Walking with Moms in Need, A Year of Service Webinar

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With great openness and courage, we need to question how widespread is the culture of life today among individual Christians, families, groups and communities in our Dioceses.

With equal clarity and determination we must identify the steps we are called to take in order to serve life in all its truth. (EV 95)

The Need

Pregnant and parenting moms in need are in our parishes and our neighborhoods. As Pope Francis reminds us, our parishes need to be “islands of mercy in the midst of a sea of indifference.”

Women facing challenging pregnancies should see the Church as a place where they can find help, especially with its myriad of social services and organizations dedicated to meeting the needs of people in crisis. But do we have an accurate picture of what is available, and how we communicate it?

We have well over 17,000 parishes in the US.

Everyone in the parish community should know where to refer a pregnant woman in need.

The Pro-Life Committee began to ask:

“How can we assess the pastoral and practical assistance that we currently provide to pregnant moms and families in need?”

“How effective are we in communicating such help to women in difficult pregnancies?”

“What is uniquely the Church’s role?”

The Ask

The 25th anniversary year of Evangelium vitae gives us a wonderful opportunity to assess, expand, and communicate resources to pregnant moms and families in need.

We have invited parishes, through the support of their bishop and pastor, to join a nationwide effort from March 25, 2020 to March 25, 2021 entitled:

“Walking with Moms in Need: A Year of Service.”

What We Are Doing:

For this Year of Service, the Pro-Life Committee is developing educational, pastoral, and action-oriented resources for parish use, including:

• Tools for documenting an inventory of local resources for pregnant mothers in need

• Ideas for improving parish responses.

• Prayers for building a culture of life and a civilization of love

• Reflections on the teachings of Evangelium vitae, Evangeliigaudium, and Laudato si’ from Pope Saint John Paul II and Pope Francis.

Adaptable to Every Church Community

The Walking with Moms in Need initiative may look very different from parish to parish and from diocese to diocese based on the resources and capacity of each local Church community.

For this reason, prayer and discernment must be the basis of our united efforts. Bishops, pastors, and diocesan and parish leaders are encouraged to truly allow the Holy Spirit to guide their efforts.

Success Will Look Different

At various stages during the Year of Service, each community will need to prayerfully consider how God is calling them to respond. While it is important to be aware of each community’s capacity, we also should not set limits on what the Holy Spirit can accomplish in each parish.

Through this process, some parishes may discern that they are called to start a new, dedicated outreach ministry to mothers in need, while other parishes may simply begin by committing to print local pregnancy help resource information in their bulletin every weekend.

All these efforts will increase our outreach to pregnant women in need and, in doing so, further help build a culture of life.

An Adaptable Timeline

The timeline provided for Walking with Moms in Need allots a year to complete this process from March 25, 2020 to March 25, 2021.

However, parishes can adjust this schedule as needed to account for local events, observances, or other schedule conflicts.

To help parishes plan for and organize their participation in this nationwide effort, this Year of Service is broken up into five specific phases of parish activity.

Each phase will be accompanied by specific instructions and resources in the Action Guide to allow ease of use at the parish level.

Five Phases of Walking with Moms in Need:

Phase 1: Announce Year of Service and Begin Building a Core Team (March 2020)

Phase 2: Launch Parish Inventory Process (May 2020)

Phase 3: Share Inventory Results; Begin Assessment and Planning (September 2020)

Phase 4: Announce and Commit to Parish Response (January 2021)

Phase 5: Celebrate and Implement Parish Plans (March 2021)

Online Resources

Resources include parish-based activities, and communications and outreach suggestions.

All resources will be posted on our website (in English and Spanish)

www.walkingwithmoms.com

www.caminaconmadres.com

Our Action Guide is a comprehensive manual for parishes to plug in and use.

The intention is ease of use at the parish level, along with suggestions for pastors on how to delegate efforts in this Year of Service to parishioner volunteers.

The Inventory

In Phase 2, parishes are asked to complete a simple inventory of the resources currently available in their local area. After this initial inventory is completed, parishes will be asked to assess the results and identify gaps.

Once this assessment has been completed, parishes will begin planning their response and how they can improve outreach in their community, based on their findings.

Goal One of Engagement with Catholic Charities:Unity and Collaboration

The first goal of Walking with Moms in Need’s engagement with Catholic Charities is unity and collaboration at the diocesan and parish level:

“Pro-life” can often be seen as a partisan and political issue, which can deter Catholics from participating in pro-life related initiatives and activities.

Early feedback from stakeholders tells us that a parish focus on help for pregnant and parenting moms in need can be a unifying message.

It can initiate or improve upon the collaboration of those who work on social justice and pro-life efforts. It can also move the conversation from what sometimes seems like a partisan divide into pastoral unity.

Goal Two of Engagement with Catholic Charities:Effectiveness of the Inventory Process

Collaboration with Catholic Charities will be essential for parish volunteers seeking to complete a local inventory of pregnancy help resources.

Catholic Charities affiliates can compile a list of their locally available resources for women and young families to offer to parishes involved with Walking with Moms in Need.

They may want to be prepared for questions and inquiries about local services, requests for tours, and other outreach from parish volunteers who are completing the inventory.

Developing and maintaining relationships with the diocesan pro-life director will be a happy outgrowth of this project.

Continued outreach to parish points of contact will be important for success.

Goal Three of Engagement with Catholic Charities: Helping to Improve Parish Responses

During the assessment and improved response phase of Walking with Moms in Need, Catholic Charities affiliates may want to be prepared to help engage and on-board more volunteers from local parishes.

This could include updating volunteer guidelines or training resources for volunteers new to working with needy or vulnerable populations.

Support and development of volunteers is a crucial part of this effort.