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Posts Tagged ‘pro-life’

To What Political Party Does the Catholic Church Belong?

What political party is the Catholic Church? Neither of course. But depending on what is in the news you can count on labels being applied. If the issue is abortion, embryonic stem cell research, or homosexual “marriage” detractors will say the Church and bishops are “in bed” with the Republicans. But if the issue is immigration reform, capital punishment, concerns about war, or care for the poor, then they’re all “just a bunch of Democrats.”

The move by the Bishops to inform the Catholic Faithful on the Mandate by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that all organizations, including religious ones, must pay for contraceptives, abortion-inducing “medicine” such as the morning after pill, and sterilizations, has been interpreted by some as a raw political move. To be fair, this move by the Administration is so egregious that many political liberals and conservatives stand largely together in calling for the HHS Mandate to restore the historical religious exemptions that have always marked such policies.

Anti-Obama? But there remain some in this country who see the move by the Bishops as merely “anti-President Obama” and “another example” of the conservative Catholic Church showing itself a mere outpost of the Republican Party. Others, like Nancy Pelosi and Kathleen Sibelius, though Catholic, stand, it would seem both politically AND religiously against the Church.

And thus, this may be a moment to ask, what party is the Roman Catholic Church? Perhaps Republican!? Really? A lot of Republican readers of this other blogs would beg to differ, and have often written here with annoyance to described the Bishops as “liberal” and have indicated disgust at how many Catholics vote Democrat. And Catholic Democrats too take annoyance at the Bishops for being too “conservative” on many issues and not bold enough in matters of Social Justice and the Social teachings of the Church. The fact is, as a huge Church of 70 million, Catholics are as diverse as America. Much to the chagrin of many Catholics themselves who often see their differences as a serious departure from the Gospel on the part of their opponents.

The fact is that the real goal for the Church is to be Catholic, across the board: vigorously pro-life and clear on the sexual and life issues, working to strengthen marriage and the family, vigorously advocating for the poor and immigrants, aware of and advocating all the social teachings, fully embracing subsidiarity, solidarity and justice, standing fore-square against the violence that so permeates our culture, generous, merciful and forgiving; and willing to work in communion with those who authentically advocate these Catholic Principles, even if they focus on some of them in particular. Pro-life Catholics should rejoice that others work for and advocate for the poor, and advocates for the poor should rejoice that some fight for life and to end abortion. Together we can cover all the bases.

The goal is for every Catholic to learn the Catholic faith and be a principled adherent to the faith prior to any political allegiance, or worldview. Jesus is neither a Republican nor a Democrat. He is God and He does not fit into our little categories. Neither does the Church. And hence we are to some extent an “equal opportunity annoyer.” And while we may align with the views of certain political parties and groups in certain matters, we are just as likely to stand opposed to other views of the very same party in other matters.

Is the Catholic Church Republican? Democrat? And what are you? As for me:

I’m against abortion, and they call me a Republican
I want greater justice for immigrants, and they call me a Democrat
I stand against “Gay” “Marriage,” and they call me a Republican
I work for affordable housing, and stand with unemployed in DC, and they call me a Democrat
I talk of subsidiarity and they say: “Republican, for sure.”
I mention the common good, and solidarity and they say, “Not only a Democrat, but a Socialist for sure.”
Embryonic Stem cell research should end, “See, he’s Republican!”
Not a supporter of the death penalty, standing with the Bishops and the Popes against it…”Ah, told you! He’s really a Democrat!…Dye in the wool and Yellow Dog to boot!”

Hmm, and all this time I just thought I was trying to be a Catholic Christian. I just don’t seem to fit in. And, frankly, no Catholic should. We cannot be encompassed by any Party as currently defined.

True Catholicism cannot be tamed by any political party or interest group. True Catholicism will comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. It will annoy both the right and the left, and will also affirm them, it has no permanent allies or opponents. As it was with Christ, most every one will have reason to hate the Church, and some will come to love the her. We are destined to be, with Christ, a sign of contradiction (Luke 2:34) that will often be opposed, for we do not simply fit into any on world agenda or party.

In the end we are called to be those who are “simply Catholic.” Every other party affiliation, membership, alliance, or connection must yield to the Faith and be judged by it. No worldly thought should ever trump the Faith which God has revealed through the Church. And, even in some matters (e.g. how best to care for the poor) that are prudential in nature, our alliance to the Church founded by Jesus Christ ought to win the day when it comes giving the benefit of any doubt. And while staying in a dialogue with our Bishops, we must also accept their leadership and respect their insights as those designated to teach, govern and sanctify. In the end we should be simply, plainly and essentially Catholic.

Thus, in this case, when the Bishops speak out against the HHS Mandate they are well able to appeal to a principled stance of Catholicism that has not changed, no matter what the culture or the politics of abortion or the sexual revolution have demanded. Who, even among our worst opponents can really claim that the Catholic church has not been consistent on matters of abortion and contraception? And while our culture has shifted its views and allegiances in these matters, the Church has not. Our views are principled and consistent in this regard. Call us conservative today, but tomorrow when another issue like immigration comes up, we who strive to be simply Catholic, will not purely line up with the conservative or Republican party line. Again, our source must be, and is, a consistent reference to the biblical message and the social teachings of the Church that insists, in this case, that the foreigner among us must be treated with respect and justice. And while border security is essential, so is generosity and justice for those who, like our own ancestors, seek opportunity in this land. Not conservative enough? Perhaps not, but Catholic and biblical.

Frankly the Catholic Church is just too big and diverse, our teachings too ancient, biblical and Catholic to fit into a narrow little label like liberal or conservative, Republican or Democrat. Long after the West as we know it may be gone (pray not), and surely long after political positions have drifted and morphed into other combinations, the Church will still be here articulating and trying to live to the best of her ability the Gospel as set forth by a higher and more lasting authority. We should do and be nothing less than being Simply Catholic.

Please note this is the second in the series of articles responding to some of the criticism of the Church’s opposition to the HHS Mandate. The first article was yesterday and can be read here: Why the Church Won’t Pay for Contraceptives

In this video, Cardinal George and the Chicago Archdiocese are making a similar point very about being Catholic First, creatively:

Bills in Three States Set to Ban Most Abortions and Define Life at Conception: Pray, Pray, Pray!

We considered recently the progress that the Pro-life movement is making in changing hearts (HERE). We pondered that over 61% of Americans want abortion to be illegal in most circumstances. In today’s paper is more hopeful news as three Southern States consider legislation that would outlaw abortion in most circumstances, and go so far as to declare that life begins with conception. Children in the womb thus have the same rights as child of any age.

If this legislation goes forward, there will surely be appeals that will likely wind up in the Supreme Court of the United States, and bring the debate on life and personhood back into focus.

That such bills would be moving forward, along with a steady growth of legal restrictions on abortion in a total of up to 39 States, would have been almost unthinkable 10 years ago. But increasingly, the absurdity of abortion becomes more and more obvious as medical science makes it clear that a unique human being comes into existence at conception. Attempting to fix the moment when life begins at any later time is pure fantasy, and more and more Americans know this. We have reached the point where it may be politically possible in three states to legally recognize this sure fact.

Not only can we thank medical science for this information, but profound credit it due to the prophetic voice of the pro-life movement in this country.

I want to share an article from Reuters News Agency and add comments. As usual, the original text is in bold, black, italics, and my comments are in plain red text. This is an excerpt, the full article is here: Louisiana House May Conisder Bill to Ban Abortion

By Kathy Finn

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) – The Louisiana state House of Representatives on Tuesday evening was set to consider a bill that would ban abortions and launch a battle to overturn the historic Roe v. Wade decision by the U.S. Supreme Court. The bill by Republican state Rep. John LaBruzzo defines human life as beginning at the moment of conception and makes it a crime to terminate a pregnancy except when the birth would endanger the mother’s life. The measure would repeal previous state exceptions that allowed abortion when a pregnancy results from rape or incest. This final point flows from personhood, doesn’t it. If the unborn child is a human person, then that person has a right to life, even when third parties have done terrible things related to him or her. A person does not lose their right to live based on the crimes of third parties.

