SUMMER 2014
Newsletter of the Office of Pro-Life Activities and Chaste Living • Diocese of Austin
In this issue: 2 • From the Director St. John Paul II, Pope of the Family
4 • Around the Diocese Pro-Life Victories Call Us to Serve 5 • Texas Mercy Project Addresses Death Penalty, Criminal Justice System
6 • KofC Pro-Life Ministry: A Labor of Love THRiVE! Hosts Generation Life
9 • National News
Opposing the Throw Away Culture Hobby Lobby Court Decision; Response to Anti-Hobby Lobby Bill
10 • Calendar of Events
Voltée para Español
Joining in the Pain Brought by Stillbirth, Miscarriage and Infant Death as a Well-informed Community of Love by Gina M. Dominguez
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was more than 30 weeks pregnant when, as part We should be informed and of my work as a translator and Spanish-language editor for the Diocese of Austin, I corrected a text should not be afraid of discussing from the USCCB about the compassion and charity the most painful subjects. We expected from the members of the church toward need a community educated parents who have lost a child through miscarriage. Working on that article I felt great compassion about how each of these losses for those parents. But I never suspected I might need differs and merits a unique some of that compassion later myself. On Dec. 27, I woke up to my normal routine. response. A couple of hours into my daily tasks, I realized I had not felt movement from the baby I was carrying. Worried, I told my husband and, after a few minutes of anxiety, we decided to call the doctor who suggested that I eat something sugary and lay down on my left side. I followed these instructions, but after a little while longer without feeling any movement, the nurse told me to come to the doctor’s office right away. I won’t go into details — they are of no use to the reader and very painful for me to remember — but after a thorough inspection, the doctor told me the saddest words I have ever heard: My baby’s heart had stopped. There was no warning. All the ultrasounds had looked good, all our tests had been normal, but after more than seven months, my pregnancy and my son’s life came to a sudden end. In those moments, my husband and my other son, who were with me at the doctor’s office, hugged me tightly. I sat up very slowly and, at that moment, resolved to surrender my life and the life of my baby to God’s will. It was the toughest moment of my life, the moment a mother fears the most.
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continued on page 8 . . .