An Apology...and an Urgent Request for Prayer and Fasting

Anne writes:

Hello all.

I wish I had exciting news to share about the opening of the Gianna Center for Women, but unfortunately the delays remain.

Our much-needed renovations, in the works for almost 2 months, are scheduled to begin this week. We hope that it will not take more than a week or two for these to be completed. A few other behind-the-scenes details also need to be resolved, but we feel genuinely hopeful that we will be opening our doors in the next 3-4 weeks.

To our patients who are waiting so patiently for our opening, I just want to say that I am so, so sorry for the delays, particularly to those of you suffering from the pain of infertility. I know how deeply painful this struggle is -- and how doubly painful is the wait to receive the care you need.

Please know we are doing everything that we can to move things forward, and that our entire team is praying for you all daily.

We look forward to serving you, and trust in God's timing for everything.

During this time of waiting, we ask you to join us in praying and fasting about the changes to our healthcare system currently being debated by our government. At the end of this update, I am including a letter I received from the Family Life Office of the Archdiocese of New York, asking for prayers and fasting for the changes that are coming.

Please continue also to pray for us -- I can assure you that no matter what changes come in the days ahead, we at the Gianna Center are committed to uncompromising fidelity to the teachings of the Church regarding the sanctity of human life and the provision of medical services.

If the proverbial "line in the sand is drawn," where physicians and healthcare institutions must "choose between life and death," we will choose life -- and do everything that we can to be available to serve you.

God bless you all!

In Him,

Anne

Letter from the Family Life Office of the Archdiocese of New York:

October 13, 2009+
Remembering Fatima

Dear Religious Brothers and Sisters and Friends in Christ,

As you all know, our country’s lawmakers are currently drafting a bill that could change the way we all receive and purchase healthcare. The Bishops have expressed their disappointment and apprehension that our Catholic values are not expressed in the current plans that are being discussed. Of particularly grave concern is the inclusion of mandated coverage for abortion, taxpayer funding of abortion and the exclusion of conscience rights (see attached USCCB letter of October 8, 2009). There are untold numbers of lives at stake, especially the unborn, and the landscape of America would be potentially changed in many ways.

Because the bill’s proponents seek a vote very soon and thus far lawmakers have been unwilling to incorporate the Bishop’s suggestions, we are inviting you, our fellow religious, members of the clergy and friends (many are already involved in the 40 Days for Life) to join us in fervent prayer and fasting for our defenseless brothers and sisters before the mighty throne of God.

Our beloved John Paul the Great emphasizes this summons as he writes, “…a great prayer for life is urgently needed, a prayer which will rise up throughout the world. Through special initiatives and in daily prayer, may an impassioned plea rise to God the Creator and lover of life, from every Christian community, from every group and association, from every family and from the heart of every believer. Jesus himself has shown us by his own example that prayer and fasting are the first and most effective weapons against the forces of evil (Mt 4:1-11). Let us therefore discover anew the humility and the courage to pray and fast so that the power from on high will break down the walls of lies and deceit: the walls which conceal from the sight of so many of our brothers and sisters the evil practices and laws which are hostile to life. May this same power turn their hearts to resolutions and goals inspired by the civilization of life and love.” (Evangelium Vitae, #100)

May the Spirit lead us always, and may our humble obedience and docility to the Truth through passionate prayer and mortification, be in the end, cause for great rejoicing within the Mystical Body of Christ.

Sincerely in Christ,

Sr. Veronica Mary, SV Sr. Lucy Marie, SV
Director Respect Life Coordinator

One Year Anniversary

Anne and Jamey represented the JPII Center for Women and the Gianna Center for Women at the recent Catholic THRIVE Conference in mid-town Manhattan. We had a great and very supportive turnout of women interested in the pro-life healthcare services which will be offered at St. Vincent's Gianna Center.




Anne writes:

Some quick exciting updates to mitigate our disappointment that we have not yet been able to open the Gianna Center.


