by Katie Vasquez
Before the sun rises, a few people pile into the pews at the Church of St. Catherine of Siena on the Upper East Side.
One of them is Bernadette Patel. This is how she starts her day as a sidewalk counselor.
“I’ll pray. One that God can use me as an instrument and that if I can say anything or do anything to help a woman choose life, that she does it,” said Patel.
Once a week for almost five years, Bernadette boards the subway downtown to Planned Parenthood on Bleecker street, praying the rosary along the way.
Donning her signature pink vest, she hopes she can change the minds of women going in.
Patel said, “Most of them, it’s like feeling forced to because of circumstances and then that prompts the question of like, how is this a choice?”
While Currents News was there, two women tried to enter the clinic but Bernadette convinced them to not support the abortion provider.
“Planned Parenthood is famous for like, abortions, and when they find that out, they’re like, oh, I don’t want to support this place. like, you don’t have to. there’s different places you can go. so, like, the, just like regular, well, women’s exams or things like that,” said Patel.
Her ministry is not always met with positivity.
“People that come up and just like, scream nasty things. We’ve had cases where we had to file police reports,” said Patel.
But it’s the rare success stories that motivate her.
“We had a turnaround with this, so it was a couple, handed her this and with the pictures of development and the father just started crying and like the woman seemed really shaken,” said Patel.
Even when she’s faced with difficult situations, she reminds herself why she started this work.
“So many women just going in. and i was like, they like someone needs to just talk to them. and then like, god just put on my heart, it’s you,” said Patel.
A calling she will continue for as long as she’s able.