Shawn Carney, Campaign Director, 40 Days for Life: Ten years ago ... after we held the first-ever 40 Days for Life campaign ... we thought it was just going to be a one-time effort.
But since then, God has taken this campaign from Bryan/College Station, Texas to places no one could have imagined. It has seen
blessing after blessing ... with lives saved from abortion, abortion centers closed ... and even the hardest hearts touched and transformed.
Only God could do this!
We wrap up this campaign with a look at three countries where 40 Days for Life is growing rapidly – Mexico, Romania and Croatia.
Mexico
Steve Karlen, the North American outreach director for 40 Days for Life, describes the Mexican campaigns in one word: “
intense!”
“The local leaders are keenly aware that abortion isn’t something Mexico City wants,” said Steve, who is attending closing rallies. “It’s been imposed through significant pressure from other countries.”
The response to 40 Days for Life has been amazing. At a Friday night event, Steve said “it was raining, and there were still more people than we could count.
People took a two-hour bus ride to come pray.”
This vigil is at outside a Marie Stopes abortion facility in Coyoacan, which mysteriously shut down about three weeks ago. The leaders hope the closure is permanent … but their vigil continues.
This campaign has recorded five saved babies ... including a set of twins.
The other vigils are just as strong. Tere, the leader in Iztapalapa, said there are often as many as
30 people praying, and the local bishop has asked every church to participate.
Romania
Dan and Julia are the campaign directors for a first-time campaign in Cluj-Napoca, one of the largest cities in the country.
“The leader of the pro-life movement in Romania is
astonished they achieved such an amazing task of doing a campaign in a textbook fashion and wants to know how they did it,” said Robert Colquhoun, the international outreach coordinator for 40 Days for Life.
Around 600 volunteers have participated so far in 40 Days for Life … and there are
10 different cities interested in hosting their own campaigns.
“There are many shy Christians in Romania,” Robert said, “so 40 Days for Life is certainly counter-cultural and counter-intuitive for them. Many people are amazed that the Orthodox believers also came to pray and they have had a real talent encouraging Christians to pray together, ecumenically.”
He said they’ve run an excellent campaign, “which sets a great precedent for the country ...
and I expect many spiritual fruits and blessings as a result.”
Croatia
Ante Caljkusic, who brought the first 40 Days for Life vigil to Zagreb, has watched as the outreach has now spread to
ten cities in his country in the past year … and it could expand to
16 or 17 for the next campaign. It may be spreading to adjacent countries as well.
The campaigns must be touching consciences. There were protests reported in two cities, Pula and Split. In Pula, volunteers continued their peaceful prayer as women chanted insulting slogans. In Split, a few people showed up to demonstrate … but they were surprised to find around 100 people in prayer!
The 40 Days for Life project, Ante said, is “very simple and very effective.
And that’s why we chose it.”
The next campaign runs from September 23 to November 1. Will your community be part of it? Please pray about it as this campaign draws to a close.
Tags: 40 Days for Life, Mar 2015, 1st Campaign, Day 40, Mexico, Romania, Croatia To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the Greater Fitchburg For Life. Thanks!