New Orleans school for pregnant teens adds weight to pro-life views

Published: 2004-02-06

NEW ORLEANS (CNS) -- Critics of the pro-life movement sometimes argue that those who oppose abortion are concerned only about "the fetus" and not about helping the mother. But a nondescript annex classroom building on the grounds of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini Parish near the New Orleans lakefront stands as a silent witness against that argument. Every day, teenage girls who have become pregnant while attending Catholic high schools walk up a flight of stairs to the second-floor classroom of St. Gerard Majella School, named after the 18th-century Redemptorist brother from southern Italy who is the patron saint of expectant mothers. Since it opened in 1991 as an alternative for pregnant girls to remain in the Catholic school system, St. Gerard Majella has served about 225 teenagers. Most of the girls, who keep up with assignments and tests by using their own textbooks and with the help of three teachers and a counselor, return to their original school after they have given birth, said Sister Rose Elaine Kessler, a School Sister of Notre Dame, who has been principal since 1997. Almost all of the girls decide to raise their children, although a few have opted for adoption, said Sister Rose Elaine.

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