Mary, we honor you today
Under your first and greatest title,
Mother of God.
The baby conceived in your womb
By the power of the Holy Spirit,
Is indeed Almighty God,
Begotten, not made,
Consubstantial with the Father.
What better reminder is there
That a mother does not own her child
But rather is entrusted with a precious gift
And is answerable to God
For how they receive and care for that gift.
Convert the minds and hearts of all who think
That the decision for the life or death of their child
Belongs to them.
Bring them the light of Christ,
Who alone is Lord of human life.
And bless and encourage, Oh Mother of God,
All those who are afraid to be mothers.
Bless and encourage all those
Who are afraid to be fathers.
Bless and encourage all those
Who are afraid to be grandparents.
Grant, through your motherly intercession,
That all of them may strongly resist
Any temptation to abortion that may come their way.
Thwart the efforts of those in our culture
Who seek to destroy motherhood
And who sell abortion as though it were something good.
Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God,
That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ. Amen.
The Pro Life Committee at Holy Angels provides information and education on Pro-life issues from conception to natural death, as well as Pro-Life Pastoral Care, public policy info, and prayer. Meetings are held on the 1st Tuesday of each month at 7:00 pm in the little church
basement. Please feel free to contact our POCs: Greg and Judy Beck, beckjamb@gmail.com, 913-683-3520; (Rachel Sweet is our Parish’s Walking with Moms contact)
“Catholics must be committed to the defense of life in all its stages and in every condition” St. Pope John Paul II, 1995, Evangelium Vitae
July/August news:
Please join Holy Angels Pro-life in the Novena to our Blessed Mother whose feast day is August 15th. https://
The Assumption of Mary was a beautiful favor God granted to the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Lord Jesus Christ,
You have conquered the power of death and opened for humanity the hope of eternal life in body and soul. You granted your Mother a share in heavenly glory and did not allow decay to touch her body.
As we rejoice in the Assumption of Mary, grant us a new confidence in the victory of life over death, and renewed reverence for the human body. As we honor Mary, assumed into Heaven, may we proclaim the hope of your Gospel: That you want every human life seated on your throne. May that hope strengthen us to protect every life here on earth. You live and reigns for ever and ever. Amen. (Priests for Life)
The promise of Our Lady at Fatima, "In the end, My Immaculate Heart will Triumph!"
New Events:
The Olathe/Wyandotte pregnancy center is holding a Life and Hope fundraising banquet August 31st at the Overland Park Convention Center. Drinks, social hour 6-7 followed by dinner and speaker. Brian Westbrook, founder and executive director of Coalition Life is the speaker. He will share how his pro-life work has resulted in over 3500 turnarounds at abortion facilities across the Midwest and a dramatic reduction in abortions in St. Louis.
Tickets are $100 each, grouped in tables of 10. Please contact us if you are interested.
Ongoing Pro-Life activities:
August 27: Holy Angels Rosary for Life, 10am, HA Adoration Chapel
Wyandotte Planned Parenthood has resumed operations. Therefore, prayer vigils are needed more than ever.
• Every Wednesday - 9:00 - 11:00 am - Prayer Vigil at Planned Parenthood - KCK (6013 Leavenworth Rd)
• Every Saturday - 8:00 - 10:00 am - Prayer Vigil at Planned Parenthood - KCK (6013 Leavenworth Rd) Mass at 8 am at Christ the King Catholic Church, 53rd and Leavenworth RD
• 1st Saturday of every Month - Prayer Vigil at Planned Parenthood - OP (4401 W. 109th St, Unit 100, Overland Park)
• 3rd Friday/Saturday of every Month - Prayer Vigil at Planned Parenthood-KC
New officers:
Congratulations to Jenny Yanos, who is a newly elected member of the KC Pregnancy Center Board of Directors!
Congratulations to Greg Beck, the new 40 Days for Life Coordinator at Holy Angels.
Congratulations to Nicole Foehrweiser, who will be assuming the Coordinator position of Pro-life at Holy Angels while Greg and I move to the RCIA Coordinator position for 2023.
Volunteers needed:
KFL is seeking volunteers to help with pregnancy center projects.
Please contact volunteer@kfl.org or call 800.928.5433 for more information.
