Deacon Mark Campbell welcomes his wife, Maria Campbell, for a Respect Life Month coffee chat on miscarriage ministry, from practical kits that help families recover and bury their baby's remains to new Little Souls Cemeteries planned across the Diocese of Des Moines. The show opens in prayer for Fr. Patricio Sánchez Molinari, the Redemptorist priest killed when a crucifix fell during a livestreamed Mass in Guayaquil, Ecuador, and celebrates Pope Leo XIV's return to the Angelus window after lung cancer surgery. Plus Joe Stopulus previews a Man Up series on the meaning of work, with Monday news, NFL and MLB playoff scores, and central Iowa weather on the Memorial of Saints John de Brébeuf, Isaac Jogues, and Companions.
Deacon Mark Campbell and Brian Regan open Monday of the Twenty-Ninth Week in Ordinary Time on the Memorial of Saints John de Brébeuf, Isaac Jogues, and Companions, the French Jesuit missionaries martyred in North America between 1642 and 1649.
Deacon Mark begins by leading prayer for Fr. Patricio Alfredo Sánchez Molinari, a Redemptorist priest and pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Guayaquil, Ecuador, who died Saturday when a large crucifix fell from the wall behind the altar while he celebrated a livestreamed Mass. A word of caution: many links to this story go straight to the video. Deacon Mark reflects on the priest's homily that day about our own mortality and why every day is a chance to prepare for eternal life.
For Respect Life Month, Deacon Mark's wife, Maria Campbell, joins him in studio for their morning coffee chat. Drawing on their own losses (two miscarriages in 2002 and 2003 and a stillbirth at 26 weeks in 2012), Maria shares what she wishes she had known then, what not to say to a grieving mother, and how meeting Covenant Resources Miscarriage Ministry at the National Eucharistic Congress led her to start a miscarriage ministry at the Basilica of St. John in Des Moines with support from the Knights of Columbus. She walks through the miscarriage supply kits, delivered within about 24 hours, that help families recover and preserve their baby's remains for a dignified burial, and explains parents' options under Iowa law for babies lost before 20 weeks.
In the second half, Maria shares the ministry's next step: Little Souls Cemeteries, dedicated burial and memorial spaces for babies lost before 20 weeks, including memorial tiles for families who were never able to bury their child. Five cemeteries in the Diocese of Des Moines have donated land, and with Bishop William Joensen's support, the ministry is raising funds through the Catholic Foundation of Southwest Iowa to build them. Parishes, Knights of Columbus councils, pro-life groups, and altar and rosary societies can host kits, volunteer, or invite Maria to speak. Learn more at Covenant Resources Miscarriage Ministry, learn about and give to the Diocese of Des Moines Little Souls Cemetery Fund at the Catholic Foundation of Southwest Iowa, or contact Maria at Maria.Campbell@msn.com.
Joe Stopulus previews today's Man Up (9 a.m. across the Iowa Catholic Radio Network, and on demand at IowaCatholicRadio.com): the first of two episodes with Sam Halligan of Forge, unpacking Forge's "Men and Work" course and what the Church and the saints teach about the purpose and dignity of work.
Listen live weekdays at 7 a.m. Central on Iowa Catholic Radio, or catch up anytime at IowaCatholicRadio.com.
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