Meet the Franciscan sisters who live (and pray) across the street from an abortion clinic

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Feb 27, 2022 / 12:50 pm

It is almost impossible for the religious sisters at the Our Lady of Guadalupe Convent in St. Louis to lose sight of the mission God has given them.

They see it plainly right across the street: a Planned Parenthood abortion clinic.

The convent is home to two members of the Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity. The convent’s purpose, set forth on the Archdiocese of St. Louis’ website, is “to provide a place of prayer and hospitality for pilgrims to whom to witness and pray for life outside of Missouri’s last abortion facility in St. Louis.”

In an interview with EWTN News Nightly, Sister Sue Anne Hall, who lives at the convent with Sister Delores Voigt, said the convent’s daily work and prayer is directed by whoever happens to arrive at the front door.

“When the doorbell rings, we go and answer it and take care of whoever is there. Our time of prayer is there in our daily life," Hall explained.

"Sometimes we have Mass scheduled at our place with one of the parishes in the St. Louis area and we invite them to come and pray with us to have an hour of adoration before Mass, and then we serve a luncheon after the Mass is over.” You can watch the full interview in the video below.

Hall said she is constantly surprised by the stream of support her order receives from others, particularly how willing many are to dedicating a portion of their time toward praying outside of the abortion facility. 

From the sisters' perspective, that effort seems to be paying off.

“When we first came, that [Planned Parenthood] parking lot was completely full of cars of employees; it is now empty,” Hall said. “There are very few times that there's anybody parking in that parking lot.”

Hall in particular cited the positive impact that young pro-life volunteers are having.

“There are a group of young people who do counseling outside of Planned Parenthood that try to convince the person not to have the abortion, and sometimes they have the turnarounds that they would like,” she said.

As for what others can do to protect the unborn and end abortion, Hall emphasized something basic, yet powerful.

“Like Archbishop [Robert C.] Carlson said,” she noted, “It's through prayer that this is going to end.”

You can learn more about the Our Lady of Guadalupe Convent by listening to this recent episode of Catholic News Agency’s CNA Newsroom podcast.