1) IRS Nonprofit Status

The John Paul II Center for Women received IRS recognition of tax-exempt, non-profit status! This allows us to accept donations which are tax-deductible from donors -- and is a critical step which was necessary for our mission to promote a national network of authentically Catholic pro-life healthcare centers for women.

Receiving this at this time is actually nearly miraculous. Fewer than 10% of nonprofits are granted this recognition when the initial application is submitted, and if rejected, it can take over a year to obtain this status.

Thanks to the great work of our nonprofit lawyer -- Jim Hostetler of Guardian Angel Nonprofit Services -- we received this recognition 40 days after submitting our application! God is good. Thanks Jim!

2) Our ONE YEAR Anniversary

Tomorrow, September 15, the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows, marks the one year anniversary of the incorporation of the John Paul II Center for Women as a nonprofit dedicated to promoting the dignity of women, particularly in the area of healthcare. We pray in thanksgiving for the many blessings of this past year -- and ask for the intercession of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, whose sufferings united to the sufferings of her Son, are a source of abundant grace for us and for all women.

3) The Gianna Center

It's official -- we have an address! Thanks be to God. The lease was formally signed last Thursday. We still need to do some minor office renovations, so we are hoping to open by the end of September.

The office will be located at 15 East 40th Street, Suite 101 (in the Asian Cultural Center).

Please watch the Gianna Center website www.svcmc.org/gianna for updates.

For patients of the Gianna Center -- we will begin contacting you as soon as appointments become available. We are in the process of working with your insurance companies to make sure your care is covered. This process can take several weeks to several months.

Please keep this in your prayers. A list of accepted insurances will be posted on the Gianna website in the next few weeks.

Thank you all for your ongoing prayers.

God bless you!
Anne Mielnik, MD

A Birthday Present for Mary?

Anne writes:

We have some good news and some bad news...

First the bad news...

Our opening date will need to be postponed yet again. When they told me New York was the city of "red tape," I had no idea just how long the aforementioned roll of tape could get!

Not to worry -- things are moving forward with the planned office space near Grand Central Station, and we do hope to open within the next few weeks.

I have learned over the past year and a half working on the JPII and Gianna Centers that the delays are just as much part of God's master plan as are the open doors and amazing blessings.

I feel as if He is orchestrating many pieces on a grand chess board -- and we cannot move forward until another piece has been moved into place. His timing is perfect.

In the meantime, the "Gianna Team" is preparing to begin serving the women of New York City.

I can't wait until you meet them all! In fact, in the next few updates, I will begin to introduce them to you.

That being said, we are beginning a novena that Our Lord will remove any of the remaining obstacles preventing us from opening -- and will present our Gianna Clinic to our Lady on her birthday, September 8. Wouldn't it be amazing if we opened on Our Lady's birthday?!

Jesus -- it's in your hands!

And Now the Good News

God has been so good to us while we await the availability of our office space. Some exciting updates...

• The Gianna Center for Women can be found on the website of St. Vincent's Hospital. Check it out at www.svcmc.org/gianna. The first 100% pro-life women's health center in Manhattan has a web presence! Thank you, Lord. We will be adding pictures of the Gianna team and office in the next few days.
• Our chaplain, Fr. Dan McCaffery, visited our office space and agreed to approach the Archbishop about using one of our rooms as a small chapel with the Blessed Sacrament! Pray for this! What a gift to our patients and to us to have our Lord present among us in this powerful way.
• The Gianna Team will be attending Catholic THRIVE, a conference for young adult Catholics from around the country being held in NYC September 5-6. We are looking forward to the amazing line-up of speakers -- and will have a table in the Ballroom if you would like to come by and say "hello." Details for the conference can be found at: www.catholicthrive.com
• Plans are in the works for an Open House at the Gianna Center where you will be able to see the beautiful space our Lord has prepared for us...

Thank you for all of your prayers, your support, your encouragement...and your patience.

God bless you!

Anne

JPII Center and Healthcare Renewal Featured in Zenit News Article

Anne writes:

Zenit news has published an interview with us regarding the need for healthcare providers to be willing to stand up as pro-life leaders in healthcare. The links are below:

Part 1:
http://www.zenit.org/article-26538?l=english

Part 2:
http://www.zenit.org/article-26553?l=english

Please continue to keep us in your prayers!

