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CURRENT ISSUE:
June 6, 2011
VOL. 49, NO.
11   •   Oakland, CA

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By Michele Jurich
Staff writer

Rachel’s Vineyard is taking root in Italy, nurturing
women and men who seek healing through the post-abortion ministry.

Monika Rodman Montanaro, with her husband Domencio
Montanaro, continues her post-abortion healing ministry in
Italy.

COURTESY OF MONIKA RODMAN
MONTANARO

Rachel’s Vineyard,
Italy

Information: Email [email-masked]

Contributions:
(Rachel’s Vineyard of Colorado Tax ID number:
90-0115001)

Check payable to: Rachel’s Vineyard of
Colorado
Memo line: Italy Mission

Mail to:
Tara Somerday 37151 Ila Court, Fremont, CA
94536

The gardener for La Vigna di Rachele is
Monika Rodman Montanaro, who, for 12 years before her marriage to an
Italian national, headed the Respect Life office at the Diocese of
Oakland. She recalled the words of then-Bishop Allen Vigneron upon her
departure: “Go and do good things in Italy. They need you
there.”

Her mission is to bring post-abortion ministry to a
Catholic country that voted to legalize abortion by a two-thirds majority
in 1981, affirming a 1978 law.

Rodman Montanaro’s own journey to
Italy began during what she described as a “mini-sabbatical” there in
2006. During Easter Week, she traveled to Southern Italy and in a tiny
restaurant met the man who would become her husband, Domenico Montanaro.
“I could see this was a man of character,” she said.

They married
in August 2007 at St. Albert Priory. As part of the journey, Montanaro
made a Rachel’s Vineyard retreat. He had been in college when abortion was
legalized. “I know we need this in Italy,” he told her. “If you come
here,” he told her, “we’ll live simply and you can dedicate yourself to
this.”
And this is what they have done. He is employed by the
government and she runs Rachel’s Vineyard from their home. There were
websites and manuals to translate, and church leaders to invite to be part
of the mission.

In July 2010, Rachel’s Vineyard of Italy had its
first retreat; now there have been three. She credits Cardinal Carlo
Caffarra of Bologna, “a very respected church leader who has a heart for
pro-life,” for assisting the post-abortion ministry.

“He knows this
is a gift the American church can offer to the rest of the world,” she
said.
The words of Pope John Paul II in his 1995 encyclical, Evangelium
Vitae (the Gospel of Life), inform her work:

“I would now like to
say a special word to women who have had an abortion. The Church is aware
of the many factors which may have influenced your decision, and she does
not doubt that in many cases it was a painful and even shattering
decision. The wound in your heart may not yet have healed. Certainly what
happened was and remains terribly wrong. But do not give in to
discouragement and do not lose hope. Try rather to understand what
happened and face it honestly. If you have not already done so, give
yourselves over with humility and trust to repentance. The Father of
mercies is ready to give you his forgiveness and his peace in the
Sacrament of Reconciliation. You will come to understand that nothing is
definitively lost and you will also be able to ask forgiveness from your
child, who is now living in the Lord. With the friendly and expert help
and advice of other people, and as a result of your own painful
experience, you can be among the most eloquent defenders of everyone’s
right to life. Through your commitment to life, whether by accepting the
birth of other children or by welcoming and caring for those most in need
of someone to be close to them, you will become promoters of a new way of
looking at human life.”

Rodman Montanaro has read those 10
sentences countless times. To women over the phone, at weekends, at
events, and sometimes to church leaders who require additional convincing
to support her work in Italy.

Her experience with Rachel’s Vineyard
began in Oakland. “We started in 1996 to offer a Rachel’s Vineyard support
group weekly, coordinated by a Catholic M.F.T. [marriage and family
therapist],” Rodman Montanaro said.

That therapist now works with
Rachel’s Vineyard of Colorado, which accepts donations on behalf of the
Italy mission. She also thanks Knights of Columbus Council 6043 for its
annual fundraiser for the Italy mission.

If the ministry can help
people “come back to the joyful practice of faith, they will be apostles
for life,” Rodman Montanaro said.

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