By Bridget Spinks
THE work of Pregnancy Assistance (PA), an independent Catholic agency providing practical and emotional support to homeless pregnant women, has expanded with the opening and blessing of a five-bedroom, three-bathroom house in Dianella on 19 March.
The house, dubbed “St Joseph’s House”, is next door to “Miriam’s House” which opened in 1998 as PA’s first emergency accommodation home for women who’ve become pregnant and homeless and are in need of help.
Through successful fundraising for “Miriam’s House,” PA soon owned this first property debt free.
But after buying the additional house nine months ago, Pregnancy Assistance is now in urgent need of donations to pay off the $710,000 house as well as to fund ongoing operational costs.
“We need to start raising the funds immediately. We purchased the property in June last year and it’s already March,” PA manager Lydia Stanley said.
Archbishop Barry Hickey, who blessed the house on the feast of St Joseph, said the work of PA and St Joseph’s House is “needed and a public statement about the value of human life, especially for unborn children and babies”.
“And it affirms our belief that the way to counter abortion today is to provide loving care and practical help to women faced with an unexpected pregnancy.”
For Lydia Stanley, who sees her role as manager of PA “as a vocation, not just a job,” St Joseph’s House will be an extension to the “service of life and love that PA and Miriam’s House already provide”.
“Through Miriam’s House in a year, we’d get 10 to 15 women that’d go through the accommodation; some stay short term, some stay longer,” Mrs Stanley said.
“Miriam’s House is there to provide a place where they can go to think things through, away from outside pressure, with a clear mind to make a decision about the pregnancy, and of course have the emotional support that’d be given in the house,” she said.
“The girls we see experience a lot of pressure from family members, friends, workmates [and] the partner to not keep the baby and have an abortion.
“They develop anxiety and become confused and we find when we speak to them that deep down they actually want to keep the baby.” But it’s not just accommodation, Mrs Stanley said. “It’s about providing a place to help them embrace the life within them and make that decision to keep the baby.”
“Sometimes we’ve had women stay right up until they gave birth and have stayed there if they haven’t found a place. St Joseph’s House will help with the overflow, and will be especially for the mothers with newborn babies,” she said.
Two Vietnamese Lovers of the Cross Sisters are hoping to be live-in carers for St Joseph’s house and are in the process of obtaining visas. Soon after they arrive, “St Joseph’s House” is expected to open.
To donate to Pregnancy Assistance, visit www.pregnancy assistance.org.au or call 08 9328 2929.