A woman's decision to have an abortion is always a stressful decision, made under the pressure of time and often shrouded in secrecy and shame... She may believe that the birth of this child would threaten her relationship with the baby's father, or her ability to complete her education or to achieve her career plans.

Women who have had abortions commonly believe that they have committed "the unforgivable sin." Some have stayed away from the Church and the Sacraments their whole adult lives after an abortion as a teenager. Some long to go to Mass and receive the Sacraments, but are convinced this can never again be possible for them. Others are equally sure they have been permanently excluded from valid reception of Holy Communion and the other Sacraments, keeping up a charade of participating in these and other parish activities for fear of giving scandal or of alienation from family and friends if they did not.

For all of these women, the "Good News" -- that Jesus forgives abortion, and that the Pope and the Catholic Church are reaching out to them with an invitation to "come home" and be reconciled with God and return to full communion with fellow Catholics -- is truly astounding!

The love with which the Holy Father reaches out to a woman who has had an abortion, and the unconditional love with which the Church and pro life community surround her, may be her first experience of true Christian charity.

At the close of the Gospel of Life, Pope John Paul II entrusts the cause of life to Mary, calling her a "sign of sure hope and solace" He asks her to "look down on the vast number of babies not allowed to be born" and implores her that the Gospel of life be proclaimed, accepted, celebrated and born witness to "in order to build together with all people of good will, the civilization of truth and love, to the praise and glory of God, the Creator and lover of life" (Evangelium Vitae, 105).

May each of us make this prayer our own.

 (Dr. Angelo is an assistance clinical professor of psychiatry at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston. This letter is excerpted from the 1997 NCCB Respect Life booklet.)

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