“Our first intent is to save unborn babies’ lives,” LaBruzzo told Reuters. “Our second intent is to have an opportunity to mount a challenge that makes it to the Supreme Court.” Yes it is wonderful to see these mounting challenges. 150 years ago the absurdity of slavery began to occur to a nation founded on liberty and justice. We could no longer square our practice with our national vision, and so, support for slavery waned. Either all men were created equal and endowed by their creator with life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, or not. Slavery simply could not be justified in the light of that sweeping national premise.

Little by little, we are winning the battle in a similar way. Abortion is appearing increasingly absurd. That absurdity is increasingly clear in the light of what we know about when a distinct life begins, and what it therefore means to be a person, deserving of rights and respect. Assigning the beginning of human life to anything but the moment of conception is not only medically absurd, but appears to an increasing number of Americans to be purely arbitrary. “Arbitrary” is just another way of saying “unjust” in this case. The legal cases being brought forward about personhood are a wonderful focal instance of this insight. The only rational, legal basis for personhood is conception. The determination of any other time is an exercise of purely arbitrary and raw power where the State or the judiciary takes up the role of God. I am convinced that more and more Americans see it this way.

Marjorie Esman, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana, said the bills are “a nationwide movement to erode women’s access to health care.” Abortion is not healthcare.

Louisiana joins two other Southern states — Mississippi and Alabama — in attempting the most stringent abortion restrictions seen in the nearly four decades since the landmark Supreme Court ruling making abortion legal. Notice the word “stringent.” Why not the word “protective” instead? Further I would replace the word “landmark” with something like “horrifying” or “infamous” or “flawed.” Sure, these words would make the report “biased,” but no less biased than words like “stringent” and “landmark” bias it.

Since the High Court in 1973 upheld a woman’s right to seek an abortion in Roe v. Wade, states have passed a wide range of abortion laws aimed at regulating when and under what circumstances a woman may obtain an abortion. No state has so far succeeded in banning abortion altogether, though many have tightened restrictions on the procedure in recent years.

According to the Guttmacher Institute in Washington, D.C., which conducts research and policy analysis related to reproductive health, 39 states prohibit abortions after a specified point in pregnancy. Many states also impose requirements ranging from minimum waiting periods to state-mandated counseling. That’s very impressive: 39 states have moved to limit abortion in some way. Pray God this is the slow but steady progress we need and that it will continue.

Elizabeth Nash, a public policy associate at the Guttmacher Institute, says about 14 states have this year made some attempt at limiting abortion. “We have seen the most abortion restrictions adopted in one year that we have ever seen,” she said. Praise God!

Two of the most aggressive efforts are under way in Alabama and Mississippi. The measures define life as beginning at conception and would ban abortion. The Alabama Senate approved its bill, which is now pending in the House, and Mississippi residents will vote on the issue in November. And if they pass, there is likely a sure trip to the Supreme Court for a kind of show-down on Roe. Even if these laws are upheld, it is conceivable Roe could also continue to stand in some form. But I am getting a sense that Roe’s days may be fast eroding. I hope too that, in the meantime, the bishops and local pastors in these states will work hard for passage, and ask for prayer and fasting. If things move to a nationwide level I hope too that prayer and fasting will be central weapons. Maybe American Catholics could pledge 50 million rosaries for the over 50 million abortions performed, as the cases move to the national level. Pray, Pray Pray!!

“What the bill says is that life begins at conception, and a baby who is pre-born should enjoy all the rights that a 1-day-old baby does.” Amen!

Pray!

Photo Credit LunarC via Creative Commons

Little by Little, the Tide is Turning. But We have to Keep Working

Most of you probably heard of the Gallup Poll released yesterday that showed that 61% of Americans want all, or most abortions, to be declared illegal. There remains for further study, the oddity that some Americans who take this position still say they are “pro-choice,” but in the end they still want most abortion to be illegal. If you are unaware of this report you can read it here: Gallup Poll

The upshot of the report is: that, despite their labeling of their own abortion views, a majority of Americans clearly not only oppose abortion and believe it to be a morally improper “choice,” but they believe the legal status of abortions should change and all or virtually all abortions should be prohibited [1].

The lesson here, is that we ought to take heart. Our prophetic stance in the Church and in the wider pro-life community is having good effects. At times the battle seems long and the results seem distant, but little by little, the tide is turning. There will be set backs and troubles, but we have to keep working. Gently the tide is turning.

An old African American Spiritual says, Keep-a-inching along, Jesus will come by and by, Keep-a-inching along, like a poor inch worm, Jesus will come by and by. So the song says, keep working for justice, it implies, don’t give up. And those slaves of old saw slavery end. Many of the same arguments for slavery have been redeployed by abortion supporters, but keep inching along, Jesus will come, by and by, and the truth will out.

When we look back at slavery, most Americans are embarrassed that we ever thought such an abomination was fine and legal. But it took time to turn the tide in that great struggle. And even after slavery, the struggle continued, through years of Jim Crow and many indignities.

We look back on such things with shame now, how could we have been so foolish and have betrayed American principles so badly, as to enslave, and later segregate and exclude, a whole race. Slowly conversion has come upon this land. But it only came because some were willing to be prophets, and to keep insisting on what was just and right.

It will be the same with abortion. One day we will look back with shame on this era, and wonder how we could ever have been so sinfully wrong as to think abortion should be legal, and even funded it with state money. But it will take time and continued work. The poll shows we are on the way. Keep inching along, Jesus will come by an by.

Another example of how the tide can turn on an issue is smoking. The videos at the bottom of this post are hilarious ads from the 1950s entitled: More Doctors Smoke Camels. The ads, at the time they were produced, did not intend to be a comedy, but now they are. The ads show a doctor puffing up a storm and it assures us of the “benefits” of smoking Camel Cigarettes.

Looking back at ads like this we think, How could we have ever been so stupid? But of course it has taken us time and effort for us to come to our senses. The anti-smoking campaign was long, and at times, loud. I remember more than a few times being annoyed at the “anti-smoking Nazis.” Though I never smoked myself, I became especially alarmed when the government started telling restaurant and bar owners what to do. But in the end, and all discussions about Government intrusion aside, smoking has really been kicked to the curb in our culture. Some still smoke, but everyone today sees it for what it is, poisonous and, frankly, stupid. Those, who are sadly addicted, puff away, but most of the rest of us look to them with a kind of sadness.

This sea change came as the result of a sustained effort, often on an unwilling public. It was multi-pronged as well, using the media effectively, and even the legislative process.

For those of us in pro-life work there are important precedents to be seen in the fight against slavery, the Civil Rights Movement, and even in the anti-smoking campaign. Consistent, persistent and organized action brings eventual results. This is often a battle for inches, but inches become yards, and yards, miles. Keep a inching alone like a poor old inch worm, Jesus will come by and by.

Photo from Warning Sign Generator

Enjoy these silly ads.

A Journey Home to the Catholic Faith and What We Can Learn.

A recent announcement of journey home to the Catholic Faith was made by the well known pro-life advocate Bryan Kemper. His announcement letter is posted below. Not only can we rejoice to have a fine and prophetic new member, but, in reading his letter, we can also see certain hallmarks that have led him to the Church. The things he mentions are also things others have mentioned. I would also like to discuss something he does NOT mention.

First here is the letter he sent to his supporters on his blog. I have taken the liberty of adding a few reflections which appear in plain text red.

Dear friends,

I know this may come as a shock to many of you; I am in shock in a way my self. I have spent the past 23 years living my life for Christ always wanting to serve Him and know His truth.

I have been a member of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church for almost 10 years as I was so inspired by the liturgy and reverence I found there. I have also been in a constant journey for God’s truth, studying His Word as well as church history. After many, many years of resisting a calling that I tried to suppress I have finally felt the peace of God with my decision to join the Catholic Church. Please note his reference to being inspired by the liturgy and reverence in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. I want to comment on that below.

I know that many of you will be confused, even concerned for me. I know that you will have many questions and even be tempted to try and dissuade me from this decision. While I will most certainly talk to you about what God is doing here, I will not be entering into any debates about this right now.

I want to let you know this is not made lightly; I fought against this for years. There are several things that led me to search and finally choose to go back to the Church. I will share a few things in brief here and would love to sit down in person some time with you if you want to peacefully discuss them in more detail.

Every true spiritual journey is marked by profound consideration and often painful discernment. He clearly has love for the traditions which have nourished and sustained him and cannot lightly leave that behind. I have made this journey with others who have joined the Catholic Church and found that their love and appreciation for what has sustained them and is an important aspect of the gifts they bring to the Church. The Church is wonderfully enriched by the fact that they do not cast aside what they have received in the past, but rather that they transpose and apply it to the Catholic setting. For there is great zeal, love and knowledge of Scripture, a fine tradition of preaching, hymnody, an appreciation for a personal walk with the Lord, and countless other gifts in the Protestant traditions. We are indeed enriched by those who join us.

Church authority: There are simply thousands and thousands of denominations and every time someone disagrees with another teaching of their church they simply start a new one. The Catholic Church has had it’s teaching since the beginning of the Church in the scriptures. There is no way God can be happy with thousands of denominations or so-called non-denominational churches. It seems that when people disagree on doctrine it often results in another break off church. The fact is that current Christian teaching can differ so much between two churches that it really constitutes different religions and different Gods. There must be one established truth that God gave us, one that has remained from the time of Christ.

We have talked a lot about this in this blog. It is the chief problem with the Protestant approach. When no one is Pope, everyone is Pope and there are no real ways of resolving difficulties and the conflicts that inevitably happen when two or more human beings are together. One of the glories of the Catholic Church has been her integrity in terms of authority and unity in terms of doctrine.

There are, to be sure, squabbles among the faithful as to emphasis and direction. But when the problem is doctrinal, or the non-doctrinal debates become too divisive, we DO have a way of ultimately resolving it and remaining in a coherent unity.

Some of the older, main-line Protestant denominations were able to keep this for a time when Scripture’s authority and veracity were unquestioned. But in recent decades, the main-line denominations no longer agree on authority of Scripture in terms of its plain meaning, and the differing views have caused major ruptures in the Episcopal, Methodist, Lutheran, and Presbyterian branches. It is most often the moral questions, such as homosexuality and abortion, that prove most problematic. And without Scripture, tradition and authority the severing into ever wider varieties is inevitable.

Mr. Kemper could not have said it better than when he speaks of there being one established truth that has remained intact since the time of Christ.

Pro-life and Contraception: There is only one church that has been consistent from the time of Christ to today on the teaching of pro—life and contraception. Before 1930 there was never a single Christian church in history to accept any form of contraception and today there is only one that absolutely has kept this Christian teaching and truth.

Praise God for this insight. The Catholic Church has often been excoriated for not keeping up with the times. But of course, as Mr. Kemper notes, this is not the role of the Church. Rather, she is to consistently hold to the truths that come to us from Christ through the Apostles. Though sorely tempted by her own members to update in terms of contraception and, to some extent, abortion, the Church has held firm to what she has received.

In terms of pro-life issues, you may recall that we discussed on this blog some time ago what David French, a well known Protestant author said of the Catholic Church: for almost forty years has been the beating heart of the American pro-life movement….One cannot spend five minutes with thoughtful Catholics without understanding how the defense of life is a fundamental and integral part of the DNA of the church. Since the defense of life is theologically-grounded, it is functionally and practically independent of any secular ideology. Life is not just an “issue,” for a Catholic; it is at the core of the Gospel. [1]

Yes, dedication to pro-life issues and holding firm on the teaching about contraception are two glories of the Church. And, it is important to see that this sort of prophetic stance is winning new members for us, members who bring great gifts and zeal with them. We ought not fear being prophetic and zealous lovers of life. God is both renewing us and blessing us with new members like Bryan Kemper.

Communion or the Eucharist: I have always believed that communion was more that just a symbol and in looking back at early church teaching it is crystal clear that this was taught from day one. St Ignatius of Antioch a student of John the Apostle taught on this and clarified it well.

Here too is the central glory of the Catholic Church, that we unvaryingly hold to the true presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist. I cannot tell you how many have come to the Church or returned to her on this count. The Scriptures could not be clearer on this point and, as Mr. Kemper notes, the Church Fathers also held it from day one. What a magnificent glory it is that we have Christ truly present in our tabernacles and truly receive him in Holy Communion. To remain devoted to Christ in the Eucharist is surely a necessary requirement for the Church if we want the Lord to bless us with new members.

These are just a few of the things that drew me back into the Catholic Church; however there is so much more. I was baptized Catholic as a child so the process is not as complicated for me. I will be starting RCIA classes and working towards confirmation.

I am asking my friends to pray for my family’s journey and me as I truly seek to be closer to Christ. My relationship with Christ is the most important thing in my life and I hope my friends will stand by me, as I grow closer to Him.

As for the work of Stand True; it will remain focused on educating, activating and equipping young to stand up for life and Christ. We have always been an organization that reaches out to and works with all Christians and we will remain true to that. A great work he is doing.

For Christ I stand,

Bryan Kemper

The original statement is found here: Journey Home

So, there is much to be grateful for here. Clearly the beauty, and the integrity of the Church on many issues continues to inspire new members to join us.

I would like to mention something Mr. Kemper did not say and ponder for a moment the possible meaning of it. You will note above that he said: I have been a member of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church for almost 10 years as I was so inspired by the liturgy and reverence I found there. Among the things he did not list, as his reason for joining the Catholic Church, was the inspiration and reverence related to the liturgy. It may well be that he did not discuss this for the sake of brevity. But I wonder if we might not perhaps be willing to learn why the liturgical experience did not make the list?

The fact is that too much Catholic liturgy today comes across as neither inspiring nor reverent. There is nothing wrong with our liturgy in essence. It is the glorious Mass handed on to us by Christ and the Apostles. But the way we celebrate it in the typical Catholic parish is often problematic. It is rushed, sermons are poor and music is sometimes of questionable taste. Further, people dress casually, and sometimes act irreverently in the Church. Many too, seem bored and disengaged from what is going on. Clergy too often seem to celebrate in a perfunctory manner, and liturgical abuses sometimes taint the celebration.

In dealing with converts from the main-line denominations, one of the hurdles I have discovered they often have to clear is the question of liturgy. They come from liturgical traditions that are not as elaborate as the full Catholic Tradition. However, their traditions are marked by a noble simplicity that has engaged them well. There is a great tradition of hymn singing, and congregational involvement. There is also a tradition of fine preaching that includes a lengthier, teaching oriented sermon that fully develops the scriptural text. Their congregations tend to be smaller and the services less numerous. Community is more intimate and so forth. It is often a sacrifice for many of them to leave this and come to an often less cozy and reverent environment that predominates in many of our larger parishes. To be sure, Catholicism offers a wide variety of liturgical experiences and reverence is not easily defined as jsut one thing. But it ought to be noted that Mr. Kemper did not mention the reverent liturgies of the Church on his primary list. We might learn something from this.

Bryan Kemper’s entrance into the Church is something to rejoice in. Obviously he sees and appreciates something in the Church that has caused him to make what is a big step for him. Pray for him as he makes this transition. Further, we ought as Catholics, to rejoice in the prophetic witness of the Church and how many are still inspired to join. Something is going right here and we ought to be grateful at what the Lord is doing. Not only does the Church enrich and inspire others to membership in the Body of Christ, but the Church is also enriched by the gifts that others, like Bryan Kemper brings. Let us rejoice and give thanks.

Photo Credit: From http://bryankemper.com

Here is a video clip of Bryan’s Work:

Putting the Lie to “Safe and Legal.” A Pro-Life Victory in Virginia, and a Reminder in Maryland that the Battle Goes On

Many of you are aware that last week the Virginia Legislature passed historic legislation that calls out the veracity of the Pro-Choice claim that they want abortion “safe and legal” and puts that claim to the test.

Here are excerpts from a Washington Examiner article:

The Virginia legislature on Thursday passed historic legislation that would tighten regulations on abortion clinics in the state — and could make it more difficult for Northern Virginia women to find one.

Facilities in which five or more first-trimester abortions are performed each month would be classified as hospitals, which are subject to stricter rules regarding the width of their hallways, for example, as well as certain staffing and medical requirements…..Gov. Bob McDonnell said Thursday he intends to sign the measure.

Should that happen, Virginia will become the first state to require hospital regulations at facilities that perform first-trimester abortions. The law would take effect July 1, and the state Board of Health, made up of gubernatorial appointments, would issue regulations within 280 days of that date.

Advocates for the long-sought measure, including Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, hailed the outcome as a measure to preserve and protect the health of women in the state.”While I regret the occurrence of abortions, I do want women in all circumstances treated with the dignity and respect that every human being deserves,” Cuccinelli said in a statement.

Opponents, however, argued that the increased regulations would have the opposite effect and restrict access to those seeking abortions, raising potential constitutional issues. “This is a sad, sad day for the women of Virginia and our families,” said Sen. Janet Howell, D-Fairfax.

Clinics in Northern Virginia could be shuttered as a result, said Tarina Keene, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia. “Right now, believe it or not, the most populated area in Virginia does not have an abortion clinic that would meet hospital standards,” Keene said.

….Abortion clinics in Virginia are currently regulated as outpatient clinics, similar to oral or cosmetic surgery centers.

The Full article is here: Virginia Law Regulates Abortion Clinics

Now, of course, pro-choice advocates, who have long marched under the banner of “safe and legal,” should hail this decision since it goes a long way to ensure one of their two “pillar” positions. As strong advocates for “women’s safety” they, look back in horror to the days of “coat-hanger” abortions and insist that those days must never return. So, surely, they will support measures to further protect women from the often unsafe, unsanitary and under-regulated women’s “clinics.” Many stories have recently surfaced that show just how unsafe these clinics are. For example

Well, you get the point. There are huge problems in the abortion “industry” regarding safety. The pro-choice advocates claim they want to have safe abortions available. Here comes Virginia to the rescue with strong legislative protections for women who go to these so-called clinics. But as we can see from the reactions above, the “safe and legal” advocates are well prepared to sacrifice safety in order to keep abortion more legal. Regulating abortion for them is chipping away at its legality and availability. Hence the “Safe” pillar, they claim to be at the foundation of their movement, has to give way for the legal pillar. Never mind that some women are butchered and even die.

It’s really the “legal” of “safe and legal” that matters. Or so it would seem. For all the talk about women’s safety, it would appear that such a concern is quite secondary.

Hence, the Virginia Law puts the lie to the propaganda of the Pro-choice advocates. “Safe” for them appears to be more of an abstraction or a slogan. Real safety doesn’t seem to interest them, or at least, it seems to threaten them.

Without a doubt, the victory in Virginia is a sad and ironic one. Focusing on women’s safety is a fine goal in itself. But, what of the safety of the unborn children? Well, step by step we’ll make this journey to recapture of the hearts of our countrymen. Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli rightly states, While I regret the occurrence of abortions, I do want women in all circumstances treated with the dignity and respect that every human being deserves. Yes, and to this I would only add: unborn babies too. I know Mr. Cuccinelli would agree. Here at least is a step to further exposing the hypocrisy of many who cry “safe and legal.” Here at least is a step in seeing that women who are often pressured to have abortions are not easily subjected to the horrors of an under-regulated “industry.”

Now a river runs through the DC area called the Potomac. And while there is a small bit of good news on the Virginia side of the river, a deep sadness has set up on the Maryland side. Sad and tragic to be sure, but some local heroes have stepped on the scene armed with prayer.

The place is Germantown, Md. The case is that of the notorious late-term abortionist, LeRoy Carhart who arrived in this area after being invited to leave the Midwest. Carhart is at his “clinic” Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Women from all over the country arrive as he performs his three-day abortion procedure. Protestors witness mothers walking in the door clearly advanced in their pregnancies. The babies are killed by lethal injection on Monday morning and a laminaria (to dilate the cervix) is started. On Tuesday they return. Finally on Wednesday the mothers get a “choice”, they can either endure a hard day of labor with no anesthesia and deliver the “contents” intact (a dead baby) or they can deliver the “contents” more easily in pieces. (Pardon the graphics.)

Pro-life advocates are working hard to spread awareness and awaken the community. For over a month now 80 to 200+ people protest and pray before the clinic as the women arrive for the Monday killings. There are people from many local denominations, students coming before classes, pro-life veterans from all over the county, businessmen that are currently in the surrounding offices and businessmen that have moved their businesses because of the presence of the abortion clinic.

A First Rescue – On the second week of the protest was seen the first fruit of the efforts. Here is and excerpt from a press release that describes the rescue:

[As] Over 90 people stood in peaceful, prayerful witness outside of the abortion facility….witnesses described a young woman who arrived to have a scheduled abortion with Carhart, and how the entire group gathered together to pray specific and focused prayers for this particular woman and her child. The woman came back out of facility a short time later and announced, “I knew the love was out here and not in there!” She also said that the facility is “disgusting and the people are mean in there.” The young woman continued to speak with the group for several minutes, and eventually accompanied one of the witnesses to Shady Grove Pregnancy Center. Shady Grove’s purpose is to help and support women who believe that their only option is abortion [1]

The prayer and the advocacy for life continue. God bless those who pray before these “clinics.” As one who does so myself, I want to say it is a very difficult work, often a deep sadness envelopes, and yet also a deep love. Pray for those who make these difficult walks. Pray for results. Pray that more women may come to know that “the love is out here, not in there.” Blessings to Grace and Jamie Morrison who supplied me with info for this post.

The address of the clinic is

Germantown Reproductive “Health Services”
13233 Executive Park Terrace
Germantown, MD. 20874

Here are some additional sources:

Here is a video of the prayers on-going before this awful clinic. Take a few moments and watch. And while you watch, pray. One of those organizing the prayers says with confidence, “Carhart will leave soon.” And surely our prayers will help in not only that, but his conversion as well.

Photo Credit: Flickr (right click for URL)

Pondering Abortion in the African American Community

Last week came the news of a showdown of sorts in the New York area regarding abortion in the Black community. The Billboard that you see at the right was displayed in SoHo section of New York and says, The Most Dangerous Place for and African American is in the Womb. The billboard was placed by a local Chapter of group known as Life Always. After controversy, threatened protests, and even a plan by Al Sharpton to organize significant demonstrations, the group chose to remove the sign. The sign continues to appear elsewhere in the country.

Once again we confront the very painful and very deadly issue of abortion. In this post I would like to set forth a number of independent though related points regarding abortion in the Black Community. Most of you know, though I am white, I have spent most of my 22 years as a priest ministering in African American Parishes and I love doing so. Most of you also know that I, as any Catholic Priest would be, am strongly pro-life. There are particular factors regarding abortion when it comes to the African American Community and some of them need to be confronted and explored. Allow me to list them here in a somewhat disconnected way:

The high rate of abortion in the Black community is very sobering and sad. African Americans make up about 12% of the US population but account for 30% of abortions. Hispanics are over represented as well, though not as steeply. They account for 25% of abortions while being about 17% of the US population.[1]
Staggering Numbers – Since 1973, over 15 million black children have been lost to abortion. Over 1,400 black children are killed every day through abortion. The African American Population is currently only 37 million. What this means is that if these 15 million aborted babies had survived and had some children of their own, the African American population would be almost double the size it is today. Half are gone in 40 years.
The billboard in New York was in response to the dreadful news that in the New York area 60 % of Black pregnancies end in abortion.
Highest Cause of Death by Far – These are all staggering numbers. No other cause of death among Blacks (or whites for that matter) even comes close to the toll that abortion takes. Add up the numbers of deaths from heart disease, AIDS, diabetes, cancer, accidents and violent crimes, multiply it by two, and we are not even close to the number who have died by abortion.
Very few want to discuss this. There may be gatherings to lament the number who have died by AIDS, or heart disease and programs announced to try and reduce the number of deaths by these. But abortion is “off the radar.” This is not unique to the Black community but it the numbers are higher and condition even more critical. And still there is silence. It is almost like rushing to add water to the sink, but no one wants to admit that the drain is wide open.
Some ARE beginning to discuss this topic however. And, it is a long and difficult road to get the topic on the agenda. The billboard above is one such attempt. Making African Americans aware of the staggering numbers is another important task. Even prominent members of the African American Community are beginning to speak out. (See below).
Some years ago when I mentioned abortion, a parishioner said to me, “Abortion isn’t our issue Father, we Blacks keep our babies.” And her perception is a common one in the African American Community. Very few see aware of the huge numbers and the over-representation of the African American Community in the abortion numbers.
I do not find open support for abortion in my parish. It is more a question of not wanting to discuss the issue. When I preach against abortion I do not get angry letters or people walking out. I am not confronted after Mass. What I do get is a lot of silence and I sense pain in that silence as well as a certain startled quality when the numbers are made plain.
The billboard in New York (and elsewhere) makes a true statement. There is just no other place where 60% of black people go and will not make it out alive. The nationwide rate is only a little lower, with 47% of black pregnancies ending abortion [2]. By comparison 16% of white pregnancies so end. The fact is that it simply IS a much bigger problem in the African American Community. Still, one may ask, where do 16% of White Americans go and not make it out alive? Hence, one may legitimately ask, where are the similar billboards in White or other ethnic communities? In the end though, part of the answer has to be that the numbers are so much higher in the Black Community. The numbers simply cannot be ignored.
The Billboard however may be critiqued for its tactic. There is one approach which says that prophets should not mince words, and to some extent I agree with this. However, when it comes to abortion, I have discovered that there are many deep and very personal struggles associated with abortion. In such a scenario, and presuming we are trying to reach out, inform and win hearts and minds, I am not sure the “stick in the eye” approach is the most effective. To tweak and provoke has its place, but I am not sure here is that place. The Ad can be (and has been) interpreted to mean that Black women are bad mothers, or dangerous. The focus is more on the women than the lost children. I am not sure that this is what we mean to communicate or that such a message is helpful.
The Higher numbers in the Black community are due to numerous factors. Poverty is likely the chief factor. 42% of abortions are performed on women who are poor [3]. The breakdown of the Black family is another factor. 85% of abortions are performed on unmarried women [4]. The breakdown of the Black Family is complicated. A huge factor is the Welfare system, which has and continues to reward single parent scenarios and punishes marriage. An astonishing fact is that only 37% of Black women have ever been married. While this is shocking, the rest of America is catching up. Marriage and family are in trouble everywhere, and this is bound to affect the question of abortion.
The Black community has been targeted by Abortion providers. Some dispute if this is the case today, but there is no doubt that, historically, the Black Community was targeted for reduction and even elimination by the founder of Planned Parenthood, Margaret Sanger. Sanger was a eugenicist and thought of the Black and Brown races as inferior. She sought, through the use of contraception, and later, Abortion, to reduce and ultimately eliminate them. She is infamously quoted as saying, The [Black] minister’s work is also important and he should be trained, perhaps by the Federation as to our ideals and the goal that we hope to reach. We do not want word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population, and the minister is the man who can straighten out that idea if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members (Letter to Gamble, Dec 10, 1939). I Have written more extensively on this topic here: Origins of Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood denies it targets Black and Latinos today. Yet it remains true that the highest percentage of abortions are sold by them to Black and Latino women. Many also argue that most of Planned Parenthood “clinics” are located in minority neighborhoods. They deny this and provide statistics to refute it. But as one might expect, how we define “minority neighborhood” is crucial to determining the real number.
But in the End, No Excuses Please – So there ARE many factors that drive the numbers of African American abortions higher. However, we must also avoid patronizing attitudes that seek to absolve the Black community from all responsibility. Despite the challenges of poverty and broken families due to welfare, the Black woman and the Black man remain moral agents, who make choices for which they are responsible and accountable. Simply offering explanations cannot ultimately excuse any community from asking necessary questions and addressing the horrifying numbers of abortion. Pastors of Black Churches such as me have an obligation to bring this before the community and preach with clarity that Abortion is murder and it must end. We must help women who are in crisis, and we must seek, with the wider community, to provide real and true alternatives, to include adoption. Poverty cannot exclude such a discussion. And frankly, huge numbers of African Americans made it out of poverty a long time ago.
We simply have to confront these numbers. We must discuss them openly. There will be some who wish to claim that racism is the real motive. But I am not sure how concern for the death of African American babies is racism. Others will see it as racist that the Black community is singled out. It is not, Abortion remains a human problem affecting us all. But, it cannot be denied that the numbers are significantly higher in the African American Community and this must be confronted and addressed in a way that is not accusatory but also not patronizing.
It’s going to be a long process. The intersections between race, politics, abortion and culture are deep. Building trust is key. Many in the Black community wonder of the Pro-Life Community’s motives and true commitment. Many wonder at the concern expressed for unborn babies and the apparent lack of similar concern for born babies. I don’t think the charge is wholly fair (and is driven mostly by politicians), but the perception is real and it must be dealt with. Trust must be built and this takes time. But a journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.
Powerful and New Voices – Thank God some good and powerful voices are emerging. The video s below help detail some of that. Further, three members of the family of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. have stepped forward and begun a discussion about abortion. I want to end with a statement recently issued by them:

As our nation pauses to recommit itself to fulfilling the dream of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., we invite our fellow citizens to reflect on how that dream touches every human life. Dr. King taught that justice and equality need to be as wide-reaching as humanity itself. Nobody can be excluded from the Beloved Community. He taught that ‘injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.’

In his 1967 Christmas sermon, he pointed out the foundation of this vision: ‘The next thing we must be concerned about if we are to have peace on earth and good will toward men is the nonviolent affirmation of the sacredness of all human life. …Man is a child of God, made in His image, and therefore must be respected as such….And when we truly believe in the sacredness of human personality, we won’t exploit people, we won’t trample over people with the iron feet of oppression, we won’t kill anybody.’

The work of building the Beloved Community is far from finished. In each age, it calls us to fight against poverty, discrimination, and violence in every form. And as human history unfolds, the forms that discrimination and violence take will evolve and change. Yet our commitment to overcome them must not change, and we must not shrink from the work of justice, no matter how unpopular it may become.

In our day, therefore, we cannot ignore the discrimination, injustice, and violence that are being inflicted on the youngest and smallest members of the human family, the children in the womb. Thousands of these children are killed every day in America by abortion, throughout all nine months of pregnancy.

We declare today that these children too are members of the Beloved Community, that our destiny is linked with theirs, and that therefore they deserve justice, equality, and protection.

And we can pursue that goal, no matter what ethnic, religious, or political affiliation we have. None of that has to change in order for us to embrace Dr. King’s affirmation of the sacredness of all human life. It simply means that in our efforts to set free the oppressed, we include the children in the womb.
We invite all people of good will to join us in the affirmation that children in the womb have equal rights and human dignity.”

Dr. Alveda King
Director, African-American Outreach, Priests for Life
Niece of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Mrs. Naomi Barber King
Wife of the late Rev. A.D. King (brother of Martin Luther King, Jr.)

Rev. Derek King
Pastor
Indianapolis, Indiana
Nephew of Martin Luther King, Jr.

To Stand Up for Life is to Experience Life!

If you have ever had the exciting privilege of being in Washington for the Pro-Life March you how true it is that you always leave exhausted, but more alive than you came. The Pro-life March, for a Catholic especially, is really more than just the March, it is a series of activities. In the days immediately before the March there are usually seminars and other focused gatherings around life and bio-ethical issues. Then there is the great Vigil Mass for Life, at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, the night before the March. The Great Upper Church of the Basilica can comfortably seat about 4,000 people. But the Vigil Mass for Life brings often 8,000 or more. People are standing in the aisles, the side chapels, in every nook and cranny. The Sanctuary around the High Altar is packed with Bishops, priests, deacons, and seminarians from all over the country. Visible in the Church are Religious men and women in consecrated life showing a magnificent display of diversity in their habits. The congregation is filled with men an women and young people of every age group, and every ethnic and racial diversity imaginable. If you want to know how catholic (universal) the Catholic Church really is, just come to the Basilica for the Vigil Mass for Life!

The bigger picture – There are some who want to describe the Church as aging and of declining numbers. Some want to describe the Church as not being able to connect with the young, or with peoples of non-European descent. Some say her clergy and religious are aging. But come to the pro-life vigil Mass and behold the youthful diversity of the Church! And even if you can’t go, watch, as the EWTN cameras pan the congregation. Most of the religious in traditional habits are young. And there are hundreds and hundreds of them! Watch as the seemingly endless procession of clergy and seminarians enter, again, by the hundreds. And there too, youthful vigor is in strong display! So many are the priests and seminarians that they overflow the sanctuary into the side chapel for the Blessed Sacrament and into the ambulatory behind and around the High Altar. Here is a Basilica, one of the ten largest churches in the world, filled to overflowing with life, joy and worship! Yes, the Church is a bride, she is not a widow! Indeed, she is the joyful mother of multitudes.

Rally Riches – And this is just the Vigil Mass. The next day, of your pro-life pilgrimage features a youth Rally at the Verizon Center. The doors open early for music and praise. 28,000, mostly young people, pack the place. Music, inspired talks, the wave and ten trillion watts of youthful energy fill the center in one of its largest functions of the year. A reverent but energetic Mass follows, celebrated by Cardinal Wuerl. One of the younger priests of the Archdiocese usually preaches an energetic and youth oriented homily. And then, after the reception of Holy Communion, concluding prayer and praise, the youthful congregation bursts forth onto the streets of Downtown Washington to head for the March line-up on the Mall.

Overflow! The number of young people vastly outsizes the capacity of the Verizon Center. This year an alternative overflow site at the DC Armory hosted an additional 10,000 young people. There too, after prayer and praise and the celebration of the Holy Mass the young people and their adult chaperons headed for the Mall to begin the March.

And march itself is also a remarkable display in diversity. The balance is wonderfully tipped toward a youthful appearance. Here, Catholics join non-Catholics, fellow believers and even non-believers to march in six-figure numbers. The joy, the prayer, the hope and the experience of how right and just it is to support life all fill the air. It is usually cold, but the warmth within the crowd is tangible. And again, it is the youth who so often set the tone. They have zeal and zest as they lead chants and celebrate life.

The only angry people I met today were the pro-choice counter demonstrators I spoke with. There were about a dozen of them in front of the Supreme Court and I went to each one of them and individually said, as I looked into their eyes, “In your heart you know better, you know abortion is terribly wrong.” I spoke as softly as I could in the outdoor environment with a lot of background noise. I was trying to go right for their conscience, which, though suppressed, is still there. For the voice of God ultimately echoes in every human person according to the Catechism (cf CCC # 1776). Deep down they DO know that abortion is wrong.

I only got about half way through the group before they surrounded me and began to engage me. Their primary accusation against me seemed to be that I was not a woman. Of this I am guilty, but suggested to them that to determine the wrongness of abortion did not require a womb but, rather, a mind and a heart, something both men and women have! They grew angrier with me as I didn’t easily go away but continued down the line suggesting to each one that they knew, deep down, that it was wrong to abort babies. I wanted to speak this to each one personally. I wanted to try and reach their conscience. Difficult, but worth trying.

In the end they chose to serenade me! And here was the song they sang:

Hey Hey, Ho, Ho! Pro-life men have got to go!
Hey, Hey, Ho, Ho! If YOU got pregnant then you’d know!

Even here, Life! Well, I just smiled and prayed, and the ladies in the rosary group behind me redoubled their prayers and I stood there and waited for the counter-protesters to grow tired of singing. I was grateful to suffer for the sake of the Name and to be a “fool for Christ” (1 Cor 4:10). Yes, even this was life giving for me. Dr. King had once said, “If you find a good fight, get in it!” And here I was on the front line, in the forward trench.

Just in the nick of time reinforcements arrived! A parishioner and friend JJ, (and a reader of this blog), arrived. And she’s a woman! I explained how they were singing this lovely song for me and suggesting, in a rather bigoted way, that my mere maleness rendered me incapable of having a valid understanding. Their song, (intended to give me the bum’s rush), eventually gave way to exhaustion. I restated my case, appealing to their conscience and introduced JJ, my friend, and pointed out, by the way, that she is a woman. She went to work and gave them the “Come to Jesus” talk!

Yes, even here there was life and the paradoxical joy of being able to suffer accusation and be thought a fool (for Christ).

In the end, to stand up for life is to experience life and to experience it to the top! The March for Life shows the Church fully alive, youthful, joyful, numerous and diverse. We have discussed before on this blog with sobriety some alarming trends and numbers in the western branch of the Church. But this weekend shows once again that the Church is a bride, not a widow. That she remains alive and strong, prophetic and enthusiastic. It shows that her young are still numerous, that vocations are rebounding. It shows that zeal for the truth is still deep in a faithful remnant that is glad to be alive, glad to celebrate life, glad to be Catholic and experience that the Church is catholic (universal). To stand up for life is to experience life. Come next year to Washington.

This video shows some glimpses of the Pro-Life Youth Rally at the Verizon Center. The footage is from Catholic.tv

The Miracle of Life – A Meditation on Mystery and Beauty of Life as we March

The magnificence of life is really too wonderful too describe. But I found this description some years ago which summons reverence by its very ability to baffle the mind:

MIRACLE OF LIFE- Consider the miracle of the human body. Its chemistry is just as extraordinarily well tuned as is the physics of the cosmos. Our world on bothsides of the divide that separates life from lifelessness is filled with wonder. Each human cell has a double helix library of three billion base pairs providing fifty thousand genes. These three billion base pairs and fifty thousand genes somehow engineer 100 trillion neural connections in the brain—-enough points of information to store all the data and information contained in a fifty-million-volume encyclopedia. And then after that, these fifty thousand genes set forth a million fibers in the optic nerves, retinae having ten million pixels per centimeter, some ten billion in all, ten thousand taste buds, ten million nerve endings for smell, cells that exude a chemical come-on to lure an embryo’s lengthening neurons from spinal cord to target cell, each one of the millions of target cells attracting the proper nerve from the particular needed function. And all this three-dimensional structure arises somehow from the linear, one-dimensional information contained along the DNA helix. Did all this happen by chance or do you see the hand of God?

Today, many of us march for life, here in Washington, on the West Coast, and in other communities. Today we ponder the great mystery that is expressed in the 139th psalm:

For it was you who created my being, knit me together in my mother’s womb. I thank you for the wonder of my being…Already you knew my soul my body held no secret from you when I was being fashioned in secret….every one of my days was decreed before one of them came into being. To me, how mysterious your thoughts, the sum of them not to be numbered! (Psalm 139 varia)

No human being is an accident, no conception a surprise or inconvenience to God. Mysteriously he knew and loved us long before we were ever conceived, for he says, Before I ever formed you in the womb I knew you (Jer 1:4). And, as the psalm says above, God has always known everything we would ever do or be.

It is often mysterious to us why human life is, at times, conceived in difficult circumstances such as poverty, times of family struggle or crisis, or even conceived with disability and disadvantage. But in the end we see so very little and must ponder the mystery of God’s reminder that many who are “last” now are going to be first in the kingdom (e.g. Matt 20:16; Luke 1:52-53).

So today, many will march, and all are called to remember the sacred lives that have been lost. We acknowledge our loss, for the gifts of these children and their lives have been swept from us as well. We pray for women who struggle to bring children to term and experience pressure to considerabortion. We pray for the immediate and sudden conversion of all support legalized abortion for any reason and for a dedication to assist women facing any difficulty in giving birth to or raising their children.

The following video is a shortened version of the masterpiece video called “Genesis” by Ramos David. It magnificently depicts fetal development. I have taken the liberty of adding a different music track since this is a shortened version. The Music is William Byrd: Optimam Partem Elegit (She has Chosen the Best Part), a text most fitting since we pray all mothers will choose life. The full length video is found in higher definition on YouTube by searching under “Genesis Ramos David”

Why I will go to the March for Life

As a follow up to Msgr. Pope’s post “I have a dream about the Pro-Life March” I would like to offer my reason for going to downtown Washington on Monday.

In the Archdiocese of Washington virtually every deacon ordained in the past ten years or so spends one summer of their formation working in a crisis pregnancy center. Now, I don’t mind admitting that I did everything I could to avoid this requirement of formation. I was nervous about counseling women who were faced with an unexpected pregnancy. I was especially nervous because I knew I was trying to save two lives – the mother and her unborn child. I worried mostly that I would do something wrong and the stakes were too high to tolerate my inexperience or mistakes.

As it turns out, it was one of the most remarkable experiences of my formation.

Seeking the light.

Contrary to some popular misconceptions, most crisis pregnancy centers do not “bait and switch” women. In fact, the one at which I worked made it clear, before a client entered, that it did not counsel or refer for abortions. Some women read that statement a left without another question. Many however would respond, “I know; that is why I am here.” I learned quickly that many of the women who came to the center had already suffered the trauma of an abortion and never wanted to experience that pain again. They actually sought us out because we would counsel them toward healthier solutions to their unexpected pregnancy.

One life ended, another one harmed.

The harmful effects of an abortion on the unborn is obvious. It ends a life. But the effect on the mother often goes overlooked. In fact, many women are not warned by an abortionist about the potential emotional harm that comes from ending a life. My passion for the March for Life does not come from a personal experience or even a contrived political leaning. Rather, it comes from a desire to prevent the death of an unborn innocent AND the pain a procured abortion has on the mother.

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you.” - Jeremiah 1:5

Before my ministry at the crisis pregnancy center, I never attended the March for Life. I certainly embraced the teachings of our Church and supported the efforts of those who went but, the passion in my own heart was lacking. This Monday, I will be in downtown Washington. I will go to the Mass at the Verizon Center and I will pray in front of the Supreme Court. I will pray for the women I met, for their children and for those women and children who may become victims of abortion in the future. I also hope that many more of the faithful have their eyes opened to the pain abortion causes to its multiple victims. And, I hope that someone reading this will join me for the first time in Washington on Monday.

Life is Worth Living: On the Strength and Resilience of the Human Person

One of the rights our modern age demands is the right to declare that certain lives are not worth living. In utero testing sometimes reveals the possibility or even the certainty of birth defects. Abortion is often recommended to mothers who carry “defective” children and sometimes that recommendation becomes pressure. It is said that almost 90% of families who receive a poor pre-natal diagnosis choose to abort.

And yet there are so many stories of people who have overcome enormous obstacles and who live full and rich lives. Some are missing limbs, others are blind, still others struggle with disease. Some have overcome poverty and injustice, others paralyzing accidents or great tragedies. And they are living witnesses to us that we ought never be the judge of what lives are worthwhile and what lives are “not worth” living. It is true that none of us would wish to be born missing limbs, or blind or in poverty, or with chronic conditions. But we must reverence those who are, learn to appreciate their gifts, and summon them to courage and greatness.

We must declare with great certitude that there is no such thing as a life not worth living. We say this not as some politically correct slogan but rather with firm conviction that every human life is willed by God. We were willed before we were made for the Scriptures say, “Before I ever formed you in the womb I knew and I appointed you…” (Jer 1:4). None of us is an accident nor are our gifts and apparent deficits mistakes. We exist as we are, the way we are for a purpose, a purpose for us and for others. We all have an irreplaceable role in God’s kingdom and show forth aspect of His glory uniquely. Every human life is intended and is worth living because God says so by the very fact that we exist.

If this past week has taught us anything it is that the human person is sacred and that life is something worth living and worth fighting for. There was death, but there was also heroism. There are also those who, despite serious injury, have fought to come back and seek recovery. Further, there are those who join them in the medical profession and in their families who also struggle and fight to bring them that healing. This is resilience, this is strength, this is the truth that life is worth living.

The following videos show forth the resilience of the human person and give powerful witness to the fact that life is worth living. You may not have time to view them all now but I hope you’ll come back and see them all. That is why I post this over a weekend. Despite trials and setbacks all these individuals show forth the power and glory of God working though our human struggles. We might not choose the struggles they have for ourselves but we need to see that their lives are full and proclaim the dignity and resilience of the human person.

Here is the story of John Bramblitt who, though blind is a fine painter indeed.

Here is the story of Abby & Brittany, Conjoined twins born in 1990. The title of the video is “Joined for Life.” Abby says at the end of the video, “The best thing in the world about being conjoined twins is that there’s always someone to talk to and you’re never alone.”

Here’s the story of Nick Vujicic a man with no arms or legs who is a motivational speaker. He likes to say that he went from having a life without limbs to a life without limits.

I have posted this video of Patrick Henry Hughes before. Blind and crippled from birth he manifests a profound musical ability.

The Conversion of the World Begins with Me. A Pastor’s Reflection On A Brutal Weekend

Every now and then the Lord just has you look at something in depth and experience it to the top. It was that sort of weekend for me and the Lord was clear that he wanted me to meditate deeply and experience personally the tragedy of the taking of human life. Put more positively, the Lord wanted me to see the dignity of human life and grieve it’s loss. My lesson came in three stages.

Stage One: At the Abortion Facility - Early on Saturday morning I went to St. Matthews Cathedral here in DC to celebrate the 8:00 am Mass. The Mass was sponsored by the Archdiocese and was a “Witness To Life Mass.” After the Mass, thirty of us walked several blocks and stopped to pray in front the Planned Parenthood Abortion “Facility” (I will not call it a clinic), just up the street from the White House on 16th Street. It was a cold and snowy morning but we prayed and prayed. Twenty decades of the Rosary and over twenty hymns were sung. Sadly, despite the snow, it was a brisk business at Planned Parenthood. I saw over a dozen women enter the facility in just over an hour.

