Get out your calendar and mark off some dates! For those in the North Platte area, mark down the evening of Monday, Oct. 3. If you are in the Hastings area, mark down the evening of Thursday, Oct. 6. All those in and around Lincoln, mark down Friday, Oct. 7 and/or Saturday, Oct. 8! Find more information on times and locations for these dates at the end of this article.
The Nebraska Catholic Conference (NCC) will be hosting Justice for All (JFA) the week of Oct. 3 to engage in a statewide tour to provide Nebraskans with training on how to become more effective in conversations on the topic of abortion. We will be traveling to parishes, schools, and other venues across the state, covering communities across all three dioceses. Most of the community events will be evening trainings, with the exception of one of the Lincoln, events which will be a full-day Saturday training.
On a couple of previous occasions, I have written about the incredible work of JFA whose mission is to “train followers of Christ to make abortion unthinkable… through conversations with pro-choice advocates—conversations in which the contentious debate about abortion is transformed into dialogue.”
JFA does the critical work of forming the intellect in order that we are properly equipped to understand the issue of abortion, analyze the issues that often arise in conversations on abortion, and learn how to steer conversations on abortion into fruitful and respectful dialogue to shed light on the humanity and dignity of the unborn child. As well, by helping to form the intellect, JFA helps to adequately prepare the will to make acts of courage by engaging with others on the issue of abortion and make known the Gospel of Life that God has given the world.
As I have also highlighted in previous articles, we are often stifled by the fact of our own shortcomings in our calling to be missionary disciples. In some way, shape, or form we recognize our inadequacy. Rather than calling on God, begging Him for grace, allowing Him to show His glory in our weakness, we can succumb to our inadequacy. We allow ourselves to become frozen in our shortcomings. Inevitably, this leads to missed opportunities of evangelization, to speak about the love of the One who has given us the very gift of life.
But opportunities for growth—like the ones that will be provided by NCC and JFA—begin to cultivate in our will the virtue of courage. As St. Thomas Aquinas said, the virtue of courage is “chiefly about fear of difficult things.” As the Catechism states, it is courage that “ensures firmness in difficulties and constancy in the pursuit of the good.” It is courage that allows us to “take heart,” as the saying goes.
In the spiritual warfare of defending the unborn, there could be nothing more important than the bravery needed to be a voice for the voiceless.
God is calling each of us—without question—to cultivate peace and justice and society by advocating for the unborn child. Perhaps you can take one of the JFA trainings that will be offered as an opportunity to become a stronger missionary disciple of the Gospel of Life!
To return to the initial invitation of this article: get out the calendar and mark off some dates: Monday, Oct. 3, North Platte (St. Patrick Church), 6:30 to 9 p.m.; Thursday, Oct. 6, Hastings (St. Michael Parish, basement), 6:30 to 9 p.m.; Friday, Oct. 7, Lincoln (Old Chicago, Haymarket), begins at 7 p.m.; Saturday, Oct. 8, Lincoln (St. Michael School, commons area), 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.
We humbly request that you register in advance (especially for the Saturday training in Lincoln) at www.jfaweb.org/register or contact Eva at (316) 683-6426.
