Category: Pro-Life

Masses were offered today for the protection of the unborn and an end to abortion in some parishes in Arlington. The readings of are providentially, perhaps even hauntingly, appropriate for the occasion. Excerpts appear below.

Lamentations 2:2, 10-14, 18-19

18 Cry aloud to the Lord! O daughter of Zion! Let tears stream down like a torrent day and night! Give yourself no rest, your eyes no respite!
19 Arise, cry out in the night, at the beginning of the watches! Pour out your heart like water before the presence of the Lord! Lift your hands to him for the lives of your children, who faint for hunger at the head of every street.

Psalm 74:1-7, 20-21

3 Direct thy steps to the perpetual ruins; the enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary!
4 Thy foes have roared in the midst of thy holy place; they set up their own signs for signs.
5 At the upper entrance they hacked the wooden trellis with axes.
6 And then all its carved wood they broke down with hatchets and hammers.
7 They set thy sanctuary on fire; to the ground they desecrated the dwelling place of thy name.
20 Have regard for thy covenant; for the dark places of the land are full of the habitations of violence.
21 Let not the downtrodden be put to shame; let the poor and needy praise thy name.

Is the womb not a sanctuary of human life, the result of God sharing His creative power with humanity? If only it were treated as such always.

After the Masses a group of the faithful prayed all four mysteries of the Rosary in front of an abortion clinic in Alexandria. I spoke with a man who had been praying with the group for years. He said the worst thing is to see a father drive his teenage daughter to the clinic to procure an abortion. “What kind of sicko would do that?” he asked. “The man who gave his little girl life is taking her to kill her own baby.” It reminds me of one of the many things Mother Teresa said about abortion:

“Please don’t kill the child. I want the child. Please give me the child. I am willing to accept any child who would be aborted, and to give that child to a married couple who will love the child, and be loved by the child. From our children’s home in Calcutta alone, we have saved over 3,000 children from abortions. These children have brought such love and joy to their adopting parents, and have grown up so full of love and joy!”

Reuters reports that Cardinal Arinze thinks pro-abortion politicians should not receive the Eucharist. Reuters is, in my opinion, the worst of the international news services (note that they spell the cardinal’s name “Arnize” in the third paragraph, at least as of the 10:09am version of the story). However, they use the more honest term “pro-abortion.”
Cardinal Arinze deserves a lifetime Catholic Light Total Badass Award for resisting the culture of death.

Despair is one of the seven deadlies, and I’m not tempted to it, but I can understand why many orthodox Catholics want to withdraw from the world in disgust. One of two men who will be president is a Catholic who openly defies Catholic teaching and dares Church leaders to do something about it. Yet it looks like the shepherds will be as sheep once again:

Rev. John Ardis, director of the Paulist Center, said the Kerrys had received Communion [at the Paulist Center in Boston] and were always welcome to do so. Asked if he had been instructed not to offer Kerry Communion Ardis said: “No. Definitely not. I got a call from them (the archdiocese) an hour ago … They wanted me to know that the archbishop has not taken a stand and he is free to receive the Eucharist.”

How long will we have to endure this? Why are people who try to keep the faith constantly marginalized, and powerful and arrogant men are accomodated?
If you’ve read my postings, you know that I believe Catholics should engage and transform the culture, not shun it. It would be nice if bishops would try harder to restrain the wolves among us who mislead the faithful into thinking that abortion and Catholicism can somehow be reconciled.
Here is a United States senator and presidential candidate who doesn’t just look the other way if women procure abortions, he goes out of his way to make sure they do it. He even thinks it’s okay to deliver a child partially and violently murder it by stabbing it in the head and sucking out his brains — and he went out of his way to vote against prohibiting that type of murder.
This problem isn’t going to go away. The bishops need to collectively correct John Kerry or people will continue to make excuses for attacks on innocent children. There are plenty of laity who are pointing this out, but it is bishops and priests who bear the primary responsibility for teaching the faith and protecting the faithful. Some of the clergy have begun to contend for the faith; others must join them. On my knees, I pray they will do their duty.

“The promise offered by the use of stem cells is virtually boundless,” DiPrima said. “There is no reason why stem-cell-based cures can’t be found for such unfortunate afflictions as wrinkles, cellulite, excessive flatulence, chronic halitosis, and erectile dysfunction.”

Read the full article.

I was reading an interesting essay at Democrats for Life the other day, in which it is alleged that abortion is the one issue that continues to sap the Abortion Party of its electoral strength. Somewhere else, I read that almost half the Democrat grass-roots rejects their party’s hardline pro-abortion stance. Which got me wondering…
Prior to the primaries, Dennis Kucinich was a reliable pro-life democrat. However, he crossed over to the dark side at the start of the primaries in order to give his campaign traction. At least, this is what was suppose to happen. Instead, he’s consistently found himself in a tight race with Al Sharpton for last place.
Which makes me wonder, did the abortion issue kill Kucinich’s campaign from the start? What traction would Kucinich have gained within the campaign among alienated pro-life Democrats had he stuck to his pro-life principles? He might not have been the eventual nominee, but would he have gained enough support to finally break the Abortion’s Party culture-of-death plank?
I think he might have. Unfortunately, he didn’t. Where he had a real opportunity to influence the party, he sold out instead. This is sad because pro-life Democrats consistently out-poll pro-life Republicans in elections. The results are even more devastating for the GOP where a pro-abortion Republican goes head-to-head with a pro-life Democrat.
Which brings me to another point: the only candidate for Casey Democrats in the upcoming general election is George Bush. Now is the time for pro-life Democrats (or their sympathizers like myself) to galvanize and send the party a message we will not vote for a candidate who supports the destruction of our children in the womb and of the traditional family. 2004 is gonna be one of the toughest campaigns in a long time, and a loss for the Democrats might finally awaken them to their bleak electoral prospects as long as they remain the Abortion Party.
So pro-life democrats should send the party a message by either voting Republican or sitting this one out.