God bless you.

Theology of the Body

I recently had the great privilege of having dinner with the West family in our shared hometown of Lancaster, PA. What an amazing family! Thank you Bonnie and Soren! And thank you, Christopher, for your ministry.




Anne writes:

Things continue to move forward with the opening of the Gianna Healthcare Center at St. Vincent's, but as many of you have heard, a delay has occurred.

The office space needs some minor renovations, thus we will be delaying our opening date to August 17, 2009.

What a gift this delay has been for me -- a true blessing in disguise!

In the midst of this whirlwind year, I never imagined there would be a chance to take a break, but God is so good and knows the needs of his little ones.

Theology of the Body

With the time off, I have been able to attend two amazing conferences related to our mission.

The first was Christopher West's Theology of the Body Head and Heart Immersion Course.

Amazing! Amazing! Amazing!

I have heard Christopher speak and am familiar with Theology of the Body -- it is at the heart of what we are doing in NYC and is the foundation of our understanding of the dignity of women!

But this week-long, "total immersion of head and heart" in God's plan for creating us as male and female was absolutely amazing. Transforming.

It took my understanding of TOB to a whole new level. It even gave new form to my understanding of what it means to be a doctor, as one who is called in a unique way to minister to human beings in their bodies, minds, spirits...

I highly recommend this course -- and all of Christopher West's works.

His books are available through Ascencion Press at http://www.ascensionpress.com/, and you can register for the TOB Immersion Course at http://www.tobinstitute.org/.

I am aware of the recent controversy surrounding Christopher's work and his ministry -- and after getting to know him both personally and as a student of the Theology of the Body, I want to add my voice to those who AFFIRM WHOLEHEARTEDLY the amazing ways in which God is working in and through Christopher's work.

During the week I spent with him and his colleagues, I saw nothing but good fruits -- deep healing, return to the Sacraments, conversion of heart and a deepening longing for God in all of the course's participants.

Our Lord told us -- you will know a tree by its fruits. And these fruits ARE GOOD.

Thank you, Christopher, for responding to God's call, for giving of yourself so generously, for ministering to all of your students -- and for making JPII's writings understandable for a lay audience.

You are a gift to us all!

Prayer Warriers

I was also impressed with another aspect of the weeklong TOB course.

The TOB Institute team has a designated Prayer Team that prays before the Blessed Sacrament for all of the course participants throughout the week.

This was a powerful and dramatic source of healing for those in attendance as all healing -- whether physical, emotional, or spiritual -- comes through Our Lord, and He uses our prayers in a powerful way.

I would like to start such a "Prayer Team" to intercede for the patients who will come to the JPII Center and Gianna Healthcare.

Your prayers have truly worked miracles to bring about this Center -- I have watched them happen with my own eyes. I would like this "Prayer Power" to be directed in a special way to all the women and couples that we will serve on a daily basis.

If you would be willing to volunteer to serve on our "Prayer Team," interceding for the specific needs of the women we will serve at the JPII Center and Gianna Healthcare, please contact me at amielnik@jpiicenterforwomen.org.

In particular, please let me know if you would be willing to coordinate this "Prayer Team." This would be a tremendous gift to us and a tremendous service to the women of NYC.

Infertility Online Discussion Group

Finally, we have also started an outreach for pro-life and Catholic women struggling with infertility. This is an email listserve (a "Google Group") called "Prolife Catholic Infertility."

We created this in response to requests from Catholic and pro-life women from around the country for a common place to discuss those issues which pro-life women uniquely struggle with as they seek treatment for infertility.

What treatments are available? Which destroy embryos? What does the Catholic Church say about the various alternatives? Where can I turn for help?

Few have been the resources available to you – and many of you have expressed a sense of feeling abandoned by medicine if you do not want to go through with IVF or other artificial reproductive technologies.

I am SO SORRY for this!

