Quebec Life Coalition

You never know when an email will hit the mark. Towards the end of the 40 Days for Life I began sending out “wrap up emails” to all the people and organizations I figured would enjoy hearing about the wrap-up of Montreal’s first 40 Days for Life. One of those emails went to Janis Clarke, founder of Eucharist for Life, a pro-life prayer children’s mission based in Montreal. Very soon after I had clicked “send” on my mass email, I got a call from Janis. She wanted to announce some amazing news: Father Thomas Euteneuer, president of Human Life International, one of –if not the— world’s biggest pro-life organizations, had accepted her invitation to come to Montreal on May 12 and 13 to celebrate a mass and conduct presentations and seminars.

I couldn’t believe our good fortune! My mind was reeling at the possible spiritual fruits that could come from this unique and providential visit. And I wasn’t disappointed: Fr. Euteneuer’s visit has begun a new chapter in Montreal’s quest for reaffirming the dignity of the family and the unborn child, and I am simply glad to be part of it.

I want to tell you now what happened during those couple of days, and the exciting projects that we are undertaking because of that visit. Janis Clarke wasn’t the only one involved in the planning and preparation of Fr. Euteneuer’s visit. Paolo Buccella of Montreal’s Youth for Life took charge of the organisational and logistical aspects of the visit, and yours truly at Quebec Life Coalition provided free graphic design and printing for the event flyers. The free services wouldn’t have been possible without the 40 Days for Life and Operation Mustard Seed. Both printer and graphic designer were drawn from the pool of volunteers who wanted to step up and do more for Life on an ongoing basis! I was also invited to join the organizing team in the final planning stages and throughout Fr. E’s visit. Last but certainly not least in making this visit possible were the pastors at Notre-Dame de la Consolata and Ste-Angèle churches, Fathers Robert Gendreau and Jean-Pierre Couturier, without whom none of the visit would have been remotely possible.

There were basically five big events during those two days: On Tuesday, May 12 1) A conference at the Grand Séminaire de Montréal entitled “How to overcome the resistance to the pro-life message within the Church”, 2) An evening conference at Ste-Angèle Chruch entitled “The Fight for Life Around the World”, and on Wednesday, May 13 3) a morning private gathering of pro-life people in Montreal to discuss strategy, the theme being “Where do we go from here?” 4) A private meeting of Montreal pro-life “cognoscenti”, and 5) A solemn mass in honour of Our Lady of Life at Notre-Dame de la Consolata Church. Needless to say, this was an intense couple of days, and I was glad to be there for QLC soaking up every last bit of it. I want to focus, however, on the particularly productive Wednesday morning meeting of pro-life workers in Montreal. This is a group that mostly came out of the 40 Days / QLC, Eucharist for Life and Youth for Life, in addition to Frs. Couturier and Gendreau. What I particularly liked about this meeting is that what came out of it was a consensus to form a coalition of 15 individuals called “Montreal for Life”, and to reconvene in June to further hammer out a plan for promoting the dignity of human life and the family in Montreal. Specifically, we had all agreed that it was high time for Montreal (and Quebec in general) to get its own post-abortion healing ministry established, as well as to establish a parish-based pregnancy support network. I was delighted that at least the first point was in line with the plans that I had put forth in Operation Mustard Seed.

Unfortunately, much of what went on during Fr. Euteneuer’s visit cannot be related in this newsletter: there’s just too much riding on this to give some names and places away. Suffice it to say that the other meetings involved extremely fruitful discussion and that, in the coming months, when you see how we are developing here at QLC, you can be assured that a lot of it stems from these couple of grace-filled days in the company of our very distinguished guest, Fr. Euteneuer, and the newly minted “Montreal for Life.”