New/Existing Pro-life programs under consideration in our diocese:
There is a lot going on at the Pro-life office in our diocese. The goal is to capitalize on programs currently in place and partner with programs which are making a meaningful difference in the lives of women and families. Of particular interest are those programs that have shown success in increasing awareness of pro-life initiatives and provide Spiritual and physical guidance and help train volunteers in effective communication and provision of services.
There are 14 pregnancy centers in our diocese. Information about these centers can be found at https://
1) ACTS (Annual mass for Life, respect life month, feast days and solemnity masses.
Pastoral care: Gabriel, Rachael, foster care and resource grants for pregnancy centers.
2) Providing Public Education: Walking with mom's in Need); Ignite for Life; 8th Grade Matters; Defenders of Life Youth Leadership Camp; Pregnancy Center Coalition; The CultureProject https://
3) Helping Kansaswomen.org https://
Coalition Life Sidewalk Counselors https://
Missionary Disciples for Life Parish Model
Foster Care Ministry (increase awareness and support for Children https://archkcks.com/
CCNEK Supporting Pregnancy and adoptions ministry https://
If you are interested in participating in any of these projects, you can obtain more information from Deb Niesen at the Archdiocese. dneisen@archkck.
Pro-Life Legislative update Notes...
Last year many of us were dis-spirited in losing the “Value Them Both” Amendment fight and wondered what we could do now in terms of defending Life.
The Catholic church and it's Legislative representatives made the solemn vow not to abandon babies or women. Since they were stymied on "defense" by engaging in abortion legislation (having been interpreted by Kansas Supreme Court a right in the Kansas Constitution) they could still focus on "positive" issues and legislation that supports women. Like the Archbishop's promotion of Walking With Women in Need program the legislators and advocacy groups refocused and reorganized on legislation that would directly strengthen women and baby support in their legislation.
While the battle was still difficult and fought by the abortion industry and Governor Laura Kelly's veto needing to be overridden by a 2/3 majority of each legislative chamber, the pro-life elected legislators were able to get some issues legislated including:
1) The Born Alive law: This law protects babies that are born, requiring babies to be afforded real health care even if the baby survives and attempted abortion regardless of the mother's intent and the abortionist's procedures. No longer will an attempted abortion baby be abandoned and left to die on a steel table or sink.
2) Another law was passed allowing mothers to have a place to securely and safely drop off babies up to 8 weeks old so they can be adopted. These "boxes" are being located at various fire and police stations and are equipped with "alarms" so that rescuing parties are immediately alerted. This law was spear-headed by our own Basehor Representative Tim Johnson.
3) A law supporting additional state(tax) funding of Pregnancy Centers was passed. Rather than tax dollars going to abortion clinics at least some money can go to pregnancy centers that provide actual health care to mothers and their babies to offset those center's costs. Please note that the $2 million dollars available for that sounds like a lot but is a tiny fraction of the dollars needed to run these clinics, so our fund-raising efforts/donations are still critical.
4) The Abortion reversal pill law was passed ensuring that women have to be provided information when undergoing a chemical abortion that the abortion can possibly be reversed if the mother changes her mind by taking a reversal pill which clinical tests have shown has up to a 65% success rate.
5) A definition for "woman" was established in Kansas law. This will help battle the battle against women from the so-called Trans movement. This will safeguard females born females in Kansas sports and events, and will also protect incarcerated women in Kansas prisons. Approximately 54 men have declared themselves "trans women" and been transferred to women's prisons where unsurprisingly there is an increase of prison pregnancies and sexual attacks on women.
Another success locally has been the establishment of Sparrow Women's Clinic in Lansisng. The Knights of Columbus have installaed their 30th ultrasound machine in the state of Kansas there and Archbishop Naumann blessed it and the facility in June 2023. New ultra-sound machines cost @$28,000. Thank-you Knights and Arch-bishop Naumann.
But the fight continues. Overall abortions in Kansas increased approximately 57% and as predicted Kansas has become a "destination" location for out of state women to get both chemical and surgical abortions. Abortions performed on out of state women increased 116% (Note that these figures may be off as they are from my memory). A new abortion clinic opened in Wichita focused strictly on chemical abortions. Additionally, the abortion industry is pursuing the overturn of EVERY pro-life law in Kansas as was also predicted during the Value Them Both campaign. The first law they are trying to overturn is the "24-hour" wait period Kansas requires between counselling and the abortion.