At the JPII Center, we hope to eventually create an online resource where you can go to find answers to the common questions about infertility treatment, pro-life alternatives, ethical decision-making, and where you can go for help and support.

This will take some time.

In the meantime, we have created this online email discussion group to allow you to network and dialogue with each other about the issues you are dealing with – many of you have already sought and found answers to these common questions and this group allows you to share these answers with others.

It is a "closed" group, so only those people I add to the list will have access to the discussions in order to create a “safe space” for you to share your real concerns and questions.

We are a Catholic organization, but any woman struggling with infertility who is looking for pro-life alternatives in infertility treatment is welcome to join, regardless of her faith tradition or beliefs.

To be added to the list, please email me directly at amielnik@jpiicenterforwomen.org. I need only your name and email address and a brief description of why you are interested in the listserve.

Thank you again for all of your prayers!

God bless you!

Anne

Your Fervent Prayers are AMAZING -- Please Keep Them Coming!

Anne writes:

Office Space

Thank you, everyone, for your fervent prayers for our office space -- your prayers and God's response are just totally amazing!

One week after negotiations for our initial office space came to a halt, we found another space that is elegant, peaceful, perfectly suited to our needs, will cost us less -- AND is located only 3 blocks from Grand Central Station!

Can you imagine? At such a phenomenal location, we will truly be able to serve not just the women of Manhattan but women from surrounding boroughs and states as well.

We hope to have final approval for the space this week, so please renew your fervent prayers for this to come to fruition.

As has occured time and again, I am amazed and humbled at God's active Presence and work in the world.

A Growing Network of Pro-life, Catholic Physicians

In other news, we have started an Email Listserve for physicians and other healthcare providers who are committed to providing 100% pro-life healthcare, faithful to the teachings of the Catholic Church, to network and dialogue about rebuilding a Culture of Life in medicine.

During the past year, as I have traveled and worked on the JPII Center and Gianna Healthcare, I have met a growing number of amazing Catholic and pro-life physicians who are feeling similarly called to stand up, step out, and create authentically Catholic healthcare centers in their communities.

I believe the time is coming when we may find a way to unite under a common banner -- to be an unwavering and unified voice of medical professionals, not only calling for a renewed committment to protecting human life in medicine, but actually ourselves creating an alternative healthcare system in medicine, one which is the truly pro-life alternative.

Why shouldn't our patients be free to choose the kind of healthcare they want to receive? As physicians and healthcare providers, we need only make it available. I believe people will come when they see that we provide not only the highest quality of healthcare but that our ethics are trustworthy, rooted in the Truth.

God will lead us, but please add this renewal to your fervent prayers.

It is a "closed" listserve, but any healthcare provider committed to providing 100% pro-life healthcare, faithful to the teachings of the Church, is welcome to join. Healthcare providers interested in joining the group can contact me at amielnik@jpiicenterforwomen.org.

Insurance

Gianna Healthcare will be accepting most major medical insurances. We hope to have a list available by mid-July.

Again, patients interested in being contacted for an appointment can register with us through our New Patient Sign-Up on the JPII Website http://www.jpiicenterforwomen.org/.

Thank you, again, for all of your prayers and support.

God bless you!

Anne

Come, Holy Spirit, Come...

Mother Agnes, the Superior of the Sisters of Life, introduces me to Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York at the Sister's Gala May 1. He expressed his enthusiastic support of the JPII Center and Gianna Healthcare!










Anne Writes:

The whirlwind of grace continues...God is working so powerfully in the world, among His many "little souls" -- and doing this work for the JPII Center brings me into contact with the most amazing people and programs almost daily.

I have posted a Photo Journal documenting some of these meetings on my Facebook profile. (I had to put the picture of the moment I met Archbishop Timothy Dolan on the blog because he is a living saint, and I was so honored to meet him) but you can view the rest of the photos at: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=10164&id=1429846088&ref=share )

Some striking recent examples of the amazing way the Holy Spirit is moving in the world are listed at the end of today's updates.

