Just after Christmas, the Archbishop of Czestochowa, Most Rev Stanislaw Nowak, inaugurated the third "Window of Life" for unwanted babies. the service is provided by the Sisters of the Congregation of Servants of the Immaculate Conception of the Mother of God. (The two other similar initiatives are at Krakow and Warsaw - the photo is of the one in Krakow, I think.)The window opens from the outside onto a heated cubicle. The sisters are alerted and the baby can be taken into the adjacent room for immediate professional medical care.
The head of Caritas at Czestochowa said that he hoped that the window would be used rarely because the best place for a child is within the care of its mother and father. However, he was glad that the opportunity was available for mothers who were desperate - and would be glad to know that their baby would be provided with immediate care.
H/T Lifesite News: Third “Window of Life” for Unwanted Babies Inaugurated in Poland
If you read Polish or, like me, enjoy reading google translations, here is an Article in Gazeta Czestochowska.
The Window of Life was dedicated in honour of Bl. Edmund Bojanowski. Born in 1814, Bl Edmund worked in rural areas to promote literature and culture among the people. The cholera epidemic of 1849 changed his life as he worked tirelessly among the sick. He spent the rest of his life in charitable work, especially through the orphanage he founded. Unusually for a layman, he effectively founded a religious order of sisters to assist with this work. An English woman, Frances Taylor (later Mother Magdalen Taylor) helped Florence Nightingale in the Crimea and became a Catholic after seeing the faith and hope of the dying Irish Catholic soldiers whom she was nursing. After returning home, she continued to work among the poor and felt called to the religious life. She considered that the community founded by Bl. Edmund Bojanowski was closest to her ideal and in 1869 she founded the Poor Servants of the Mother of God, broadly based on his work.
6 comments:
What a wonderful idea. The fact that the mother can leave her child and anonymity is maintained. No name, no surname means the child can be adopted within two weeks. I think given this option many women would refuse abortion. I was in hospital giving birth to my first child and opposite me was a young girl who had given birth to a beautiful boy whom she had offered up for adoption. The staff in the hospital treated her with such contempt constantly handing her the baby to look after saying she may as well look after him now as he would soon be gone.
Guess what next time I think she will opt for an abortion
As an update, a tenth baby was found in the Krakow window just after New Year's. Krakow was the first one and I guess the success of their initiative is the inspiration for other cities taking up the cause.
Elk, Tarnow and Poznan are going to be opening windows within a few months and there are other cities considering it.
Wow! That is a beautiful window. I'm tired of hearing about babies being found in trash bins. I mean, c'mon!
Yet again it is the Catholic Church (not the government, not the national health services or any other secular organisation - just plain old traditional Catholic Charity and Acts of Mercy) that provides a life-line for the babies and their mothers who have perhaps anguished over teh potential of having an abortion, but can now offer their babies anonymously for adoption.
That the Catholic Church is the greatest provider of healthcare, education, food aid etc... in the world is never mentioned in the media who are always first to 'crucify Our Blessed Lord' again and again on a million other issues.
May God Bless these life saving initiatives and the Holy Sisters abundantly in their work. Perhaps we should have similar 'windows of life' in England? One next to every abortuary??
Possibly even a converted ambulance with a 'window of life' that could be parked outside IPPF's offices in Regents Park not only accepting babies anonymously but handing out pro-life literature!
What a great idea. I know that in some areas of the US women can drop off their unwanted babies at local hospitals. Anything that can keep women from aborting babies or dumping newborns in a dumpster is wonderful.
This is very thoughtful On the one hand i feel happy that the bay will live. on the other i am deeply sadded that we live in a situation where this window has to even exist, in a situaion that parents have to give up the little baby who is an expression of God cretive deisgn along with them. I am torn between happiness and sadness.
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