From Shawn Carney, Campaign Director
40 Days for Life
Five 40 Days for Life vigils have taken place outside the WomanCare abortion center in Lansing, Michigan. But local leaders in Lansing decided there would not be a sixth.
They didn't sign up for the current campaign because they knew the facility’slease was expiring on September 30 – and the new tenant would be a local church!
On Tuesday, the abortionist backed his truck up to the building … removed all of his belongings … and locked the door for the final time. As of now, there are no plans for him to re-open in a new location.
This is the 59th abortion facility … where a 40 Days for Life vigil has been held on the sidewalk outside … that has closed its doors permanently.
Praise God!!!
Here are some of the details that illustrate how God's timing is not always our own.
Faithful people have prayed outside WomanCare for years – praying that one day, abortions would cease.
As Cecilia Tombelli, who led the last three 40 Days for Life vigils in Lansing described it, in the first chapter of this story, “a community came together with a great desire to defend babies and to help men and women challenged with unplanned pregnancies. Prayers for hope, healing, mercy and grace abounded.”
About a year ago, a procession from the Church of the Resurrection brought hundreds of people together. They walked the short distance from the church to WomanCare “to claim it for Christ,” as Cecilia put it. “The community placed its trust in the merciful heart of Jesus.”
It was also about this time that the Church of the Resurrection was making expansion plans. “The Lord made clear that our need for temporary office space and our parish commitment to pray and fast to end abortion might come together providentially,” said Fr. Steve Mattson, the church’s pastor.
So talks began with the owner of the building that housed the abortion center. It started with a simple question: Would the owner be willing to lease the space to the church instead of the abortionist?
“The abortionist never signed a lease,” Fr. Mattson explained. “He was going month to month.” The church offered a 33-month lease – and the building’s owner accepted. Bishop Earl Boyea then signed the lease.
As of October 1, the 4,100 square feet of space at 1601 East Grand River in Lansing is no longer the home of an abortion business. It will now house parish offices, a chapel and a new pro-life center.
“Thanks be to God!” Cecilia said. “We have been given the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ … and death has been swallowed up! There is no longer an abortion clinic anywhere in Lansing.”
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