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Post-abortive author to speak about conversion
By Andrew Junker, ajunker@catholicsun.org
January 1, 2009
Christ the King Parish in Mesa will commemorate Sanctity of Life Sunday a little differently this year. They’ve invited noted author and speaker Jane Brennan to talk about her book “Motherhood Interrupted: Stories of Healing and Hope after Abortion” Jan. 15.
“She was a former, very militant anti-Catholic and pro-abortion and pro-Planned Parenthood,” said Bobbi Martinez, who works for pro-life causes at the parish.
Brennan herself is post-abortive, and she will talk about her story of healing and conversion after attending Mass one day. Her book, which she will sign after her presentation, includes 15 stories similar to hers.
“The stories describe the aftermath [of abortion], the numbness, the grief, the guilt, the emptiness that the women felt,” said Fr. Steve Kunkel, pastor of Christ the King. “They show how abortion shatters everything and how the women come to an understanding of the sacredness of life from conception.”
Now, Brennan has devoted herself to helping post-abortive women find help. Her testimony is powerful, Martinez said.
“A lot of people are really turned off that guest speakers might be really preachy, that they’re not someone who’s lived it,” she said. “She’s actually lived through that experience. She offers a unique perspective.”
Martinez thinks that someone like Brennan makes a good witness for pro-lifers, and focuses them on an area that can be overlooked in the fight for a culture of life.
“I really think that the Church is moving in a much better direction where it’s much more inviting and welcoming,” she said. “There’s a lot of fear on the women’s part in coming for that forgiveness.”
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