Baby Jesus Community Cares For Abortion Survivors
A devout Catholic in Brazil is caring for the survivors of abortion, LifeSiteNews reports.
BRAZIL, December 19, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – While there was no place in the Inn for the baby Jesus, a Catholic Brazilian man believes God has called him to make a place in his home, a place he calls the Community of Baby Jesus, for the 42 disabled children he has adopted, many of whom survived failed abortions.
Comunidade Jesús Menino (Community of Baby Jesus) is nestled about an hour and a half north of Rio di Janeiro. There, Tônio Tavares cares for his adopted children, who have a range of disabilities such as autism and cerebral palsy. The community was featured in the HUMAN Life movie.
“This is the message of the Catholic Community of the Child Jesus: it is to embrace life, to acknowledge life, to respect life throughout its development: from conception until natural death,” Tavares told LifeSiteNews in an exclusive interview. “Life, at the present time, must continue to be defended: always, always, always.”
Tavares explained that his community has suffered from the coronavirus outbreak in the loss of one his adopted sons. Not being able to be with him as he died “one of the strongest griefs I have had as a father.”
“The coronavirus crisis has brought pain to the whole world, and not only financial pain, but also physical and psychological pain, and religious pain because people could not go to religious services or Mass,” Tavares said.
Tavares explained that his community was “under lockdown” since March 12.
“Some of the sons of the community were affected by the coronavirus, one even died, but he was in isolation and we never were able to have contact with him. This is one of the strongest griefs I have had as a father. The great fear of the community was not to be able to say goodbye to Rodrigo,” he said. “It was indeed impossible to visit him because he was completely isolated. His burial only took 20 minutes and we could not be there either.”
“The pain of not being close to a person when he gives up his soul is very great.”
The coronavirus outbreak has hurt the Baby Jesus community financially, too. With many businesses being forced to close down, not only in Brazil but all around the world, “the people who used to give to us are in bad shape.”
“People have had to close down their business, others were laid off from their jobs. All this has caused and is still causing a great deal of harm to charitable works that [exist] thanks to the mercy of others.”
Tavares relies on “the providence of God” to obtain donations that pay for his children’s expensive medical care as well as their day-to-day needs like milk and food.