The Catholic Church Survives For 2,000 Years: Possible or Probable?
January 3, 2018Fr. John Hollowell: What Every Family Needs
January 3, 2018
For almost three decades Calvin College professor Pete Tigchelaar has had a three-month-old fetus, encased in plastic, that he uses in his human biology classes. He’s always thought of the tiny fetus as a good educational tool.
Source: CERC, Calvin News, December 18, 2003
But he’s not thought of it as a lifesaver.
Last year, however, that changed when a student in one of his biology classes privately inquired if he still had it.
Intrigued Tigchelaar said that he did and invited the young woman to his office for further conversation. There he asked why she was interested. She proceeded to tell him an amazing story, one that he now is sharing more widely as Christmas draws closer.
The young woman told Tigchelaar that a generation earlier her mother had been a student in one of Tigchelaar’s biology classes. Unknown to Tigchelaar this student was three months pregnant on a day he had shown the class the fetus with its tiny fingers, facial features, eyes, outline of a liver and other human features.
“She had already visited a pregnancy center,” Tigchelaar recalls the young woman telling him, “and was told about the ‘product of conception’ and ‘contents of the uterus’ that she had within her. She was advised to have an abortion and had one scheduled for the following morning.”
But after Tigchelaar’s class she realized she had more within her than a “product of conception.” And she cancelled her scheduled abortion, continued with her pregnancy and eventually delivered a healthy baby girl.
“I am that girl,” the student then informed a stunned Tigchelaar. “Thanks for my life.”
Tigchelaar, at the time, was amazed, speechless. He remembers in a halting voice telling the girl simply that she was beautiful.
“Even now,” he says, “I can barely tell the story without breaking up.”
Yet tell it he is. And for an important reason.
“In this season when we celebrate the birth of someone who came to give each of us eternal life,” Tigchelaar says, “I am reminded that the unwed Mary would have been the perfect candidate for a similar procedure. I am thankful that her response was, ‘I am the Lord’s handmaid. Be it to me as you say.'”
Acknowledgement”A Christmas Story.” Calvin News (December 18, 2003).This article reprinted with permission from Calvin News.Calvin News is the news and information section of the Calvin College website. It is intended as a resource specifically for media, but generally for anyone interested in the day-to-day life of Calvin College. Calvin is a Christian, liberal arts college located in Grand Rapids, Michigan.The Author – Phil de Haan is director of media relations at Calvin College. He began working at Calvin in 1985 and is a native of Exeter, Ontario.Copyright © 2003 Calvin News