Pro-life students off to Big Apple

THREE West Australian pro-life students will join 22 others from Sydney, Albury, Gosford, Melbourne and Adelaide to attend a retreat and seminar on the defence of the unborn child in New York this month.

Kelly Clark, a second-year Theology student at the University of Notre Dame Australia in Fremantle and University of WA students Daniel Matthys and Chris Paynter will travel to the US after all participating in the recent 40 Days for Life campaign in Perth during Lent out the front of a Rivervale abortion clinic.
The students will be sponsored by Human Life International and Pregnancy Assistance, the East Perth agency run and funded by volunteers that provides support for women and couples faced with unexpected pregnancies.
In New York they will meet one of the “champions” of the global pro-life movement, Monsignor Phillip Reilly, founder of the Helpers of God’s Precious Infants, whose local membres regularly pray outside abortion clinics in Perth.
For a week the three Perth youth will live, pray and work in the heart of New York City, where Mgr Reilly works outside one of the larges abortuaries in the world, counselling and praying to stop the killing of unborn babies.
On 25 June, the day after their arrival, they will attend one of Mgr Reilly’s monthly vigils where large numbers gather in procession to keep prayerful vigil outside the abortuary.
Mgr Reilly has changed the date of the vigil just for the students, as it was originally scheduled for 18 June.
The three Perth youth will then participate in a 12-day retreat led by Mgr Reilly, who has literally saved thousands of babies and changed the course of the lives of their parents.
Mgr Reilly has been recognised by Pope Benedict XVI in St Peter’s Square and received the prestigious international Von Galen Pro-Life Award in Rome.
The students will also attend a seminar which will be addressed by globally renowned speakers including Mother Agnes, Superior General of the Sisters of Life, President of Life Action Lila Rose, Colin Mason from the Population Research Institute and Fr Benedict Groeschel CFR, a Franciscan Friar of the Renewal.
Pregnancy Assistance (PA) incurs substantial costs: the fare from Sydney to New York costs $2,875; students’ accommodation and living expenses cost $625 and WA students also need to fund the return fare from Perth to Sydney.
To assist PA, contact 9328 2929,
post to PO Box 8129, Perth VC WA 6849, or
email info@pregnancyassistance .org.au