By Matthew Gambino • Posted February 6, 2026

Young women seeking help with a pregnancy or wrestling with thoughts of abortion as a solution come with their own unique life story and traumas to the tall blue doors of a North Philadelphia Catholic convent.

At the Vis Center, five Sisters of Life offer lifelines of hope on the campus of St. Malachy Parish, a few blocks from Temple University.

The women who come to them face an uncertain future–perhaps under pressure by the baby’s father, sometimes lacking a home, a job, or support from their own families, find in the sisters not only compassion, but also ongoing accompaniment.

It begins with a weekly conversation in person over tea in a comfortable parlor or by phone, always with a pair of sisters.

Currently, some 10 pregnant women stay in close touch this way. They gain some help with material goods thanks to donations, or with travel to a doctor’s appointment or access to the Philadelphia region’s robust network of maternity housing options. Those include Guiding Star Ministries, and programs of Catholic Charities of Philadelphia.

The most lasting gift is the presence of sisters and their emotional and spiritual support, often for years.

“We’re not counselors (and) not social workers,” Sister of Life Gaudia Marie told me on a recent afternoon visit to the convent. “Sometimes you just need a sister, a sister on the journey. There’s an entrustment when a woman is willing to come here to share what she’s been through, and God has entrusted her to us.”

Over the hours, weeks, months and sometimes years, a woman comes close to the sisters who not only listen, but also lift up the woman to God in constant prayer.

Sister Gaudia finds satisfaction in the conversations and practical help the sisters provide to a woman, but just as important is “interceding with her in prayer and seeing the power of prayer.”

Another Sister of Life at the convent, Sister Leonie Therese, said she is “really moved by the courage that you see in the moms” after learning about their struggles including within their own families.

“It’s a gift to be able to step alongside them and be that support for them, to see … their courage in what they’re facing and the love for their children.”

The Sisters of Life stay grounded in daily prayer throughout the day plus meals and recreation (thanks to the bounty of a large chest filled with family-themed board games) enjoyed in common, like a family.

It was the vision of Cardinal John O’Connor, the late Archbishop of New York and former Philadelphia priest who founded the Sisters of Life in 1991, that the sisters “would live a family life, a community life that would be in reparation for the breakdown of the family that is happening in the culture,” said Sister Gaudia.

That straining of family bonds “is very much at the core of why there’s so many women who find themselves pregnant and alone,” she said. “It’s the breakdown of the family and the repercussions of that” which leads women to consider aborting their child, she believes.

The sisters’ ministry of accompaniment with women stems from their traditional vows of consecrated life. Among them is poverty, which has particular bearing because “the heart of the vow of poverty for a Sister of Life is vulnerability,” Sister Gaudia said.

When she sits with a mother who says, “I don’t care what you say to me, I want to have an abortion,” or “I don’t know what to say to make the father of the baby not pressure me,” or “I can’t provide for my child,” Sister Gaudia admits to feeling helpless.

The vow enables the sisters, she said, “to stand in that moment in vulnerability and to pray with her and not to give up on her, to unite that with the power of the (religious) consecration, the vow of poverty with what she is feeling.”

Both sisters noted the little miracles that God provides, such as providing a mother on the fence about abortion with a gift that she’d always wanted, and seeing that gift appear out of the blue, helping to affirm her choice for life.

Appreciation for God’s goodness and His precious gifts of life and love can take time to develop, or it may happen quickly.

“I’ve seen a woman come to life,” said Sister Leonie. “She starts to realize these things are a new hope in her.

“Sometimes when a woman comes to us there’s a real heaviness, she’s weighed down. In the course of one meeting you can sometimes see that start to lift as she is sharing, and receiving love, praying together. Sometimes over a longer course of time, you see a change in her.”

The sisters’ accompaniment affirms not only the gift of new life, but also the gift of the mothers themselves.

“So many of the women have not been celebrated or affirmed, so teaching them how to celebrate (and) to delight and rejoice in the gift of their own lives” is important, said Sister Gaudia.

She recalls how a 22-year-old woman with whom the sisters work never had her own  birthday party.

That’s why baby showers, baptism celebrations and two particular parties – one on Mother’s Day and another at Christmas welcoming all the women and children the sisters have been serving at Vis Center for the past 10 years – have great significance.

“Life is a gift. It’s not only about the life that you’ve been entrusted with and helping you to see that as a gift, but to realize your own life is a gift,” said Sister Gaudia.

That realization might be the most profound gift of the Sisters of Life: God has given our life, and it is our duty to keep His family close despite the circumstances and sins that divide us. All are our sisters and brothers, all are gifts of God to one another.

The Sisters of Life are witnesses to the gift and workers for God’s kingdom.

If you, like me, want to support them in their ministry through your helpful hands, prayerful heart or financial resources, visit https://sistersoflife.org/where-we-are/philadelphia/.