By Marcus Ashlock
Do
you want to be involved more regularly with the pro-life movement but standing out in the weather or in public is not your calling? Maybe in your youth standing for a full Rosary was something you could do often, but now you have bad knees and would rather sit. What if you could pray in private with other individuals?
Mission SOS (Saving Others Spiritually) is a lay ministry that provides a prayer space in an apartment next door to Planned Parenthood in Sioux Falls. It’s a place where anyone can come to pray for the mothers considering abortion.
The group has coordinated its efforts with the men of Jericho Wall who pray each Tuesday evening at 7 p.m. Women and children who come with their husbands at that time come to the prayer space to pray. Their prayers are reaching out to those in need before those mothers even know they need the help.
Started by Sara and Tim Beaner with the help of Larry and Darlene Tentinger, the ministry’s mission is to pray for hearts to change, the hearts of both the women visiting the clinic and those who work there.
The prayer space is inside a full apartment with spare rooms for resting, as well as full bathroom facilities, and even a room with pews for non-Catholic brothers and sisters to come and pray without feeling out of place. They were able to get kneelers, statues and other religious items from a convent that had recently closed to fill the space with items to inspire prayerfulness.
For more information about Mission SOS, visit missionsos.weadorehim.com.
Editor’s note: Mission SOS is a lay-led ministry and is not sponsored by a specific parish or the Diocese of Sioux Falls.