JPII & Gianna Healthcare Updates

• Office Space -- We had located an amazing office in Soho which would have been a wonderful place to start the Gianna Healthcare Center. Just this week, after 6 weeks of negotiations, the contact fell through! (Does any of this seem like a recurrent theme to anyone else?) Back to square one...please renew your fervent prayers for this intention. Gianna needs a home!
• Opening Day -- Except for not having a home, we are still on target for a July 21 Opening Day. Patients can register to be contacted for appointments via the "New Patient Sign-Up" on the JPII website http://www.jpiicenterforwomen.org/
• Gianna FertilityCare Center Opens -- We are excited to announce the opening of the Gianna FertilityCare Center! Jamey J., the FertilityCare Center Coordinator for Gianna, will begin teaching women and couples the Creighton Model FertilityCare approach to Natural Family Planning, starting the third week of June. Please contact us through the "New Patient Sign-Up" Link on the JPII website to register for your Introductory Session with Jamey.

Thanks for all of your support and prayers! None of this would be happening without the hundreds of people who have added us to their personal prayers and who remember us in their prayer groups.

God bless you,

Anne

_____________________________________________

Here are some of the absolutely amazing things that are brewing in the world, even as the darkness around us grows ever deeper...

Come, Holy Spirit, Come...and renew the face of the earth...

The "John Paul II Generation"

There is a growning generation of holy teens and young adults, on fire with love of God and ready to "do whatever He tells them..."

FOCUS (http://www.focusonline.org/)

This phenomenal Catholic college missionary program, to which I have been recently introduced, is just one amazing example of how the Holy Spirit is moving in the world today...And the influence of their growing witness in our world is profound.

SHUFL (Seton Hall United for Life)

Seton Hall's on-fire prolife student group is blazing the trail on their campus, reminding their classmates that abortion harms women. I recently spoke to a group of 15 students from SHUFL about the JPII Center and was inspired by their committment to defend life, no matter what the cost to themselves.

Lancaster General Family Medicine Residency

This Residency Program, where I am completing my family medicine training, is witnessing a tremendous renewal among doctors-in-training who are committed to rebuilding a culture of life. Seven out of the programs 39 resident-doctors have given up prescribing contraception and have started an NFP Interest Group.

The program also recently passed one of the first "Contraceptive Policies" in the US recognizing a physician's right to practice according to their conscience in the area of reproductive health.

The Renewal of Catholic Healthcare

There is a growing movement among Catholic and pro-life physicians across the country to bring about the renewal of Catholic healthcare. Specifically...

A unified network of prolife healthcare centers?

Physicians everywhere and from every specialty, especially Obstetrics and Family Medicine, are feeling called to start 100% prolife health centers, committed to following the teachings of the Catholic Church, in their communities. They are in the discerning and building stages, but I believe that in the next 5 years, we could see the evolution of a brand new health system, committed to protecting the sanctity of human life at all its stages.

Online Discussion Group and Network for Prolife, Catholic Physicians

In response to this growing movement, we have established an online forum for prolife healthcare providers, residents, medical students and medical ethicists to begin to dialogue in a closed forum about the issues facing Catholic physicians today. Healthcare providers interested in joining the Discussion Group can email me at AMielnik@JPIICenterForWomen.org to be added to the mailing list.

NaProTechnology Spreads at Home and Abroad

NaProTechnology, a prolife approach to women's reproductive healthcare completely in line with Catholic Church teaching is spreading across the US and internationally, with countries like Ireland and Poland leading the way in revolutionizing women's healthcare.

I spent the past month at the Pope Paul VI Institute for the Study of Human Reproduction (http://www.popepaulvi.com/) working with Dr. Hilgers doing NaProTechnology and studying his practice model, so that we can bring it to Gianna Center.

Dr. Kyle Beiter, introduced in the last Blog Update, is currently a Surgical Fellow at the PPVI Institute, along with Dr. Theresa Stigen, who will open another NaPro surgery center in California this fall. Three new NaPro surgeons will begin their training with Dr. Hilgers this July.

Again, God bless you all. Thanks for following along!