Birth Mothers Gather for Honor and Healing
As the women gathered in the church basement, they looked around at unfamiliar faces. They’d never met one another but knew they all shared a common history – each of the 43 women had placed a baby for adoption.
On July 17, the third annual Day of Recognition and Honoring for Birth Mothers brought these  women together to share their stories and support each other. Catholic Charities and the Archdiocesan Office for Marriage, Family and Life sponsored the event, the only known church-sponsored event of its kind in the nation.
The day included a healing mass, counseling resources and help for women interested in connecting with the adopted adult they placed. Women who placed babies for adoption prior to the 1970s often had no contact with the adoptive family or child and experienced tremendous social stigma.
“With the openness of adoption today, it is difficult for most people to understand the pressure young women received to place for adoption and keep it secret if they had a pregnancy outside of marriage,” says Connie Roller, program manager of Catholic Charities Adoption Services. “It's a different world now.”
Another upcoming event sponsored by the Office for Marriage, Family & Life invites adoptive families, birth parents, family members and friends to celebrate adoption. The sixth annual Archdiocesan Mass in Celebration of Adoption will be held at 4 p.m. Aug. 21 at St. Peter Claver, 1060 W. Central Ave., St. Paul.
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