The local Planned Parenthood Director had quit her job and walked into the local Coalition for Life offices. It was a welcomed shock to those who heard. But, then it hit national news, because Planned Parenthood was scared. They were scared she would share inside information and that they wouldn’t control the narrative. They were right to be scared, because Abby Johnson had a new mission.
In fact, her story is now a movie - Unplanned.
I picked up the phone and called Shawn Carney (now President and CEO at 40 Days for Life), at the Coalition for Life. I asked him what happened and he told me they were super busy with lawyers and news and I should call him the next week, which I did. When we talked, I asked him about Abby. He told me her story and I told him that if she ever had questions about the Catholic Church or decided she wanted to explore it that I would do RCIA with her (the process for exploring the Catholic Church and then becoming Catholic).
Flash forward several months. I got a call from Abby saying the she and her husband, Doug, wanted to come in to talk to me. When we met, Abby and Doug said they had questions about the Catholic Church, but they were NOT ready to commit to becoming Catholic yet. I tried to set them at ease, ask a lot of questions, and get to know them. We started to meet regularly for months, but had to do so around Abby’s new schedule, which included speaking and media appearances. So, we did a special one-on-two RCIA (or one-on-three, with their baby).
Like all of us, Abby and Doug had some rough spots. They also had a lot of very hard questions about difficult subjects. We went through them all. Sometimes they challenged me. Sometimes I challenged them. We prayed together, got to know one another, and we walked toward Jesus together. I learned a lot from our time and wanted to share some of the things that I have learned from them.
Evangelization that is based in a relationship is really the goal here. But ultimately, evangelization is about conversion. If we want conversion in others, then I hope the advice I have learned may be a help to you too. Abby and Doug both had conversions and I was able to witness the changes they were going through. What a gift.
Now you get to share in seeing that change - by going to see the Unplanned movie. I can’t wait...I am going tonight.
Other links of interest: