National News

The Mercy House Provides Pro-Life Resources for Expectant N.J. Mothers

During a visit to the Vatican in 2019, Cheryl Riley got to meet Pope Francis to tell him about the work of The Mercy House. She told the Holy Father it was his words that inspired her to open the resource center. (Photo: Cheryl Pedersen Riley/Facebook)

NEWARK — Thirty-nine years ago, Cheryl Pedersen was a scared 19-year-old who discovered she was pregnant and didn’t know where to turn, leading her to have an abortion. It’s a choice that she deeply regrets to this day. 

“My fear was greater than my faith,” she recalled. 

She has since used her personal pain to help other women avoid the inner turmoil she experienced all of those years ago. 

Today, Cheryl Riley (her married name) is the director of the Archdiocese of Newark’s Respect Life Office and the founder of The Mercy House, a place where women can receive emotional support and practical assistance in the form of diapers, baby blankets, clothing, and other items a new mother may need.

She opened The Mercy House in Newark in 2018 and has since established two other sites in the archdiocese. She will soon cut the ribbon on a fourth in Bogota, New Jersey. Around 100 women come through each location’s doors every week to seek assistance, she said. 

Riley explained that she feels it is important to live out her Catholic faith by helping others. Pope Francis’ declaration of 2015 as the Year of Mercy inspired her to create the center. 

“The Pope asked every diocese to do something meaningful for the Year of Mercy, and I thought, ‘What better thing to do than open up a resource center for moms to help them choose to keep their baby?’ ” Riley said. “I don’t want any woman to go through the pain of abortion.” 

Within months of opening that first Mercy House, Riley expanded its services to include rental and utility assistance for financially struggling families.

“I always say we have acres and acres of grass and no fences,” she said, “because we just really see the face of Christ on anyone that walks through the door.”

In addition to helping mothers and families, The Mercy House also provides a place for some to live. Its Jersey City location houses 30 women who would otherwise be homeless.

With all of her work, Riley highlighted the support she receives from the Church. 

“I wouldn’t be able to do what I do without the Archdiocese of Newark,” she said.

Riley terminated her pregnancy in 1985. “On May 30 of this year, it’ll be 40 years since I walked into an abortion clinic,” she recalled. “I was young, uneducated, and thinking that I would terminate my pregnancy and that life would go on.” 

However, life didn’t go on as normal. Riley said she was haunted by her abortion. She thought of the baby girl every day. She eventually married and had three children but always felt the absence of the child she aborted.

“That was the darkest day of my life, leaving that abortion clinic. It’s been 40 years, and I can remember that day like it was yesterday,” Riley said.

She now dedicates her pro-life work to that daughter. “All things I do — going to the March for Life, The Mercy House, Respect Life — I do for her to keep her memorialized,” she said. 

Riley said she eventually found solace by attending a retreat run by Rachel’s Vineyard, a national program that helps women heal their emotional wounds from abortion. And now, through her work in the Respect Life Office, she facilitates a Rachel’s Vineyard retreat in the archdiocese.

Riley’s work has also given her unique opportunities, such as meeting Pope Francis in 2019. 

“I gave him an envelope with all the information about The Mercy House, and I said to him, ‘You said to do something, so I listened. I obeyed. You’re my father,’ ” she recalled. “He was very impressed, and he loved that it was called The Mercy House.”