Theology student honored to serve as lector for Respect Life Mass [Video]

They call it the “dark secret” in the family. 

“We didn’t talk about it,” Cynthia Walters said.

But on Respect Life Sunday, before Mass at St. Joseph Cathedral, she told a complete stranger that her husband wanted her to abort their daughter.  

“My husband was having a meltdown one day, and he goes, ‘I want you to abort her.’ I said, ‘No. I’ll never do it. It’s really painful,” she said of the experience.

A Vietnam veteran, her husband’s outbursts seem to stem from post-traumatic stress disorder.

“My husband can be really mean,” Cynthia said. “He can go off, and he wanted me to abort her because he wasn’t having his way in the world.”

Their daughter, Sarah, now 40, is pursuing a doctorate in Theology from St. Bernard’s School of Theology and Ministry in Rochester. She served as lector for the Oct. 6 Mass. 

“I was so honored that I was asked to do the Respect Life Mass because nobody knew (my story) here,” said Sarah …