity in Magadan, in the Russian Far East, and ultimately became an avid supporter of a new project that aims to counter an abortion mentality that has spread over much of the region.

A residential program called Nativity Inn, an outreach of the Catholic parish, aims to provide a sanctuary for new mothers who might otherwise have chosen to abort their children. Hood leads the Friends of Nativity Inn and coordinates a network of support. She developed the Web site www.NativityInn.org.

She explained the project in an e-mail to the Catholic Anchor, newspaper of the Anchorage Archdiocese. She sent it while waiting in Moscow for a flight to Magadan for her first visit.

About two years ago she became a new grandmother -- her oldest daughter and son-in-law had a baby, Matthew. About the same time she read an article about babies languishing in Russian orphanages, she explained. "I thought there but for the grace of God this could be Matthew in those orphanages."

Hood later discovered that a priest from her own archdiocese, Father David Means, was serving at the Church of the Nativity. Hood contacted Father Means to see if there was anything she could do to assist with an outreach to mothers.

The Friends of Nativity Inn helps Father Means and Nativity's pastor, Father Michael Shields, from the Archdiocese of Anchorage, in their work to help moms who might otherwise opt for abortion.

According to Father Shields, abortion is big business in the former Soviet Union. Regular salaries for doctors are low, which encourages many to make extra income by providing abortions.

So, even though the government is officially encouraging births to counter the region's low population growth, Father Shields said the abortion system continues to flourish, aided by the tough economic situations many young women are facing.

The Church of the Nativity has been helping pregnant women for years, providing financial support, food, clothing and counseling for any woman seeking to give birth to her child. It will extend its outreach with Nativity Inn, which should open by Christmas 2008. In the beginning the inn will accommodate up to five women.

"Being pro-life means being pro-child and that means being pro-mother," Father Shields said.

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Resources for initially funding the facility are in place. Donors have been inspired by Father Shields' frequent guest appearances on the Eternal Word Television Network.
But Father Means credits Hood with being a major coordinator of fundraising efforts for the shelter.

"At my last visit home (to St. Louis), we had well over 100 people who are interested in helping," said Father Means. "They've already raised thousands of dollars."
Current obstacles to opening the shelter include dealing with the Russian bureaucracy and choosing the women who will be residents.

"We're working with the government to find out what's available, what's legal, what our restrictions and liabilities might be," said Father Shields.
Staff member Luda Herritic, a Russian who is a member of the Orthodox church, has become "the public face of Nativity Inn," the priest said, because she is more acceptable to Russian officials than a Catholic priest would be.

The church staff also is putting together a booklet of resources available to pregnant women and mothers, finding the right location for the residence and planning for residence staff training with the help of religious sisters who run similar homes in Poland.

The residence will have a "house mother," no alcohol or drugs will be allowed, no visitors will be allowed in bedrooms, and women will be actively working to improve their situations while "enjoying their child," said Father Shields.

He was sent to Magadan in 1994 to establish a Catholic presence in the area where Soviet labor camps once stood. Father Means came in 1996, and in 2001 a new church was completed.

The parish, with only about 250 members, has been a center of charitable activity since its inception.
"The Catholic presence in Russia will always be small," Father Shields said. "But it's very big in the social area -- influencing other churches and even the government."

The priest said about 25 percent of the 120,000 residents of Magadan have been helped in some way by the Church of the Nativity through Caritas, an international Catholic aid group to which the parish belongs. Help includes a food bank, clothing, medicine, pregnancy support and humanitarian aid of all sorts.

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Copyright (c) 2007 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops