The woman who founded and steered the Walking With Love initiative is moving on.
By Anthony Barich
ANGELA Lecomber, the founding project officer of Walking With Love, the Australian bishops’ response to the abortion epidemic, has left her position with the initiative a success in four states and the Northern Territory.
Responding to recommendations of the Australian Bishops’ Taskforce on Abortion – to conduct an educational initiative across Australia – Ms Lecomber was recruited by Darwin Bishop Eugene Hurley, chair of the Bishops Commission for Pastoral Life, with the brief to “educate Catholics and the wider community on sexuality, pregnancy and abortion”.
Perth’s Clare Pike, the founding executive office of the Respect Life Office and now Mother Superior of the Missionaries of the Gospel as Sister Bernadette, was part of the initial consultation that identified the need for national symposiums – public meetings where attitudes were polled and views listened to.
In what Ms Lecomber calls a “major breakthrough”, Melbourne’s Catholic Education Office has bought 420 Walking with Love DVDs for teachers in every Catholic primary and secondary school in the archdiocese, following six months of consultation with RE coordinators, the Catholic Principals Association of Victoria and the CEO. Catholic education authorities in Sale, Ballarat and Sandhurst have also expressed interest in the DVDs for their schools. While it is hoped that a Life Office would open in all eight States and territories, Life Offices have been set up in Perth, Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide and Brisbane, though some, like Perth, existed prior to Walking with Love.
Eight symposiums were successfully conducted in Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, Hobart, Brisbane, Darwin, Adelaide and Canberra from December 2007 to December 2008. In all cities, evaluation forms revealed that 52 per cent of attendees said that the event had changed their perspectives on the issues of pregnancy and abortion. In Brisbane, Ray Campbell, director of the Queensland Bioethics Centre and the John Paul II Centre for Family and Life, established a Walking with Love parish initiative that has seen 105 people trained up by Centacare on education programs. In Darwin, Bishop Hurley has funded Walking With Love brochures that have been distributed to Darwin Hospital, where most abortions in the NT are performed, to Centacare, Anglicare and community health centres. Rachel’s Vineyard retreat weekends for post-abortive women have also begun in the Territory, with one held in Darwin and another planned for Alice Springs. It is hoped three will be held annually.
Darwin Catholic mother of three Cathy Bourke has opened up a room in her house for women in crisis pregnancies, but word has been slow to spread, as she has only had two referrals. Mrs Bourke, who has a child with a disability, said it is up to women to take that leap of faith to ask for help. She plans to open a drop-in centre for face-to-face counselling and a helpline, but resources in the NT are scarce.Local Missionaries of Charity Sisters in the NT hold a prayer vigil outside Darwin Hospital every Thursday and before the Blessed Sacrament every Wednesday for the local Walking With Love initiatives.
“It’s small, but it’s a start,” Mrs Bourke said. At the Darwin Walking With Love symposium on May 17 2008, only six people indicated they would attend but over 60 attended.
Melbourne-based Pregnancy Counselling Australia receives calls from NT women in a crisis pregnancy, and the agency has been asked to refer women to Mrs Clarke in the hope of spreading the word.
Adelaide’s Archdiocesan Office for Family and Life is taking Walking with Love to parishes and senior school students and teachers, presented by a GP who counsels women and by two counsillors from separate pregnancy support services. Adelaide Senior Officer for Family and Life Paul Russell said the Archdiocese is encouraging parishes to take on board positive initiatives that support life and women with unplanned pregnancies and those who have had abortions and are seeking healing.
“We’re building a support network for parishes so they not only have the confidence to know they can reach out to women in need but they know where to go for qualified help and support,” Mr Russell said. Ms Lecomber, who joined the Bishops Secretariat for Pastoral Life in June 2007, finished her post at the end of last month and now works for the Parker Brent Institute, a vocational education and training institute in Melbourne, and is studying theology at the JPII Institute for Marriage and Family in Melbourne.
She came up with the term ‘Walking with Love’ as Mary Raudino, a Melbourne counsellor who she initially consulted, said that speaking to her was like “walking with love”.
JPII Institute Associate Dean Dr Nicholas Tonti-Filippini has asked Mrs Lecomber to write a paper comparing the various approaches to the abortion issue – political, educational and theological.
She said Walking with Love is empowering everyday Catholics to walk with those who are faced with crisis situations, allowing them the space to consider, in the belief that the person would eventually choose life.