PORT CLINTON—In an effort to educate parishioners on a variety of life issues and to gauge their interest in delving deeper into particular issues, a Life Issues Forum was held at Port Clinton Immaculate Conception in February.

Presenting their own personal experiences and viewpoints on life issues were a doctor, the director of Heartbeat of Ottawa County, an active participant in the Project Rachel support group for post-abortive women, the diocesan respect life coordinator and the parish pastor.

James Matheson, a doctor of obstetrics and gynecology in Vermilion, spoke of his transformation from a typical practitioner to one who now only works with Natural Family Planning methods.

“My practice was no different than any other OB/GYN,” he says. “In medicine, we follow what I would call a herd mentality, where we essentially do … what the experts say.”

He never performed abortions, but says he did prescribe contraceptives and performed sterilizations.

“As the years passed, however, I became more troubled by what I was seeing in my own practice,” he says, citing a number of social issues, among them, increasing numbers of teen pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases, abortion, divorce and unhappiness after being sterilized.

Upon reflection of the practice of OB/GYN, he realized doctors in his specialty were the only ones actually proactively destroying life rather than protecting life.

“So many issue OB/GYNs deal with are totally contrary to the what the Catholic Church teaches,” Dr. Matheson says. “I came to the realization that if I were to be a true Catholic, I had to make my faith a part of my life every day.”

Eight years ago, he stopped prescribing the Pill and stopped performing sterilizations.

“I believe contraception is the root cause of all abortion,” he says. “Society tries to do everything it can to separate love from life. The church teaches that anything that separates love from life is a grave sin.”

Ellen Golias, director of Heartbeat of Ottawa County, describes the organization as a life-affirming faith-based pregnancy center that encourages women to continue with a pregnancy and counsels them on alternatives to abortion.

“We can give them good advice, but if we don’t tell them of the Lord’s love for them and His plan for their life, we haven’t given them much,” she says.

Most of the women Heartbeat serves are ages 18 to 26 and are offered maternity items, counseling for adoption, parenting classes and marriage classes. Additionally, the organization offers pre-marital abstinence education.

Also speaking to the group about pregnancy and abortion issues was Mary Landrum, a post-abortive woman who now works with Project Rachel, a diocesan support group for women who have had abortions. She also speaks in high schools about being pro-life.

“It is not a choice, but a life I took because I was scared,” she says of her abortion 30 years ago. It took her the next 25 years to forgive herself for her decision to abort, Ms. Landrum adds.

A series of highs and lows followed her after the abortion, she says. She ended up getting married and having two children. But it was when her nephew — the same age as her aborted child would have been — graduated from high school and later married that it became concrete to her the life and milestones she had destroyed.

She says she was finally able to forgive herself when she accepted God into her life and then decided she needed to speak out against abortions as much as possible.

Toledo Diocesan Respect Life director Jan Kahle reviewed the U.S. Bishops statements on end of life issues. Having researched the bishops’ Web site (www.usccb.org), Ms. Kahle reviewed some of the main points in facing the end of life with dignity.

“Life if a gift of God,” she says. “We do not have absolute power over this life. We need to preserve this gift and use it for His glory.”

Based on this, Ms. Kahle gave an overview of some of the bishops’ main points:

• Patients may reject life-prolonging procedures if they are deemed insufficiently beneficial or excessively burdensome to the person, she says.

• Suicide and euthanasia are never morally acceptable.

• Hydration and nutrition, she says, are not obligations if the body is not capable of processing them.

• Taking medications to become as pain-free as possible is acceptable, she says, as long as the intent in using the medications is not to hasten death.

Wrapping up the evening and giving a pastoral perspective, Father John Missler, pastor of Immaculate Conception, shared several of his own personal stories.

“The aged, the sick and children have a place,” he says, “and I know I can’t push them out of God’s plan for my life.”

Recalling a conversation with a woman who was going to have an abortion, he remembers her saying to him, “I know you love my baby, but do you love me?”

He never saw that woman again, but he says that encounter reminded him “It is love that strings us together.

“I believe it is the lack of love that is the foundation of sin,” he adds. “That concept of love … it came from Jesus. He did not come with a list of moral laws. He was a redeemer of love."

Judy Geiger, parish nurse at Immaculate Conception, helped organized the program with other members of the newly-formed respect life group at the parish. Having just developed the group this past fall, Ms. Geiger says the Holy Spirit moved the group along, with everything falling into place for them as they developed the program.

“I was pleased,” she says of the turnout during a stormy Sunday evening. “We plan to see where interest lies and hone in on topics of interest,” she says, adding subsequent programs will be more focused on a particular issue.

“We want to raise the awareness of life issues,” Ms. Geiger adds. “These are relevant issues and political issues of today that Catholics need to know.”