Church Directory January 19, 2017

At least since Jesus uttered these words over 2,000 years ago, Christians have affirmed the dignity of human life and have sought to protect it against great cultural values and odds. This is a good thing to remember and meditate upon with the 44th anniversary of the Rowe vs. Wade decision legalizing abortion this coming Sunday, January 22. Since that time, close to 60 million unborn children have tragically been stripped away of life due to abortion.

Just two weeks ago, a vulnerable child’s life was saved in St. Paul. Nathan Leonhardt, a maintenance worker at the Cathedral of St. Paul, discovered an abandoned baby between the exterior and interior doors of the church’s Dayton Avenue entrance. A muffled baby’s wail was the first - and most powerful - thing the church custodian remembers. Describing the scene, Leonhardt said, “And there, at the top of the foyer’s steps in a nearly empty laundry basket, was a newborn boy. Small, close to a preemie, between five and six pounds, swaddled in a ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle’ blanket. The 36-year-old man, picked him up, wiped him off. The boy was naked, still covered in blood and afterbirth, with a small portion of his umbilical cord clipped by a paper holder. He’d obviously just been born. “He calmed down immediately, opened his eyes. Father instinct, I guess,” said Leonhardt, who has a four-year-old daughter of his own. “It felt like it was mine. It was my own child.” 

Leonhardt called on Father John Ubel, a priest at the cathedral, to assist in the rescue. As they waited for police, Ubel decided to baptize the boy, whom Ubel christened “Nathan John,” after his rescuers. When asked why he performed the baptism, he said he remembered thinking, “It could be an emergency; we don’t know it’s health. And so we did… If there is possible danger of death, it’s always appropriate to offer the sacrament of baptism. I just felt it was the most appropriate thing to do.”

Asked what he thought of the cathedral’s biggest donation of the New Year, Ubel added, “This child is safe. That’s the most important thing. I’m not here to judge. I don’t know the reasons… If we truly are pro-life, as we say we are, then we need to respond appropriately.

“I think what’s most important here is somebody chose life, and we will do all in our power to help people, to assist them, to choose life,” Ubel added.

This vital Christian ministry of supporting life is being taken up in our community by the Lakes Area Pregnancy Support Center (LAPS). LAPS offers the following free services: pregnancy test, ultrasound referrals, options counseling, support for dads, incentive program, postnatal/ living skills classes, community referrals and relationship education. “Forgiven and Set Free,” a free, confidential and non-judgmental support group for those who regret a past abortion will begin in February. The Staples office of LAPS can be contacted at (218)-895-5200.

Jesus has come that all may have life, and have it to the full. Let us pray and work together that this may be so for all of God’s beloved children.