March 25-31, Fertility Care Week

From Archbishop Burke:

This coming March 25-31 has been designated by FertilityCare Centers of America Inc. as Worldwide FertilityCare Week. I write about Worldwide FertilityCare Week for two reasons. First of all, many married couples in the archdiocese experience difficulties in conceiving and bearing a child. Because the gift of children is the crown of marital love, couples who suffer from some form of infertility bear a particularly heavy cross. As archbishop, I desire to be close to them and to offer them care which respects their individual health, and the integrity of their relationship with each other and of their act of human procreation.

Secondly, I want to celebrate the strong presence of FertilityCare Centers in the Archdiocese of St. Louis. There are 10 FertilityCare Centers in the Archdiocese of St. Louis, whose work is coordinated by K. Diane Daly, RN, CFCE, director of the archdiocesan Office of Natural Family Planning, and Ann M. Prebil, RN, BSN, CFCE. Daly and Prebil have their office in the Department of Fertility Care Services at St. John’s Mercy Medical Center, 11700 Studt Road, Suite C. Their telephone number is (314) 991-0327.
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It is important, therefore, that we begin and accompany all of our efforts to assist couples suffering from infertility with prayer to God. Recently, I was able to celebrate the Holy Mass for a number of couples who are seeking to conceive and bring to birth a child. At the conclusion of the Mass, I blessed each couple with the relic of St. Gianna Beretta Molla, who has been a particularly powerful intercessor on behalf of couples experiencing any kind of difficulty in childbearing. St. Gianna, who died on April 28, 1962, and her husband Pietro, who is still living, had experienced many sorrows in conceiving and giving birth to their children...

At the beginning of each day, I revere a relic of St. Gianna and pray for all of the couples who are suffering with infertility. I also pray for all those who assist them. Please join me in my prayer for the couples in the archdiocese who are desiring to have a baby and for those who care for them.