Mary Ball promotes adoption in South Bend
Mary Ball is the director of the Holy Family Catholic Adoption Agency (HFCAA) in South Bend. HFCAA offers adoption as an option for birth mothers as a way to promote respect for human life. The Rover conducted an interview via email with Ball to discuss the mission of HFCAA and how Notre Dame students can promote adoption as an act of love.
Irish Rover: Can you tell us about your favorite adoption story Holy Family Adoption has been a part of orchestrating?
Ball: The comments from the adoptive couple, Wayne and Wendy, are one of my favorite adoption stories. Their lives reflected their commitment to our mission of trying to help mothers who are considering abortion. Once a month, they traveled for two hours, leaving their home at 4:30 a.m. on Saturday mornings, to pray on the sidewalks outside abortion places with [HFCAA]. Their prayers were answered when they were blessed with a beautiful baby girl, Maria, from a birth mother who was a college student living with the Sisters of Life in New York.
What other organizations have helped advance HFCAA’s mission?
The Sisters of Life in New York offer birth mothers information about HFCAA so they can interview our Catholic couples. Priests and other pro-life organizations have referred birth mothers to this agency. Some birth mothers have found us on our simple website, www.holyfamilyadoption.org.
In your previous example, how did the birth mother and adoptive family learn about HFCAA?
The college student heard about HFCAA from the Sisters of Life in New York. The Sisters of Life provide hospitality and support for pregnant women. In 2013, Sister Mother Agnes received the Notre Dame Evangelium Vitae Medal for all their pro-life work.
The adoptive parents, Wayne and Wendy, wanted a Catholic adoption agency and they heard about HFCAA from a relative who had worked with us.
What can Notre Dame students do to promote a culture of life and adoption on our campus?
Notre Dame students can help promote a culture of life on campus by speaking about adoption as a loving, heroic and practical answer for those facing an unplanned pregnancy. Information brochures and posters could be displayed in the dorms on campus to help dispel the misinformation about adoption that affects our culture.
An adoption symposium on campus featuring birth parents, someone who was adopted and adoptive parents would bring new insights and would educate students about the affordability and accessibility of this ministry.
Saint Mother Teresa’s answer to abortion was to offer adoption. She would say, “Come, we will take care of you, we will get a home for your baby.” Letting her mission be more widely known would greatly promote adoption and the culture of life. Abortion-minded mothers don’t understand adoption, and this is one of the reasons they turn to abortion.
What needs to change in our culture and society to make adoption more valued and promoted?
More emphasis on respect for every human life, made in the image of God, will help promote adoption. If a mother and father understand that under all circumstances every life is a gift from God, created by God and destined for God, then if they know they can’t properly parent their child, they would be more inclined to consider adoption.
Why did you decide to start the Holy Family Adoption Agency in South Bend?
HFCAA was created 15 years ago in St. Paul, MN. That home office is still in full operation. In 2009, I met with Professor Rice, a long-time professor of law at Notre Dame, a Catholic commentator and a strong pro-life advocate, and [I] asked his opinion about opening an Indiana office near the University of Notre Dame. Being a member of a family with a long legacy at Notre Dame, from my father who taught here for 33 year to over 20 family members who are ND alumni, I have felt a part of the ND community all of my life. With the encouragement of Professor Rice [and] Bishop Rhoades, as well as numerous fellow pro-life friends, I started working to obtain an Indiana adoption agency license. After four years of research and planning, our new office was opened at the the Life Center on Ironwood Circle near Notre Dame. It was so encouraging to have Notre Dame student volunteers to pray and hold adoption signs at the abortion place which was forced to close last year. These students promoted adoption and saved lives just by their prayerful presence. The more students who hear about our mission, the greater the chance that a child’s life will be saved. HFCAA now holds adoption signs once a week for an hour outside [Planned Parenthood] on Grape Road and would welcome students to join us.
Adoption is the missing link in the pro-life movement…often misunderstood as a negative rather than positive decision. As a practicing attorney for 13 years, I am aware of the many roadblocks that exist to changing our laws regarding Roe v. Wade, but I knew, like many others, that we could fight this by changing people’s hearts. The presence of HFCAA on the sidewalks outside abortion places has saved lives. Abortion-minded mothers, seeing the kind faces of loving couples wanting to help them and adopt their babies are more likely to overcome the false stigma and mystery surrounding adoption. Promoting adoption everywhere can and does save lives. I am honored to be able to use my skills as an attorney to provide this loving answer to the tragedy of abortion. I have come to ND to assist with this mission, and I know Notre Dame families who would welcome children into their lives.
Mackenzie Kraker is a sophomore studying chemical engineering and theology. She is an active member of Notre Dame Right to Life and designed the poster featured in this article. Contact Mackenzie at mkraker@nd.edu.
Sarah Ortiz is a sophomore studying PLS and classics. She had a wonderful fall break in which she baked pumpkin muffins and wandered around an art museum in DC to her heart’s content. Contact her at sortiz2@nd.edu.