Gulf Pine Catholic

Gulf Pine Catholic • October 16, 2020 3 Bishop Kihneman’s Schedule Gulf Pine Catholic (ISSN No. 0746-3804) October 16, 2020 Volume 38, Issue 4 The GULF PINE CATHOLIC , published every other week, is an official publication of the Catholic Diocese of Biloxi. Editorial offices are located at 1790 Popps Ferry Road Biloxi, MS 39532. Periodical postage paid at Gulfport, MS. —POSTMASTER— Send address changes to: The GULF PINE CATHOLIC 1790 Popps Ferry Road Biloxi, MS 39532 —PUBLISHER— Most Rev. Louis F. Kihneman —EDITOR— Terry Dickson —PRODUCTION / ADVERTISING — Shirley M c Cusker —CIRCULATION— Debbie Mowrey —PHOTOGRAPHY— Juliana Skelton —OFFICEHOURS— 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday - Friday —PHONE NUMBERS— Editor: 228-702-2126 Production /Advertising: 228-702-2109 Circulation: 228-702-2127 Photography: 228-702-2144 FAX: 228-702-2128 —EMAIL— News: tdickson@biloxidiocese.org Production / Advertising: smccusker@biloxidiocese.org Circulation: dmowrey@biloxidiocese.org Photography: jskelton@biloxidiocese.org —OFFICEAND MAILINGADDRESS — 1790 Popps Ferry Road Biloxi, MS 39532 —WEBSITE— www.biloxidiocese.org —SUBSCRIPTIONS — Subscription rate is $18.00 per year. When changing address, renewing or inquiring about a subscription, customer should include a recent address label with old address and new address. Allow three weeks for changes of address. —DEADLINES for OCTOBER 30 EDITION— News copy and photos: Due OCTOBER 22, 4 p.m. Advertising: Completed Ad and/or copy due OCTOBER 22, 10 a.m. Oct. 18 Installation Mass, Pastor Father Satish Adhav, St. John the Evangelist Parish, 10:30 a.m. Oct. 25 White Mass for the Intentions of Healthcare Workers, Nativity B.V.M. Cathedral, 11 a.m. Oct. 29 Evangelization Committee, vis Zoom, 10 a.m. Oct. 29 Foundation Meeting, 3 p.m The Miracle of Birth BY PATRICIA PULLIAM As a Birthright volunteer, I had run preg- nancy tests on many teenage women. But on a Sunday night in April, when I ran one for our 17-year-old daughter, it felt like my heart was in my mouth, and my hands trembled. The test was positive. She and I looked at each other in disbelief, and she began to cry. A blood test followed the next day, which confirmed the results. For several days we talked about her pregnancy; I used all the counseling skills I knew. Her dad and I told her that we would help her with the baby and support her one hundred percent. She said that she wouldn’t go through with an abor- tion and that perhaps adoption was the best alternative for her. The reality of the situation was fright- ening, but I was convinced that we would be grandparents in about eight and a half months. Then she went back to school, and things began to change. Her whole demeanor, which had been open and vulnerable, altered dras- tically. She became quiet and very distant. Where once we held her while she cried and talked, now she wouldn’t allow us to touch her. I knew that someone was attempting to change her mind, and we soon learned who it was. She had called Planned Parenthood on the advice of a “friend” and had been work- ing with one of its “counselors.’ For parents of a teenage girl, it is nearly impossible to counter the logic they use on young women. Patricia Pulliam and her husband, Tim They told her that she was grown enough to make her own decisions and that a baby would change her life forever. They said they would “be there” for her and that they could make it all go away. Their insidious assertion that “your parents don’t need to know be- cause you don’t need their consent anyway’ is the final weapon that any teenager needs when trying to do something that her parents don’t approve of. It gives her permission to go against the belief system of her family. Our daughter announced that she had made a decision and told us that abortion was the only choice she could make. I asked her if she knew that she was killing her baby and our grandchild, and she said, “Yes.” All of her answers were mechanical and devoid of any feeling. The only way that she was go- ing to be able to do this thing was to “steel” herself against her own conscience and the reality of the abortion procedure, Her abor- tion was scheduled for May 11. We had been praying since the pregnancy test. But now our prayers and the prayers of our friends took on a deeper, almost desper- ate tone. We were all praying for the life of our grandchild. An abortionist was going to kill our daughter’s baby, and there was little we could do about it. The father of the baby had told our daughter he would pay for the abortion and take her to the clinic. On the morning of May 11, she left the house silent and withdrawn, a haunted, hol- low look in her eyes. Our house became like a tomb. Neither her father nor I could speak. We prayed for our daughter and the soul of the baby we would never see. This was total- ly in God’s hands now, and we offered up our invocations and our pain. I knew that from that day forward, our life as a family would never be the same. When she returned home that afternoon she looked dreadful. She had been crying, and she acted like she was walking in a dream, a terrible dream. They had given her birth control pills, anticoagulants, antibiot- ics, and painkillers in a brown paper bag and then sent her home to us. I checked on her that day, but I couldn’t ask her how it went. I knew what they did to her and what hap- pened to the baby. She went to school the next day. We all tried to pick up the pieces and go on living. A good friend of mine called me and told me that something very strong com- pelled him to call me. He said that I should stay very close to my daughter because she would need us more than ever in the days to come. The sense of loss was immense and de- spairing. The words, “Thy will be done,” echoed through our thoughts continuously. But never did I imagine what the Lord had in store for our lives. On the day of her four-week checkup at Planned Parenthood, our faith in the power of prayer received a major jolt. She returned home from the appointment hysterical. The nurse who had given her the pelvis exam told her that her uterus was still enlarged. They gave her a pregnancy test and told her she was still pregnant. The abortion had been in- complete. All of those so-called “friends” at Planned Parenthood turned against her now and told her that this never happens. They were frightened over the results. They tried to schedule a resuction, but our daughter fled and came home. As she told me what happened, my mind was exploding with fear and relief at the same time. I even tried to talk to someone down at Planned Parent- hood, but they refused to talk with me. I asked the Lord to lead me and to help me in what must be done next. We had to find out if the baby was alive or dead. I made an appointment with a local obstetri- cian/gynecologist for the follow- ing day. SEE MIRACLE OF BIRTH, PAGE 17