PROLIFE PROFILE

A display is worth a thousand statistics.

Rosemary O'Connor and Ron Van Tassel, both of Kankakee, Ill., know it. Their “Little Soles” exhibit is proof positive that a something as simple as a display of baby shoes can make an impact on people's attitudes about abortion.

In 2001, they took their first steps toward collecting 4,000 pairs of baby shoes and displaying them in churches, schools and secular venues. Their display aims to give people a visual idea of the numbers of “little souls” lost to abortion in America each day.

As fellow parishioners of St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church in Kankakee, O'Connor and Van Tassel got the idea at a retreat where they saw a powerful display with 1,800 pairs of shoes from Iowa.

Putting their display together wasn't a snap.

“We thought we'd go out and collect 4,000 pairs of baby shoes and that would be it,” says Van Tassel. But for their first exhibit in June 2001 at the Kankakee Country Fair, next to Birthright's booth, the directors had managed to collect only 100 pairs. They ended up borrowing Iowa's shoes.

Since then, Little Soles has grown to a stack filling a 4-foot-high, open-sided box constructed to make the shoes visible from every angle.

“What makes it more powerful is the shoes go over the box and spill on the sides,” says Van Tassel.

“It's mind-boggling to see,” says O'Connor.

“We hear statistics constantly, so many people tend to ignore them,” adds Van Tassel, a convert to the Catholic faith four years ago, who's also a founding member of St. Rose's adult-formation committee. “We're trying to take that statistic and make it something tangible. When it's turned into the tangible, it becomes personal.

“The Holy Spirit is using this,” he continues. “We don't have to have the 4,000 pairs to make the impact.”

Making a Connection

O'Connor has been especially amazed by the reaction of teenagers.

“You wouldn't think a high-school boy would be looking at the shoes,” she says, “but one surprising thing is, even the boys are picking up the shoes. It strikes them how each pair represents a child who was lost. It makes the connection for them.”

At Providence Catholic High School in New Lenox, Ill., students couldn't ignore the display in the cafeteria.

“This pile of shoes opened up a lot of conversations,” explains English teacher Nell Andrzejewski. “For some of them, this was the first conversation they've had about abortion on a large scale but also abortion personally — how does this affect me and my world?

“They realize the shoes are representing a child who has died because the mother has made that choice,” she says, “and that child will never be in this cafeteria.”

Since Little Soles was there during parent-teacher conferences, parents got a look, too.

“To have this displayed at this point was critical to family conversations,” says Andrzejewski.

Displays at churches have proven similarly arresting. Father James Dvorscak, pastor of St. Mary Catholic Church in Mokena, Ill., found the Little Soles display so moving he had it relocated from the parish hall to the narthex of the church, right at the entryway.

“Sometimes when you do the in-your-face, [post-abortive] photo approach, people tag you for being tasteless and they attack the messenger,” the pastor explains. “This Little Soles is a real zinger that flies under the radar of people and their self-protection from horrendous images.

“Even children understood immediately the impact: There's no baby wearing those shoes,” the priest continues. “I think it's a marvelous approach.”

Some people even went out and bought shoes for the display. In fact, folks often step up to help the directors climb toward 4,000 pairs.

One lady and her daughters have donated 45 pairs by going to garage sales, and teachers have assigned it as a class project.

“When people go to garage sales, it gives them a chance to talk about the abortion issue,” notes O'Connor. “When they explain what they're going to use them for, sometimes they even get the shoes donated. There've been a lot of things positive about this.”

Van Tassel points to some very special pairs.

“One grandmother, whose daughter had an abortion, and wasn't sure whether the child was a boy or girl, donated two pairs — a little boy's and little girl's,” he says. “She placed the names the daughter had picked inside the shoes.”

In another case, a young pregnant women being treated for cancer was told by her doctor to have an abortion or stop the treatments. She chose the baby, not the abortion. The baby lived, but she died.

“The grandmother actually donated the child's shoes,” O'Connor says. “At our home parish we got one antique shoe with a note that said, even if we are poor we don't want to harm God's little ones.”

According to Van Tassel, little feet have worn the vast majority of the shoes. They've got scuffs and are all colors and styles, from little moccasins to patent leathers.

“You realize that all the children who wore them are unique personalities,” he says. “You realize the potential of what was lost when you realize what they represent.”

O'Connor and Van Tassel's goal now is to keep Little Soles traveling all the time, to as many places and events as possible. The display also presents information about post-abortion healing through Return Ministry and Rachel's Vineyard, says O'Connor, because those seeing it might have had an abortion or know someone who has.

Everywhere, Little Soles walks softly but carries a big stick. “Some people are shocked — not with disgust, but at the reality at what abortion does,” says Father Dvorscak. “It leaves empty baby shoes. That's where the power is.”

Joseph Pronechen writes from Trumbull, Connecticut.

Information

Little Soles

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