The money placed in a second collection basket over the weekend of Jan. 20-21 may make a difference in whether a new mother and her baby have a roof over their heads.
The yearly Opportunities for Life Collection is taken up throughout the Archdiocese of Louisville near the anniversary of the Jan. 22 Roe vs. Wade decision, and it benefits expectant and new mothers.
The 2023 collection brought in $42,000, and the funds made all the difference when a young immigrant woman needed help paying rent last fall, said Nancy Brown, a member of St. Agnes Church’s Walking With Moms in Need committee. The woman had just given birth and was on maternity leave.
The committee reached out to Catholic Charities of Louisville, which administers the Opportunities for Life Collection, for help. The agency provided $1,000 to pay one month of the woman’s rent.
“It was wonderful to be able to help someone in such a crucial time in their life,” said Brown, noting that the woman had emigrated from India two years earlier and had no family nearby. “She was lovely, a good person just doing the best she could.”
Walking With Moms in Need committees have taken root at several parishes around the archdiocese since the national initiative was launched locally in 2023.
Their work is supported in part by the Opportunities for Life Collection’s “LifeLine Fund,” said Deacon Stephen Bowling, director of the archdiocese’s Family and Life Ministries Office.
The designated fund provides emergency financial assistance to expectant mothers and new parents. Since the launch of Walking With Moms in Need, the fund has assisted moms through the parish-based program.
Of last year’s collection, $27,000 went into the LifeLine Fund for distribution to mothers in need, according to Catholic Charities. The remainder was used by the agency to accomplish its work in support of mothers and babies.
Deacon Bowling said the fund will be more important than ever as more parishes express interest in forming Walking With Moms in Need groups.
St. Agnes’ Walking with Moms in Need committee said the members, mostly women, became like “adopted grandmothers” to the mother they helped. The baby was born in early fall of 2023.
They met the young mother through a referral from the Little Way Pregnancy Resource Center near the end of her pregnancy. Committee members provided encouragement and used money from a parish fundraiser to supply her with essentials, such as a car seat, a stroller, a changing table, diapers, wipes and gift cards for groceries.
The mother is now independent, but committee members are still a part of her life, Brown added.
The Family and Life Ministries Office holds regular training sessions for parishes wishing to start a group. For more information about creating a Walking With Moms in Need committee, contact the Family and Life Ministries Office at 636-0296.
