PROJECT RACHEL MINISTRY:
Healing the Trauma of Abortion
By Br. Pier Giorgio Dengler
For years—as an avid pro-lifer—I’ve known the
“day job” of the Good Shepherd as He leads
us to green pastures and guards us from the
enemy. Through Project Rachel, I have come
to know why He rejoices so greatly over the
one who was lost and is found.
Project Rachel Ministry is a Catholic
apostolate to those who have experienced
the terrible loss of abortion and seek
healing. It is active in nearly all 50 states
at the diocesan level and restores hope
to thousands of women and men stricken
with the deep wounds of abortion. Through
retreats, days of prayer, and support groups,
participants embrace the forgiveness,
healing, and hope that our Divine Savior
extends to each of us.
In sessions with participants, my own role
is to get out of God’s way. I sit with them
and answer questions about the faith,
the afterlife, and God’s mercy. I listen
to women and men revisit the fears and
despair surrounding their experience of
losing a child to abortion—and the anguish,
isolation, and remorse that has pursued
them since.
This past fall, I helped launch a broad
outreach specifically to men inspired
to counter the evil of abortion. We fast,
pray, and offer spiritual works for each
other and for those engaged with Project
Rachel Ministry. Prayer, always vital for the
Christian life, is paramount in the aftermath
of abortion, since it is God’s grace moving
in the hearts of wounded women and men
that is the primary agent of healing.
“
This past fall, I helped
launch a broad outreach
specifically to men
inspired to counter the
evil of abortion.
”
Br. Pier Giorgio Dengler, O.P. (right), at the 2015 March for Life
BlackFriars - Volume II, Issue II
6