Home / News & Publications / Michigan Catholic News / 2008 / 400 gather at Mass for lost babies and those trying to conceive
400 gather at Mass for lost babies and those trying to conceive
by Robert Delaney of The Michigan Catholic
Published October 24, 2008
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Robert Delaney | The Michigan Catholic
Couples who have experienced the loss of a baby come up during last Sunday's Mass at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament to receive a rose and a rosary blessed by Cardinal Adam Maida, and to join Msgr. Michael LeFevre (right) in prayer for the babies. |
Detroit — Ben Stapel said he is glad last Sunday's Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Mass drew about 400 people to the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament, but added that good attendance is not the most important thing.
"What's more important to me is the looks on the faces of those who participated. Many of them are really, really grateful to have this opportunity to grieve the baby that they lost," said Stapel, who helped organize and conduct the commemoration ceremonies at the Mass.
Stapel read off the names of couples who were invited to come up to the altar during the service to receive a rose and to receive a rosary blessed by Cardinal Adam Maida, and to join Msgr. Michael LeFevre – cathedral rector and celebrant of the Mass – in prayer for their babies.
"There was one woman who had lost one baby of her own and five grandbabies," said Stapel, who works with the archdiocesan Office of Natural Family Planning.
Those who lost their child due to miscarriage are urged to name the child and enter the child's name into a Book of Innocents, that they might be prayed for, he continued.
Later, Stapel also invited couples who are struggling to conceive a child to also come up to the altar to receive a special blessing and to receive St. Gerard medal blessed by the cardinal.
St. Gerard, an 18th-century Redemptorist, has gained a reputation as an intercessor for couples hoping to have children and for safe delivery in childbirth. After the Mass there was an opportunity for private veneration of a St. Gerard relic.
Stapel said there is "lots of good feedback" from those who attend the Mass. "One woman who came last year told me she found out a few days after the Mass that she was pregnant. She was just elated," he said.
Natural Family Planning is now used as much or more for helping couples achieve conception as it is to limit the size of a family, Stapel said. But he cautioned that the message to struggling couples is not that there is any certainty of success.
"We hope those who don't conceive are able to accept the Lord's will. Maybe it is His will that they adopt," Stapel said.
Msgr. LeFevre made the importance of trusting God the subject of his homily at the Mass. Just as the ancient Israelites were exhorted to trust in God by the prophet Isaiah, so, too, should those suffering from the loss of a baby and couples struggling to conceive place their trust in God, he said.
"We need to ask, 'What is it in my life God is asking me to do?'" he told the congregation.
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