40 Days for Life Updates

These guest posts were written by the organizers of the 40 Days for Life prayer vigils in Cincinnati and Sharonville.

From Mary Clark, 40 Days for Life Cincinnati:

Last Sunday’s weather was not the best to be standing outside in front of Planned Parenthood for our Midpoint Rally.  It was very windy and rained during a good portion of the hour.  But, then again, it gave those present (about 60 people) another chance to sacrifice of the cause of Life and we welcomed it.

Our special guest was Shawn Carney, co-founder of 40 Days for Life.  As usual, he was inspirational and he accomplished his objective: to give weary vigil participants who have taken part in the first half of the campaign a “shot in the arm” and a renewed enthusiasm to finish the campaign strong now that we can see the finish line. We are only sixteen days away from the close of the 2012 Fall campaign, the 10th campaign to be held in Cincinnati.

What do we have to show for all those hours of prayer?  Well, that depends on how you look at things. In the eyes of the world, we haven’t accomplished much.  During this campaign I have not had anyone tell me that he’s heard of a baby being saved. But I have faith that some have been. We just haven’t been told the good news.
In Shawn’s remarks on Sunday he told of one campaign location where the local director was feeling very depressed. She said she kept reading about all the babies saved at other locations and at her location there hadn’t been any saves. She started to wonder if she was doing any good coming to pray day after day. Then during the last week of the campaign she was informed by another vigil participant that during that person’s vigil time a young woman decided not to have an abortion because she was touched by seeing people praying.
The coordinator was delighted. But when she found out who the young woman was, she was ecstatic. It was her own granddaughter!  So Shawn’s theme was perseverance and faith and the fact that even though we pray throughout the year for an end to abortion in our homes and at church, there are times when, although inconvenient, we must bring our prayer to the very places of evil in our midst.

That’s what 40 Days for Life is all about.

For information on 40 Days for Life and other vigils throughout the year at Planned Parenthood, contact Mary by phone at (513) 791-4039 or (513) 365-2606 or by email at cincy40days@fuse.net. To sign up for a one-hour vigil, either as a group or individually, go to 40daysforlife.com/cincinnati and click on “VIGIL SCHEDULE.”  Information on Friday candle-light vigils and the closing event are also available on the site.

 Photo by Theresa Czyzyk, courtesy 40 Days for Life Cincinnati. For a gallery of photos of the Midpoint rally with Sean Carney, see the group’s Facebook page.

From Mary Jo Seur, 40 Days for Life Sharonville:

We are little more than half way through the 40 Days for Life Campaign. Many blessings have occurred in Sharonville! The sidewalk educators and those working in Women’s Center Sharonville and the Women’s Help Center have said there is a definite increase in the number of women who they have been able to reach since people have been praying in front of the abortion mill.

This past Monday, as Shawn Carney visited the campaign site, the 5th-8th grade students from Royalmont Academy came to the site to pray. It was very powerful seeing so many young people praying to end abortion.

Through the power of prayer, the Holy Spirit is softening the hearts of these abortion-minded women and they are willing to take time to hear that there are other options besides abortion. The sidewalk educators and those working in Women’s Center Sharonville and the Women’s Help Center have said there is a definite increase in the number of women who they have been able to reach since people have been praying during 40 Days for Life.

I received an email earlier this week from someone at New Life Christian Church with this message:

“Mary Jo, I had a small group of praying ladies out for their first time praying this a.m. It was great. We had a young man in his 30s pull up in the parking lot of LaRosa’s and ask to buy us lunch. We passed on it, because our great call was to pray. He joined us for some prayer and then told us his story. His father was a child conceived as the result of a rape. His dad has told that story to his children, and this man, Mike, had a bunch of siblings all happy to be alive and in a loving family, due to Mike’s grandmother carrying to term and having his father! We were all moved to tears by this testimony, and I’m going to have one of the women share this in church on Sunday. ”

Thanks to each of you for participating in 40 Days for Life! The above examples prove that our prayers are making a difference. Prayer is our most powerful weapon. Many are still needed to make this campaign a success, particularly on weekends and on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons.

For information on vigils at the Women’s Medical Center abortion center, contact Mary Jo Suer by phone at (513) 755-1193 or by email at maryjos1@fuse.net. To To sign up for a one-hour vigil, either as a group or individually, go to 40daysforlife.com/sharonville.

Photo courtesy Royalmont Academy.

Known churches and organizations participating as groups as of Oct. 19th:

Greater Cincinnati Young Adults for Life

Cincinnati Right to Life  

Creek Road Baptist Church (Sharonville)  

Guardian Angels

Helpers of God’s Precious Infants

Immaculate Conception

Holy Trinity, Norwood

Immaculate Heart of Mary, Anderson Twp.

Immaculate Heart of Mary, Burlington, KY

Mary Queen of Heaven, KY 

Mary’s Mantle

New Life Christian Church (Sharonville)

Old St. Mary’s

Our Lady of Victory

Pregnancy Center East Staff and Volunteers

Royalmont Academy (Sharonville) 

Sacred Heart, Cincinnati

St. Ann

St. Cecilia, Oakley

St. Clement

St. Dominic

St. Edmund Campion Academy

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton (Sharonville)

St. Francis de Sales

St. Gertrude (Cincinnati and Sharonville)

St. Gertrude’s 20′s Group

St. Henry, KY 

St. James the Greater

St. John the Baptist, Dry Ridge Rd.

St. John the Evangelist, Deer Park

St. Joseph, Cold Spring, KY

St. Louis, Batesville, IN

St. Margaret of York

St. Margaret – St. John

St. Mary, Arnheim

St. Mary, Hyde Park

St. Maximilian Kolbe (Sharonville)

St. Michael’s (Sharonville)

St. Nicholas, Sunman, IN

St. Paul, KY 

St. Philip

St. Susanna (Sharonville)

St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, Bright, IN

St. Teresa of Avila

St. Thomas, Fr. Thomas, KY

St. Timothy, Union, KY

St. Thomas More

St. Vincent Ferrer

St. Vivian (Sharonville)

St. William

University of Cincinnati Students for Life

Xavier University Students for Life