Right to Life Sunday

This Sunday, Oct.02, is Right to Life Sunday, and the beginning of the 40 Days of Prayer for the most vulnerable among us.
I am happy to say, that this weekend is also the fundraising kickoff at St Joseph Catholic Church, Grand Junction, CO for the large, 5/4 life size outdoor bronze Unborn Innocence Memorial to the Unborn!

May the Lord Bless and guide this effort!

Wow, have you seen "180" yet??

Here's the link ~  www.180movie.com.
I'll admit that the description about what you have to do to be "saved" is a bit....problematic, if you will, but the rest of this pro-life video is right on!.
What do you all think??...Jim

Awareness growing!!

As I write this update, there are now 3 parishes trying to discern which Unborn Innocence memorial to place at their church!!! AND, Mary Catherine, the lady I hired to sculpt the Corpus, called today to say that we need to get a 2/3 life size (48" tall Corpus) ready for a Conference in Baltimore,MD next January!!!! Guess I better figure out the dimensions for a bigger cross!

Fundraising efforts can be our greatest challenge, but we have designed a "better way"!!

Coming soon ( real soon!)...Unborn Innocence Plaques! These beautiful plaques have the unborn innocence image imprinted on a marble tile background. Plaques are shipped with an attractive 'plate holder display' easel and retail for $50 each. To aide in fundraising efforts, we will supply these Plaques to Church groups/organizations for $25each...and they can sell them for $50 and keep the $25 difference for their Parish Unborn Innocence fund, or any other worthy cause that needs money.

One very good plan, is to give every family/person who donates $150.00 or  more to the Unborn Innocence memorial a free plaque. This makes the net donation $125.00. It would only take 360 donations to fund the 5/4 life size, Exterior, Unborn Innocence memorial (assuming a $45,000 average budget)!!!
Now, raising money for an Unborn Innocence memorial is so-o do-able!!! Just think about what the Lord's very words to me were..."it would be of great help, if this (memorial) were to be erected everywhere"

"Everywhere"...wow, that's a LOT of places. ~ So, does your Church have a memorial to the unborn???

If yours does not....then please, prayerfully, consider one. Talk to you Pastor, talk to the various service groups within your Church. We are Pro-Life...right??? All profits from sales of 'anything' Unborn Innocence, the Plaques, Rosaries, the Memorials themselves are going to bona fide pro life causes that make a real effort to put an end to abortion.

Blessings to all!.........Jim

What do these Memorials look like?

Unborn Innocence ~ the Memorial to the Unborn

There are 3 sizes of Unborn Innocence, available in Interior and Exterior versions.

The Interior version comes on the Black Walnut and Maple Wood Cross, with a Resin Urethane Corpus and dumpster babies. These interior memorials are very good quality, and will last forever, but, they will not take any "blunt trama" (as in being dropped, bumped, touched to much, etc.) If the display area is open to folks being able to touch the Corpus...then the Resin Urethane Corpus is not for you....it will break!
If this description is your situation, then you will need the Bronze Corpus, which will not be as likely to get damaged.

A Bronze Corpus is standard for all Exterior Memorials, and is optional for the Interior Memorials.

The Exterior version comes on a powder coated Steel Cross, with a Bronze Corpus, and Bronze dumpster babies. These exterior memorials need a concrete pedestal prepared for memorial display. All engineering has been completed, and minimum specification details are provided for the pedestal, and mounting bolt placement templates are also provided several weeks ahead of delivery, so when the time comes to erect the memorial, all foundation work is cured and ready.

There are several considerations on choosing a location to display your Unborn Innocence memorial.
* Do you want flood lights for your display ~ is electricity readily available?
* Are there young trees/shrubs near the display area ~ could these grow big enough to pose a 'falling over'  danger for the memorial?
* Is there a lot of wind or potential adverse weather conditions to consider?
* Are there any unsuitable soil conditions?
*Can a crane or other overhead lifting machinery easily access the memorial location?

Once some of these questions are answered and potential problems averted, the final design process can begin, and the goal of placing your Unborn Innocence memorial is well underway!


NEXT.....The different sizes of Unborn Innocence memorials!

Origins

~ by Jim Yankovich

The model pictured above, is a rendition of an idea I had for a memorial to the unborn. Actually, Unborn Innocence is more of a directive than an idea.

A little over a year ago, I stopped into our Church (St. Joseph’s, Grand Junction) during Wednesday Adorations, for a short visit, and some quiet prayer time. I prayed the Rosary, and  a Chaplet, and had just opened my bible to read a story,…the book of Tobit  I think. Anyway there was a bookmark prayer card at that page, and on it was a prayer for the unborn. I started thinking about this terrible thing called abortion, and about how we are all responsible for it in one way or another… I mean, we read about it or listen to some news story about nearly every day, yet save for a few dedicated people praying in front of abortion clinics, most of us do nothing to put an end to it. I was trying to pray my way out of that guilt trip, when I was suddenly restless, I mean leg twitching - can’t sit still – restless. I started to get up to walk around, leave actually, when I found myself moving towards the Tabernacle. I was actually drawn to a chair directly in front of the Tabernacle. I sat down, and asked God what I could do to help put an end to abortions?

