I spent years focused on pro-life volunteering. For about twenty years I sidewalk counseled almost every week at an Alexandria abortion business located right next to Bishop Ireton High School within a stone's throw of the Eucharist. The other place I counseled for years was in Falls Church within a stone's throw of the Eucharist at St. James. Sad to say both of these Catholic locales adopted the strategy of the three monkeys. Don't look at the abortion facility, don't listen to the silent screams of the babies murdered, and say nothing. Just keep out of it following a strategy of appeasement.
The devil loves to flaunt Jesus to His face. And what a cackle there must be in hell when the Catholic community does a Neville Chamberlain and tries to make nice with the devil. Appeasement of evil is not the Catholic way!
A priest who occasionally joined me in Falls Church was yelled at by a lady, exiting Mass no less, telling him not to come any more. Ireton, where our two sons were enrolled, did nothing to oppose the death camp next door. In fact, they had a die-hard Democrat teaching political science who worked for one of the most pro-abortion politicians on the hill, Jim Moran.
It was a source of grief to me that these members of the Church Militant did nothing to war against the scandals occurring on their doorsteps. And, in fact, I had more than one conversation with the Ireton principal over their enabling abortion by honoring the local Alexandria mayor at the time, Jim Moran, who was a serious scandal to the Church by his public pro-abortion advocacy. He continued the death for babies strategy after being elected to the House of Representatives. At 80 Moran is still around running a lobby group he founded in 2023, Moran Global Strategies. Every now and then I grit my teeth and say a prayer for him.
Pro-life work has been my volunteer apostolate for most of my adult life. I worked at two crisis pregnancy centers over the years, did many pro-life presentations, and occasionally publicly debated the death peddlers. It was stressful and exhausting.
After we moved to Woodstock where there are no nearby abortion businesses, I became more of a keyboard warrior. I still do an occasional pro-life talk, but mostly I'm "talking" on line. I hope my message is at least a drop of water on a hard heart that begins to crumble and convert. That, however, is in God's department. I simply pray to be used and remember what a dear priest told me once. "If you want to be used by God, by God you'll be used!"
My active volunteer work has shifted. I now work two afternoons a month at a little independent library in Woodstock founded in the 1920s. I didn't want to work at the county library which celebrates Pride month and carries all kinds of awful books -- not as bad as Fairfax County, but still....
Most of the volunteers I've met are old ladies like me who love to read and share their enthusiasm with others. The library participates in Operation Paperback sending books to the troops. They have a different kind of book club where participants meet and share what they're reading. I've been to one meeting and the members are interesting and the conversation lively. I'll be back in November for sure.
My other apostolic work is to walk Woodstock with my holy water and medals. I pray for the town, its political leaders, and all the business owners and residents. I like to poke St. Benedict and miraculous medals into the slots between the door jams and the brick walls especially at places like the tattoo parlor and bakery with the LGBTQ flag out front. I'm a big believer in Catholic guerrilla warfare. Some drop weapons of destruction; I drop weapons of hope and salvation and pray that we will all meet merrily in heaven. I carry my sword in my pocket, the holy rosary of Our Lady.
No matter what you do, at work or play, there are opportunities to expand the reign of Christ the King. How do you spread the Way, the Truth, and the Life?
All for the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus!
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