Sidewalk Pro-Life Outreach

The Heart of Jesus Beats With Compassion For Pregnant Mothers and the Unborn

In 2014, LAMP initiated a new outreach on 149th St. in the South Bronx called “A LAMP for Life.” Two or more LAMP Missionaries prayerfully walk to this bustling street area, where an unmarked Planned Parenthood performs abortions. One stands quietly on the sidewalk, visibly but silently praying the rosary, while the other LAMP Missionary offers a resource brochure on where pregnant women can receive help, and seeks to begin conversations on the value of life. There are opportunities to direct women to get a free ultrasound or other support, and to pray with women and with men.  To any who have already suffered from an abortion experience, LAMP Missionaries offer words of mercy, encouraging the individual to contact groups that provide post-abortion healing.

“Seeing with the eyes of Christ, I can give to others much more than their outward necessities; I can give them the look of love which they crave.” (Deus Caritas Est, Pope Benedict XVI)

LAMP’s approach is non-judgmental, caring, and prayerful. LAMP Missionaries seek to support pregnant women who think they have no choice but to abort their babies. Through prayer, compassionate listening and loving dialogue, many of these mothers choose to give their babies life.

A LAMP missionary (far right) hands out rosaries, encouraging each recipient to pray especially for vulnerable pregnant mothers and their unborn children.

94% of abortion centers are located in poor neighborhoods. The abortion industry draws on the vulnerabilities of the poor and their temptation to think that life has very little value. In always trying to find the poorest, the weakest, those frequently outside the reach of the Catholic Church, LAMP is making an effort to bring its mission of evangelization among the materially poor to those struggling with life issues.

A LAMP missionary (far left) spreads the culture of life – one person at a time.

Sharing Food and Faith with the Poor

The Heart of Jesus Beats With Compassion For the Hungry/Homeless

While the name ‘LAMPCafé’ may suggest a quiet coffee shop located someplace far removed from the realities of inner-city life, it is actually just the opposite.  The LAMPCafé is a special street ministry that uses a canteen truck to bring different areas of New York City not only food, but also Scripture readings, rosaries, and opportunities to pray with LAMP Missionaries and Volunteers.

The people line up for physical and spiritual food.

LAMP Missionary offers a smile, friendly conversation, and availability to pray and read the Scriptures together.

“The poor need not only bread but the Word of God.”

Verbum Domini, Par. 99

Visiting the Poor in the Streets

The Heart of Jesus Beats With Compassion For Those on the Street

When Saint John Paul II visited North America, he exhorted all Catholics to “have the courage to bear witness to the Gospel in the streets and squares”.  The vision of LAMP, founded in and by the love of Christ Jesus, impels LAMP Missionaries to literally reach out to the poor on the streets; to those who need to know the Lord has not forgotten them, and that the local Catholic parish wants to be of service to them.

Evangelization in front of the local parish in Times Square in New York City: LAMP Missionaries visit with a woman who is interested in the Catholic materials we have displayed.

LAMP Missionaries share the Good News with those we meet, finding Christ in every face.

“It is the love of Christ that fills our hearts and impels us to evangelize. Today as in the past, he sends us through the highways of the world to proclaim his Gospel to all the peoples of the earth.” (Porta Fidei, Pope Benedict XVI)

“Do not turn your face away from any of the poor, and God’s face will not be turned away from you.” – Tobit 4:5-7

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has chosen me to bring good news to the poor.” – Luke 4:18

Visiting Homeless Families

The Heart of Jesus Beats with Compassion For Homeless Families

As of January 2019 there were 63,839 homeless people in NYC. That includes 15,492 homeless families with 22,938 homeless children sleeping each night in the New York City municipal shelter system. Families make up three quarters of the homeless shelter population. A typical homeless child is under five years old, very poor, and living with a sibling and a single mother.  The numbers are staggering:

• One in 45 children experience homelessness in America each year. That’s over 1.6 million children.
• 42% of children in homeless families are under age six.
• There is evidence that homeless children have more health problems, hospitalizations, and developmental delays than poor children who have never been homeless.
• Children who experience homelessness are also more likely to become homeless as adults

A number of LAMP Missionaries are going out two by two, visiting shelters for homeless families around the city, bringing them the compassionate love of Jesus.  The LAMP Missionaries share the love of Jesus through reading the Scriptures with and praying with those caught in the web of homelessness.

Two LAMP Missionaries knock on the door of a “motel” that is now housing homeless families.

A LAMP Missionary visits with a woman living in a shelter. After listening to her plight, she invites the woman to visit the local parish to pray before the Blessed Sacrament.

“This rather is the fasting that I wish:

Releasing those bound unjustly,

Sharing your bread with the hungry,

Sheltering the oppressed and the homeless…

Then your light shall break forth like the dawn…”

Isaiah 58: 6a, 7a, 8a

Visiting the Poor in Hospitals and Nursing Homes

The Heart of Jesus Beats With Compassion For the Sick and Elderly

LAMP Missionaries visit with the sick and elderly poor in hospitals and nursing homes in areas of poverty, who are often abandoned by their families and friends, to bring them comfort, to share the Word of God with them, and to bring Holy Communion to those who are Catholic and unable to go to Church for whatever reason.

Sharing the Gospel with a woman residing in a nursing home in Brooklyn, who needs to know that God has not abandoned her.

“Whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me” (Matthew 25:40).

Being Gratefully and Faithfully Catholic

The Heart of Jesus Beats With Compassion For His Church

2010: Timothy Cardinal Dolan celebrated Mass for LAMP Missionaries and exhorted them as “men and women of the Church.”

Timothy Cardinal Dolan outside the LAMP Center; pictured here with LAMP’ Founders/Directors (right) and Pastoral Directors (left)

Decree of Canonical Recognition

Cardinal O’Connor reading the letter of canonical recognition, with Tom & Lyn Scheuring, Ph.D.s, LAMP Founders/Directors, and Marybeth & Ed Greene, Pastoral Directors.

In 1999, LAMP Ministries received the Canon Law status of “Private Association of Christian Faithful,” through Cardinal John O’Connor of the Archdiocese of New York, thus approving LAMP as a recognized Catholic Missionary Association and an authentic way of holiness.

Auxiliary Bishop William J. McCormick, national director of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, joined his many brother priests to celebrate the Holy Mass for LAMP’s 25th anniversary

Celebrating LAMP’s 25th Anniversary at the Holy Eucharist – the center of LAMP’s spirituality and deepest possible expression of our thanksgiving