The answer was instantaneous. In a voice as clear as an be, I was simply told “build a memorial to the unborn,… and you know what it should look like. It would be of great help, if this were to be erected everywhere”

So, here is what I seen. A cross, with Our Lord crucified upon it. He only has one hand nailed to the cross, the other is extended towards me…and in it are three aborted babies. Looking up into His eyes, I witness the most agonizing, pain filled, tear stained face imaginable…but I don’t think it was from being crucified, I think it was Him crying over these little babies! He is looking at them, and He says to them “before you were formed in your Mothers womb I called you by name, and then He looks right into me, and says “therefore whatsoever you do to the least of these, that you’ve done unto me”. He looks back at those little babies, lying side by side in his hand, and then the vision goes away. Well there was one more part,… there was a pile of little dead, aborted babies. A dumpster full of them, the three He held were from the top of the pile, like He had reached down and scooped them up into His hand.

So, the thought that I was left with, is that I am a part of this problem too. As I have prayed about this over the last year, I see that He is right. I mean sure you’re probably like me and support the various ‘Right to Life’ groups, and attend the occasional ‘Right to Life” Banquet. You may even pray outside of abortion clinics, or march in ‘Roe vs Wade’ anniversary walks, but the fact is … despite all of this, abortion lives on. In fact, it seems to be growing all of the time.

So how are you and I guilty of unconsciously supporting abortions?

I think the answer is multi faceted.

1) If your not taking a  pro-life stand, actively supporting ‘right to life’ initiatives for example, or supporting abortion awareness programs, or worst of all… not exercising your constitutional right to vote against the barrage of ‘Pro-choice’ issues, then sadly, you become a complacent ‘pro-choice’ supporter.

What Jesus is telling us, is that if we are not doing everything in our power to stop abortion, … then we are helping to keep abortion in place.

2) When we allow the moral fiber of our country to be compromised, then we enable terrible things like abortion to become acceptable.

We will have to answer for this. The Lord is going to hold us all accountable. It’s called justice, and we should greatly fear the Judgment, “… for whatsoever you do to the least of these, that you’ve done unto me”.

3) You don’t have to weld the abortionists knife to commit abortion…you need only look the other way when you know it is happening ~ to be just as guilty.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

This ‘vision’ if you will then, lasted only a few minutes, perhaps only seconds. After it went away, I asked “how do I do this?”, “show me the way”, when?, where?, what? And the answers were all the same … nothing. That’s right, nothing. Just do it!

I have hid behind the fact that I don’t know how to sculpt, therefore I can’t make a bronze memorial…. and I don’t carve, or paint, or any of those things. I work wood!

That is what I do…I work wood. So how is this memorial going to ever get done?

I have been talking about it for over a year now. Not to everyone, just occasionally, but the good news is: every one that I have discussed the project with, has been overwhelmingly supportive! Build confidence! In my feeble mind, I thought that if I had enough supporters, this would get done over night, and I could get back on with business!

Surprise, this is the business. And now that I have accepted this fact, it seems to be moving along in an orderly fashion! That’s how it is that you’re reading this letter right now.

Who will benefit from all of this?  Several great causes actually.

All profits from Unborn Innocence will go to Rachel’s Vineyard, (or someplace similar) local “Right to Life” organizations (they do wonderful billboard campaigns), local Pregnancy Centers (the ones that counsel women not to abort their baby),  the Knights of Columbus Ultrasound program (and any other ‘right to life’ programs that the K-C’s are involved in) and the “Little Light Project”. There will be others, these are just a few that I am personally aware of or involved in. Any legitimate pro-life cause, especially those who provide retreat/counsel/reconciliation services will be considered as recipients of Unborn Innocence profits.

This “Memorial” is entitled Unborn Innocence. By the grace of God, and the influence of Fr. Rob Wedow and Fr. Canice Eneyaka, my wife Christal and I (J Lazy 3 Woodworks, LLC) and Mary C. Unrein (Joshua’s Stone) have combined talents and expertise to bring this memorial, this monument to the unborn, to fruition.

Unborn Innocence is available in 3 sizes.

1) a Tabletop version that features a 15” Corpus on a 36” tall cross display.

2) a 2/3 life size version that features a 48” Corpus on a 92” to 106” tall cross display.

3) a 5/4 life size version that features an 84” Corpus on a 168” tall cross display.

All 3 versions are available in Bronze on either Wood (interior display) or Powder Coat Steel crosses (exterior display).