Amy Mushinski is a local right to life coordinator and she helped organize the trip to St. Adalbert Catholic Parish in Berea, Ohio. Amy mentioned that the Black Madonna had a good amount of advertising in the community so much so that she even heard an advertisement on her country radio station about the arrival of Our Lady of Czestochowa icon.
Over dinner we discussed Amy’s work in local pro-life efforts and how Amy is a strong supporter of Human Life International. She mentioned that she was initially connected with Human Life International through John Martin. John has been a real presence to Amy in guiding her in her pro-life community efforts as Amy attests.
Next to St. Adalbert is a house for pregnant women in crisis pregnancies. They provide life supporting services for women in need. Close to the house located in its yard is a picture of Our Lady of Czestochowa. The Black Madonna has become a healing presence for many women who have had crisis pregnancies or who are post-abortive and seek healing.
Before evening mass parishioners did Eucharistic Adoration. Parishes are encouraged to do Eucharistic Adoration in preparation for or during the Black Madonna’s visit. This is part of the New Evangelization that the Catholic Church is asking for regarding a renewal of faith. The Black Madonna always points to Jesus to be the center of our lives.
After mass we took the Black Madonna to a local Catholic gift shop. The Tilma Gift Shop located down the street from St. Adalbert has a treasure trove of original and antique religious goods that are indeed rare. We placed the Black Madonna in the Tilma Catholic Gift Shop at the request of the store owner who has a prayer group that meets at the store. The prayer group met at 5:00 am and were aided in their prayers by the presence of Our Lady in the gift shop. The Black Madonna naturally leads people who gaze upon her to spiritual contemplation. The prayer group was very thankful that we brought her. We pick up the icon at 7:00 am and prepared to head to our next location for the morning.
Fr. West met briefly with a local pro-life activist priest who resides at Mary Queen of Peace parish in Cleveland. Fr. West and Chris brought the icon into a basement church and placed the icon in the sanctuary. There were about 20 people gathered for morning mass and venerated the Black Madonna with genuine devotion.
Amy Mushinski let Fr. West know that an important press conference on the death of Lakisha Wilson was happening in Cleveland, Ohio on the site where she visited the abortuary fatally for the last time. We made a special trip to Cleveland to bring the Black Madonna to the black community so affected by the death of this young woman who was only 22 years old. 
Pro-life leaders from across the country spoke out against abortion and the tragedy of Lakisha Wilson and called for the closing of the abortuary. The press conference was covered by local news and reporters had the opportunity to take statements from the pro-life leaders who had assembled. We placed the icon at the scene of the press conference to be a peaceful presence in the midst of a very tragic event.
Chris Morales