Crisis centre emerges from turbulence with joy

By Anthony Barich
PREGNANCY crisis centre Pregnancy Assistance received a timely boost when over 300 people gathered at the Redemptorist Monastery on December 14 for a Thanksgiving Mass for God’s help in its work.
Over $450 was also gained through raffle sales. The large turnout was somewhat unexpected but also a sign of hope for organisers, who have suffered setbacks of late.Nuns from the New Apostolate Consecrated to the Heart of the Holy Family who have provided care at Miriam’s House for five years have withdrawn to consolidate their community.
Pregnancy Assistance has also no longer been able to provide emergency housing to women with an unexpected pregnancy since April due to a lack of suitable live-in carers.
Brian Peachey, inaugural and current chairman of Pregnancy Assistance, said that it is “important that we continue to provide a haven for homeless pregnant women”.
However, there were signs of hope as Priests from all over the Archdiocese, including Fr Paul Fox, parish priest of Gin Gin/Chittering, plus Redemptorist priests, Franciscans of the Immaculate, a priest of the Neocatechumenal Way and a Franciscan of the Order of the Friars Minor, gathered to concelebrate the Thanksgiving Mass with Archbishop Barry Hickey.
Mr Peachey told supporters on December 14 that “you are helping to repair damage done by the parliaments”, referring to the legalisation of abortion on demand by WA Parliament in 1996, the year Pregnancy Assistance started.
“You have saved the lives of many of the most innocent, who would otherwise have been killed by legalised abortion,” he said, but conceded that he could not see an end to the killing.
“The majority of those in power today would vigorously oppose any change that would reduce the number of unborn children being killed.
“We need to be reminded that in Perth they kill one baby every hour of every day.”
Mr Peachey said society is also indebted to the Helpers of God’s Precious Infants who have maintained prayerful vigils outside abortion clinics, resulting in some women deciding not to go through with the procedure, as counsellors have also been on hand to help with the pray-ers.
He called on Perth Catholics to increase the numbers who pray with the Helpers of God’s Precious Infants, as “it seems that only the power of prayer will stop legalised abortion”.
Mr Peachey also said that Catholics need to educate the community and get the message out to women contemplating abortion that there is an alternative and that there is “real and loving support”.
Pregnancy Assistance’s most effective instrument, Abundant Life magazine, has now become subscription-based rather than free in Perth parishes to cover costs of printing and postage.