A New Ministry for a Different Kind of Crisis Pregnancy
For a couple looking forward to the birth of a new baby, pregnancy can be a most joyful time. While most pregnancies proceed as expected, there are occasions where something unexpected occurs. That unexpected something could be a prenatal diagnosis, whereby the doctor informs the parents of a positive result from a prenatal screening or diagnostic test. Suddenly, this time of joyful expectation is turned on its head. The couple has now gone from eager anticipation to a state of grief because their precious unborn baby has received a prenatal diagnosis.
Most parents experience the news as a traumatic event. What began as a routine office visit is now anything but routine, and the parents are often reeling from the experience. The trauma affects the parents in a very real way. Their sense of safety is disrupted, their sense of the world as they knew it is lost and they feel isolated from others. The hopes and dreams of the future they anticipated with their baby are shattered.
While parents are traumatized by the news, medical providers often quickly change the focus from the baby as baby, to the pregnancy as a problem to be solved and abortion is often recommended.
What is the Catholic response to this kind of crisis pregnancy? Parents in this situation do not know where to turn and that is where we come in. Our response is one which affirms the teaching of the Church that every human being is made in the image and likeness of God and that everyone possesses inherent dignity, no matter how frail or brief a life may be.
The Archdiocese of Newark is pleased to announce the creation of My Beautiful One, a new ministry serving parents carrying to term following a prenatal diagnosis, in the Archdiocese of Newark and the state of NJ, from diagnosis through pregnancy, birth, and whatever lies ahead, for up to one year. Among other things, this accompaniment includes spiritual and grief support, birth planning and funeral planning if necessary. We believe that every baby is a gift – a beautiful one – whose life matters.
Our parent care coordinators, Kathleen Ranft and Leah Sonnick, have completed extensive training to serve parents provided by Be Not Afraid (BNA), a nationally recognized leader in providing comprehensive support to parents choosing to carry to term following a prenatal diagnosis.
The BNA model of care is parent-centered, research-based, trauma-informed, and life-affirming. It has created a national training program so that organizations throughout the country may serve parents in their communities, making the My Beautiful One ministry possible.
My Beautiful One ministry does not provide healthcare advice or treatment, does not collect any payments for services provided, and is not a covered entity engaging in covered transactions under HIPAA.
To learn more about this ministry and contact information go to www.rcan.org/my-beautiful-one.
By:
Leah Sonnick & Kathleen Ranft, Parent Care Coordinators of My Beautiful One Ministry
Anne Masters, PhD, FAAIDD, Director of Office for Pastoral Ministry with Persons with Disabilities.