It really is a devastating experience to pray in front of abortion facilities. I have done it many times before and always leave drained and deeply sad. Most of the “women” were not really women at all. Most of them were young girls and very young women, most were minorities, and most of them were scared. Most of them were also led there by a parent or a “boyfriend.” Pro-Choice “escorts” would surround them and lead them to the door. Our presence was one last attempt to beg them to consider adoption and to not give up on life. What a tragedy this steady procession was, for both mother and child. Yes, most of them look very scared. And why not? Something awful was about to happen, something awful. Deep down they know.

And so we prayed. We prayed for a last minute change of heart. And even if the worse did happen it was somehow important for us to pray for the children who were lost. Perhaps somehow they will know, and the Lord will reveal to them that someone was praying for them as they lost their life. Someone knew, someone wept, someone prayed.

For those young women we also prayed. They may not have understood that. In fact, we may have seemed like their worst nightmare. Perhaps they hoped to slip into the facility unnoticed, but there we were. But though we seemed like a bad dream, I pray that one day they will know that we prayed for them too. We prayed in love, prayed for their strength to choose life. And those pro-choice escorts may have seemed friends, but true friends don’t lead friends into abortion facilities. Yes, we prayed that these young women will know that, long after Planned Parenthood has collected its money, and the escorts have gone home, the Church will remain to offer healing and acceptance as the weight of what took place Saturday morning remains. Yes we prayed for them and Project Rachel waits for them.

The most difficult moment came for me when one mother, after having left her daughter behind for the abortion, came back out and rebuked us saying that “My daughter has a future career to think about, forget you!” I doubt she knew that the final line of the epistle at Mass said Children, be on your guard against idols (1 John 5:21). It echoed eerily in my mind as she breezed by and I prayed for her too.

A Sacrifice of pain – Yes, praying in front of an abortion facility is devastating and difficult. But just as the prayers had their effect, so too does the Lord allow us to suffer and to offer that suffering in sacrifice. The pain is deep, but surely no deeper than the pain of Jesus as he beheld our sins and died for us.

Stage Two: Agony in Arizona – The rest of the morning featured parish meetings. But the morning took its toll and a nap was necessary before the evening Mass. Yet I awoke depressed, and soon found out why. It was not just the morning, that was awful enough, but my radio had been on during my brief nap and it broadcast news of the terrible shootings in Arizona. Surely this news had entered my dreams for I awoke knowing something awful had happened. Indeed it had, six were dead, twelve critically injured. A crazed killer, more death, more disregard for human life. It was like two bookends to a bloody Saturday.

Stage Three: Bomb Threat – And yet, if all lessons are perfect in threes, the Lord gave me a final lesson today. Mass was wonderful and as the last of the parishioners prepared to leave the police ordered us back into the building. A bomb threat was received in a building near the parish and it was not safe to leave the Church. Two members of Congress live in the building and this would seem the likely cause for the threat. The Arizona carnage had reached East Capitol Street. Human life again, under threat and many more lives disrupted. After an hour and a half the all clear was sounded. No further information was available.

I can only tell you what I told the faithful this weekend. Human life is sacred. No one on this planet is a mistake, no one is an accident. All of us are directly intended and willed by God. We exist because He thought of us, loved us, and personally created us. Every attack or threat on human life is an attack on us all for, if one life can be disregarded or thought to have no worth, then any human life can be considered in this way. Even the troublesome among us are loved by God.

The Catechism has this to say:

The inalienable rights of the person must be recognized and respected by civil society and the political authority. These human rights depend neither on single individuals nor on parents; nor do they represent a concession made by society or the state; they belong to human nature and are inherent in the person by virtue of the creative act from which the person took his origin. Among such fundamental rights one should mention in this regard every human being’s right to life and physical integrity from the moment of conception until death.

The moment a positive law deprives a category of human beings of the protection which civil legislation ought to accord them, the state is denying the equality of all before the law. When the state does not place its power at the service of the rights of each citizen, and in particular of the more vulnerable, the very foundations of a state based on law are undermined. . . . As a consequence of the respect and protection which must be ensured for the unborn child from the moment of conception, the law must provide appropriate penal sanctions for every deliberate violation of the child’s rights.” (CCC # 2273)

Change begins with me: We live in times in which human live is seriously threatened by huge numbers of abortion, by violence, unjust war, and euthanasia. We may, as individuals feel powerless to stop it. But, truth be told, the conversion of this world has to start with us. We cannot simply lament. We must pray and act. The conversion of the whole world begins with me as I learn to be less reactive and violent, less anger-prone, less ridiculing, less bigoted, less fearful. The conversion of the world begins when I ask God for the miracle to help me to deeply love everyone, even the difficult people in my life. The conversion of the whole world begins when I ask God for the miracle to forgive people who have harmed or hurt me. The conversion of the world starts when I begin to more deeply experience the dignity of every person, especially the most vulnerable, the poor and the troubled.

No, I can’t change the world, But I can change myself by God’s grace. And when I get better, others get better too.

A bloody weekend for this pastor. But a newfound commitment to ask God for a deeper love and reverence for every human person.

Here’s a video I put together some time ago. The song text is Psalm 139 and focuses especially on the love of God despite even our sins. The photos use 3D imagery to show the stages of development in the womb.

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be (Psalm 139:13-16).

It’s a Wonder-filled Life. A Meditation on the Mystery of Our Life

Most of you have seen the movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life.” More on that in a moment. But for now, the word “wonderful” is most commonly understood by most people simply to mean “really great.” But the word “wonderful” actually means “filled with wonder.”

Who of us can understand the incredible mystery of our own life? And not merely considered in itself, but also how it interacts with the lives of others and the events of this world? Why are we here now? Why do we meet and know the people we do? How does our life affect others, not just in the obvious ways but also the hidden ways unknown to us?

Imagine that one day you stayed late at work one day rather than take the commuter bus. Your open seat caused two people to meet who later married, had three children, one of whom will discover the cure for cancer. This is something you will never know, but God does. Maybe another day you drove a little slower than the driver in back of you wished, but your slower pace meant that your irritated tailgater was not in an intersection at just the moment he would have been killed in a horrible accident had he kept his pace. I know you may think these to be trivial examples but consider the mystery of each moment and all the “alternate universes” that would result if even a small change took place in our actions!

Our lives are mysteriously intertwined. We have almost no idea how even the little things we do cause enormous ripples and chain reactions that affect dozens, hundreds or thousands of people from moment to moment. What if I never wrote this post and you never read it but instead were reading something else right now, (good, or bad). The possibilities are almost endless as to what might happen had I not written and you not read.

God has us here in this place at this time for a reason. We have some very particular purposes in his plan and he alone knows them all. Try for a moment to appreciate your dignity in this regard. You have a critical role in a cascade of events that ripple from your life and your place in God’s plan. No one can take that place and your role is critical to millions of subsequent transactions in God’s wonderful vision. Psalm 139 has this to say:

O LORD, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful. All my days were written in your book before one of them came to be. (Selected verses).

The movie “It’s a Wonderful Life” is an extended meditation on this topic and if, for some strange reason, you have not seen it then you know what you must do! The protagonist of the movie “George” seeks to end his life and wishes he had never been born but an angel from heaven takes him through the strange and sad “alternate universe” that would result had he never been here. It is a world of terrifying loss for many and George comes to discover the dignity and necessity of his life in God’s plan.

In God’s vision no one can be said to be unnecessary or of limited importance. We have absolutely no way of knowing that and given the intricacies of human interaction and the ripple effects thereof we are pretty foolish for thinking we have little importance. Rather, it seems we are quite essential.

Enjoy this summary of the Movie “It’s a Wonderful Life” and remember that “wonderful” means “filled with wonder (and awe).”

Archdiocese of Washington

Connecting the dots between Catholic faith and culture