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SEMINARIANS PRAY AT ABORTION MILL

Seven enthusiastic young men from St. Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore braved frigid temperatures to pray the rosary and demonstrate outside an abortion mill on Northern Parkway December 10.

The gravity of their purpose did not preclude them from exuding good cheer and poking a little fun at the two “pro-choice escorts” who had retreated inside the glass-enclosed lobby of the professional building housing the abortion mill to keep warm.

“We talked to them one time,” Max Pawlowski, a third-year theology student from Erie, Pa., confided with a grin.

“We said, ‘Why can’t we just forget all about this and go out to lunch together?  After all, you don’t want to be involved with this – it’s killing babies!’  But they wouldn’t do it.”

Seminarians belonging to a pro-life subcommittee that is part of the seminary’s peace and justice committee have been coming to the prayer vigils at the abortion mill for over a year.

John Brian Rendfrey is chairman of the pro-life group, which meets every other Wednesday, prays the rosary for pro-life intentions every first Friday, and has mustered 50 seminarians to go to the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C.

On December 8 State Senator Andy Harris gave a talk to the group on embryonic stem cell research.

The Respect Life group of St. Joseph’s Church in Cockeysville began the prayer vigils at Seneca Women’s Health Care in December 2003.

The mill has since changed its name to Whole Woman’s Health of Baltimore, and is affiliated with Whole Woman’s Health, which has four abortion mills in Texas.

According to its website, Whole Woman’s Health affiliates perform second trimester abortions and offer student discounts.  The Northern Parkway mill is located 1 ½ blocks from Mercy High School.

Cookie Harris, chairperson of St. Joseph’s Respect Life, said that the prayer vigils have a two-fold purpose.

One aim is “to be a presence to the community”:  to inform passers--by and the people entering the offices within the professional building of the abortion mill’s existence.

The second purpose, said Harris, is “to be a prayer force to close it.”

The prayer vigils are held every other Saturday from 9:00 to 10:00 a.m.

For more information call Cookie Harris, 410-666-9411.