RESPECT
LIFE
By Nicole Rocco
We hope you are inspired by this young woman’s amazing story.
Afterwards, she told us how she finds great joy in praying at Our Lady of
Grace Monastery where Father Steven Boguslawski, O.P., is chaplain to
the Dominican nuns. She also attends Mass at the Dominican parish of
Saint Mary’s in New Haven. Thank you for your support of the friars who
continue to tirelessly foster a culture of life!
A little over twenty-four years ago,
a twenty-year-old woman named
Sarah was put in an incredibly difficult
situation. She was raped. A few weeks
later, her nightmare became reality
when she realized that she was pregnant.
It was already a struggle to care for
her beautiful one-and-a-half-year-old
boy, Michael, especially after his father
died in a boat accident. Sarah started to
question God, wondering how He could
let all of this happen to her.
Her family was completely unsupportive
of adoption, so much so that she hid
her pregnancy from them. Sarah made
her decision alone–leaving the hospital
with mixed feelings–but never once
doubting that she made the right one.
On November 1st of every year she
would think of the little girl she named
BlackFriars - Volume II, Issue I
enjoyed friendships. They succeeded
and they failed. Today, Kiana is a senior at
Sacred Heart Academy. She is strong and
sweet–a blessing to everyone she meets.
She just finished applying to college and
is an incredible soccer player. Jordan is
now twenty years old. He just finished Air
Force basic training a few weeks ago. He is
witty and sarcastic and makes his friends
and family laugh. And Nicole–that little
girl called Elizabeth Ava at her birth–well,
that’s me. I’m twenty-four years old. I just
finished my Master’s degree in social work
and I am looking for a job like many of my
friends. We are a typical family and have
always seen ourselves this way.
About two years ago, a letter came in the
mail that brought things full circle. It was
from my little sister Anne, the sister I
never even knew I had.
With encouragement from my adoptive
dad, I met Anne. Eight months after that
initial meeting, Anne and I visited our
birth mother, Sarah, and our brother,
Elizabeth Ava and wonder where she
was now.
Elizabeth ended up being placed
with a couple struggling with fertility
issues. On the couple’s part, this was
the culmination of eighteen months
of waiting–from the time they applied
for an adoption to when they were
contacted and told that a birth mother
was delivering a baby girl. Eighteen
months of torturous waiting that other
couples don’t have to experience. The
couple moved baby Elizabeth into
a modest house in Guilford, CT and
changed her name to Nicole.
Nicole’s parents adopted two more
children after her: a baby boy named
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