interview
SPECIAL GIFTS OFlife An interview with Dame Colleen Bayer
Dame Colleen Bayer, the Founder and Director of Family Life International in New Zealand, has been one of the forces of nature behind Voice of the Family from its beginning. In this interview, we are pleased to share her tremendous apostolate in New Zealand and her tireless witness for the special gift of life with disabilities. FLI has centres in the main cities of Auckland and Wellington; it provides practical help throughout the country to women and girls facing unplanned pregnancy. Through the media, conferences and its publications, FLI educates the general public on all life issues, from conception to natural death.
CALX MARIAE: For readers who aren’t familiar with Family Life International (FLI) can you tell us a little about the organisation, when it was started, what it does and what its goals are?
COLLEEN BAYER: Early in 1992, I received a
brochure via direct mail about an international pro-lifeconferencetobeheldinOttawa,Canada. I was taken aback as this looked like a Catholic conference with an image of the Blessed Mother andarosaryonthecover.ThisenthralledmeasI wasusedtoSPUCdownhereinNZ,whichwasa secular organisation. It did not capture my heart In an audience with His Eminence Cardinal Burke in Rome, Colleen orsoulsoIwasonlyinterestedingettinginvolved Bayer and her son Benjamin, 2019. with them in a fundraising capacity. However, I soonfoundmyself onaplanetoOttawawithour theCrosseveryday.Thatsentencewastochange one-year-oldsonwithDownsyndrome. mylifeforever. We travelled across the globe to attend a life The second reason I started the organisation changing event. Rev Father Paul Marx OSB, here was that, following the opening Mass of the founder of Human Life International, hosted the conference, therewasaprayerfulprocession toOt conference, which attracted thousands oftawa' faithful s Parliament Hill. Upon exiting St Patrick's Catholicsandpeopleof goodwillfromCathedral, alloverthe thecongregationwasmetwiththemost world.Amongotherthings,aBenedictinepriest, Fr demonicshowof evil,byperhaps fouland - athou MatthewHabiger,toldtheaudiencethatmarried sandormorehomosexual,lesbianandothersuch couples should cling to the tabernacle and embrace activists shouting and screaming, burning e{gies
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