Reverence for Life - Project Rachel

by Joan Wiering

Joan Wiering is the New Ulm Diocesan Council of Catholic Women Reverence for Life chairperson. The Reverence for Life goal this year is focusing on Project Rachel, a post-abortive counseling organization in our area. Project Rachel offers a confidential hotline and specialized counseling. For more information call 1-800-5WE-CARE.

Theresa Bonopartis can tell you all about God’s divine mercy. She assists the Sisters of Life and the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal in conducting spiritual retreats for those women and men wounded by abortion. But Theresa wasn’t always so hopeful about God’s unconditional love and mercy. Her journey started 10 years before - with her own abortion.

At 18, she submitted to peer pressure and had sex. When her parents found out she was pregnant, she was asked to leave. Theresa had no money, no home, no job, and no hope. She wanted to keep her baby, but felt she had no choice. Her Dad offered to pay for the abortion. So she did it - a saline abortion with 12 hours of labor. It was a boy. She wanted to die, too. Her downward spiral had just begun.

Theresa struggled through a marriage with an alcoholic husband, having 2 more boys. One day, she took the children and walked out the door. "Once again I found myself with no job, no money, no home, but this time, thank God, I had my children!"

With the help of family, she went back to school and got a job as a substance abuse councilor. Life got tough again. "Even though I had developed a relationship with God, I kept my distance. But, I began to attend Mass, sitting in the back, certain that everyone knew I had an abortion, I kept searching for some words of hope that even I could be forgiven of this terrible, unforgivable sin."

And then it came: "My 7 year old was preparing for his First Penance. At the parent’s meeting the priest talked about God’s mercy and his desire to forgive any sin, even abortion. That evening, I left with the first inkling of hope I’d known in 10 years."

"After confessing my sin to that priest, I was, at last on my way home." But Theresa found out that the fullness of God’s healing comes in his own time. She still struggled, even under the spiritual counseling of that same compassionate priest, with depression, suicide, and darkness. Then, she had an experience that changed her life.

"One night, after getting the boys to bed, I was feeling depressed and suicidal, but despite these feelings, I also somehow felt a deep trust in God. I got down on my knees and repeated over and over again, ‘Jesus, I trust in you.’ I experienced being on that cross with Christ instead of experiencing suffering, I felt love. I felt his love wash away my sin and I knew my healing was complete."

Not only was Theresa’s life miraculously transformed, but also she’s been privileged to help countless women and men suffering from abortions aftermath. "I have witnessed countless miracles of his mercy and I am convinced that God is marshaling an army of once-wounded women and men to dispel the lies of abortion."