Gulf Pine Catholic

16 Gulf Pine Catholic • January 19, 2024 Winsor emphasized that, at Be Not Afraid , they believe that many parents need more than a website listing of services -- they need informed accompani- ment. “Parents who abort are very capable of googling and finding websites and resources,” she said. “That isn’t always enough, and we believe what they need most is immediate trauma-informed outreach that embraces the lives of both the parents and their child.” Dr. Robin Pierucci, a neonatologist involved with Be Not Afraid who serves as an associate scholar with the Charlotte Lozier Institute and as co-chair of the American College of Pediatricians’ pro-life committee, said that when she first meets expectant parents, she says “congratulations.” “I love reminding them that the first diagnosis is, ‘it’s a baby,’ and no other diagnosis ever negates diag- nosis number one,” she said. “The baby is inherently valuable and worthy of our love.” As someone who cares for babies in potentially life- threatening circumstances, she tries never to predeter- mine whether a baby should live or die. “We humbly acknowledge our limits while simulta- neously acknowledging the incredible advances in medical technology combined with our skills,” she said. “Even if I can’t completely fix or heal someone, that’s never an excuse for abandoning them.” Pro-life groups also are working to support perinatal hospice and palliative care. Dr. Christina Francis, an OB-GYN and CEO of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, described perinatal palliative care as an essential service. “Sadly, many families are not even offered this option but (are) rather told their two options are inten- tionally ending their child’s life or receiving no sup- port,” she said. “This is not providing real choice for families.” Kristen Day, executive director of Democrats for Life of America, said that her organization is working on draft legislation with the goal of training and increasing the number of perinatal hospice nurses to support and inform the women who receive a prenatal diagnosis. Day spoke after the pro-life group Americans United for Life published a proposal to “Make Birth Free,” co-written by her and Catherine Glenn Foster, then-president and CEO of AUL. Danielle Pimentel, policy counsel at AUL, said that families should not be forced to “choose” abortion because it is presented as the cheaper option. “The cost of compassionate care can be a barrier to families navigating their preborn child’s fetal anomaly or life-limiting condition, especially when maternity care and childbirth in the United States are already very expensive,” she said. Day added that while insurance would cover perina- tal hospice and palliative care, a solution should be found to help the uninsured. PerinatalHospice.org points out that, as prenatal testing advances, more families are experiencing this heartbreaking situation. Still, as an experienced neonatologist, Pierucci said she has never met parents who regretted meeting their baby. “We’re better off when we care for each other with our imperfections, some of which show up on a fetal ultrasound, some of them not so much,” she said. “But we’re made better human beings all the time by choos- ing to care for our little ones.” Katie Yoder writes for OSV News from Washington. She is a contributing editor for the Our Sunday Visitor newspaper. NOTES: For more information on Be Not Afraid , visit: www.benotafraid.net/ For more information on Tepeyac OB/GYN’s Kristen Anderson Perinatal Hospice Program, visit: www.tepeyacobgyn.com/services/perinatal-hospice- care/ A link to the proposal “Make Birth Free” can be found here: www.aul.org/law-and-policy/make-birth- free/ Abortion Alternatives From page 15 Renew the world with creativity, bold dreams, pope tells young people BY CAROL GLATZ VATICAN CITY ( CNS ) -- Young people are meant to be “levers” that renew established systems, not “gears” to keep the old ways grinding, Pope Francis told a group of young professionals. “We all need the creativity and impetus that only you young people can give us; creativity and impetus lie in your hands. Your thirst for truth, your cry for peace, your insight into the future, your hopeful smiles -- we need these things!” he said. Dream big, pursue a passion, be creative and get your hands dirty without fear, he told the group during an audience at the Vatican Jan. 12. The group included young people taking part in a meeting promoted by the Toniolo Young Professional Association. The pope said he worries when he hears about young people “barricaded behind a screen, their eyes reflecting artificial light instead of letting their creativ- ity shine.” “Being young is not thinking about holding the world in your hands but getting your hands dirty for the world; it is having a life in front of you to spend, not to stow away or archive,” he said. “It is sad to see young people being sluggish and anesthetized, lying on the couch instead of engaged in their schools and streets, bent over their screens instead of a book or a brother or sister in need,” he said. It is also sad, he said, to see young professionals who “are professional on the outside and lifeless on the inside, who, ‘squeezed dry’ from their duties, take ref- uge in the pursuit of pleasure.” The pope told those gathered for the audience that their passion and commitment are “antidotes” to today’s prevalent ways of thinking that are reactive, shallow and shortsighted. He encouraged them to avoid the temptation to adapt to temporal, fleeting things, but rather to cultivate “a lofty gaze that seeks the stars, not the dust.” So many young people seem “squeezed dry,” he said, by having to perform at an increasingly demand- ing level, draining them of their “restless dreams” and passions. The world needs the creativity, hopes, insights and drive of young people, he said. They should take these things everywhere they go and “put yourselves out there without fear because young people are the levers that renew systems, not the cogs that must keep them going,” he said. Being creative also means creating something with “the same style with which God made the world, the style of gratuitousness, which surpasses the logic of ‘I do in order to have’ and ‘I work in order to earn,’” he said. He said being creative opens the way for innovation or change “in a world that is content with profits. This is how you will be revolutionary. Life asks to be given, not managed.” Daring initiatives and bold vision as well as renew- al and creativity are needed everywhere: in diplomacy, the economy, the fight against hunger, climate change, communication, the world of work and elsewhere, the pope said. “I entrust you with these dreams as an elderly man who is thrilled to see your young faces; and I think of how much more thrilled Jesus is to look at you, He who always has a young heart and has called young people to follow Him,” he said. The association, founded in 2016, is part of the Giuseppe Toniolo Institute of Higher Studies and con- nects its university fellowship program with offices of the Roman Curia and Vatican diplomats participating in various international and intergovernmental organiza- tions.