In St. Louis, Missouri, an unassuming brick, three-story convent in a converted home on a corner lot is helping the pro-life cause. Its intentional location across a Planned Parenthood clinic has caused a "dramatic decrease" in clinical abortions throughout the years.
"Abortions have significantly decreased in that facility and in Missouri overall, since the opening of the convent," Amy Kosta, a program manager at the convent Our Lady of Guadalupe told the National Catholic Register. "How can that evil happen with Jesus right across the street?"
It was in 2015 when the idea for the Our Lady of Guadalupe Convent came to mind when a handful of Catholic couples in the Archdiocese of Saint Louis proposed building a chapel near the Planned Parenthood clinic. The chapel would serve as a refuge for pro-life advocates and sidewalk counselors to gather for prayer and fellowship.
When the idea was proposed to now-retired Archbishop Robert Carlson, he purchased and renovated the house on the corner lot, converting it into a convent and in 2017 dedicated it as convent under the patronage of the protectress of the unborn, Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Now, the convent is operated by the Respect Life apostolate within the Archdiocese of Saint Louis. Two Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity who reside there, Sisters Sue Ann Hall and Delores Vogt are the ones responsible for welcoming sidewalk counselors and pro-life advocates.
Today, the Our Lady of Guadalupe Convent serves as a dual ministry of prayer and hospitality, as well as a safe haven for pro-life advocates who serve as sidewalk counselors at the Planned Parenthood clinic across the street. Pro-life advocates who are too intimidated to send a prayer from outside the abortion clinic can come into the convent and pray there.
"We try to say too if there's somebody that is afraid to come and pray in front of Planned Parenthood, they can always come to our chapel," Sister Hall remarked. "The chapel is always there. The prayer reaches there as well as out on the sidewalk."
Our Lady of Guadalupe Convent also hosts Mass, adoration, and lunches several times a month. The convent features a meeting room on its third floor, where gatherings of pro-life ministries in the archdiocese. take place. The convent is also set to host rallies and special events on the national pro-life advancements.
Kosta shared that the Planned Parenthood facility is "not a place that a lot of [sidewalk counselors] wanna go, especially by themselves" because it is located in a semi-industrial area at the end of a neighborhood. Now, the convent serves as a safe place for pro-life advocates and sidewalk counselors who no longer need to walk to a nearby restaurant just to use the bathroom. At the convent, they can enjoy a bathroom, a chapel, and sometimes, even the sisters' chocolate chip cookies.
The convent and its pro-life ministry is inspiring neighboring archdioceses who recently visited them as well. They were hoping to launch a similar facility in the near future. The convent's impact on the community is indeed noticeable, as per Kosta, who said that there was a decrease in the number of surgical abortions since the convent opened right across the Planned Parenthood facility along Forest Park Avenue, which according to the Kansas City Star, is the "the only clinic in the state of Missouri offering abortions" up to 21 weeks or four months of pregnancy.
However, the pro-life advocate said that they are facing a new challenge because Planned Parenthood opened a large facility near the Mississippi River in Illinois, to which the Missouri Planned Parenthood clinic would often refer women. Nonetheless, Sister Hall believes that "God wants this work to be accomplished that He will see it accomplished."
