This article is available online at Catholic Online, but I have copied it here as permitted by the publishers.
It is American in its content, but is totally relevant to us as Canadians as well
According to Planned Parenthood’s own statistics, in the last two decades one billion babies have been aborted. One billion! Have we had enough yet? We’re drowning in blood.
If every American who claims to be pro-life actually connected their beliefs to their actions, we could win the battle against abortion.
CHESAPEAKE, Va. (Catholic Online) – On Tuesday evening, Oct. 27, 2009, I had the great privilege of attending – along with 1,200 other people – a fundraising banquet for the Tidewater Crisis Pregnancy Center in Chesapeake. I went as a reporter for "Catholic Online" as well as a supporter. The featured guest speaker was pro-life hero and Nurse Jill Stanek. She was every bit as powerful in person as she is on her blog – even more so. We all need to take a cue from her as we engage the fundamental human rights issue of our age.
She spoke to us about her years spent working as a nurse at Christ Hospital in Illinois, and her struggle to shed light on the dirty little secret happening in hospitals all over the country – Christian hospitals, no less. Babies are being aborted alive (that means they survived the initial attempt on their lives) and then left alone to die, often discarded and thrown away as “medical waste”. Their deaths are blamed on “extreme prematurity” when in fact their cause of death is deliberate, forced eviction from their rightful home.
She spoke to us about what she calls “the great disconnect.” How can it be that if 51% of Americans now say they are pro-life we are still struggling to win the battle against abortion? Why is it that people will say they think it is wrong to kill a baby in the womb, and yet that belief is not evidenced in their actions? It certainly seems to have no influence on their votes. Can we truly say we believe abortion is wrong if we are not willing to stop it? Can we truly say we believe abortion is wrong if we are willing to elect lawmakers, even Presidents, who are intent on enshrining abortion “rights” into law?
This is the great disconnect. Americans will say they believe something, yet be unmotivated to defend that belief. Worst of all, Christians will say they believe something, yet be weak-willed and silent in the face of opposition to that belief. That is pathetic. Satan is mocking us and the horrors caused by abortion on demand continue.
Jill reminded us Tuesday night of a simple fact: abortion is manslaughter. Whether our laws reflect it or not, it is a crime. As Catholic Christians we know that it is an egregious violation of the Natural Law. Any person who claims to be pro-life must demand the laws be changed to reflect the truth about the fundamental human right, the right to life. It is entirely illogical and frankly absurd to charge one man with murder in the death of his unborn child and to declare another man a patriot and a hero for causing and profiting from the deaths of tens of thousands of preborn children. The only difference? In the first case, the mother wanted the baby. In all the others, the mothers didn’t want what we call the “fetus”, as if that somehow lessens the gravity of the utter evil of the act.
That is the great disconnect. This disconnect proves that we all know quite well that there’s something wrong with causing the death of a baby in the womb, but we are too weak or too selfish or too lazy or too calloused to require justice. Our conscience is supposed to be soothed by the mantra of “choice.” Who are we to tell a woman what she has to do with her body?
We are supposed to be a just society. We are supposed to be an honorable people. We do not need it explained to us that a mother’s body ends where her baby’s begins. We know that. We simply want to pretend we don’t. We want to act like it’s not our place to say. We want to distance ourselves from the responsibility by saying, “I think it’s wrong, but it’s not my choice.” While we sit mute, the truly voiceless have no defense, no advocate, and no rescue. “Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter. If you say, “But we knew nothing about this,” does not He who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not He who guards your life know it? Will He not repay each person according to what he has done?” Proverbs 24:11-12
This is the same disconnect that was at work during the shameful days of slavery. Dear Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York, in a column published here on Catholic Online as well as in his Diocesan Press, made this point! Americans attempted to deny the humanity of black men and women and insisted they had the “right” to “own” another human being and subject them to degradation, cruelty and, in some instances, the taking of their lives through abuse. Evil had so corrupted the thinking of so many people, and evil is still corrupting our thoughts today. Today our nation proclaims the lawful right to kill an unwanted child. Say that out loud: America proclaims the lawful right to kill an unwanted child.
There is only one reason America still asserts that abhorrent and nonexistent “right” today: because those who know better lack the will to put an end to it.
We can cry out like the Psalmist: “Arise, Lord! Lift up your hand, O God. Do not forget the helpless.” And God will rightfully turn to us and ask, “When will YOU arise? When will you lift up your hand to defend the helpless? When will you stop rallying to the support of men and women who refuse to protect the innocent?” So, when will we?
According to Planned Parenthood’s own statistics, in the last two decades one billion babies have been aborted. One billion. Have we had enough yet? We’re drowning in blood.
The Tidewater CPC had some encouraging as well as heartbreaking statistics of their own, and I relate them to you to use as a guide to what’s happening in your own city. The good news is that our CPC has seen the number of abortions in our area decline every year for the last four years, and in just three years, the number of women they’ve served has more than doubled. Many babies’ lives are being saved and many mothers are being cared for and spared the wounds of abortion.
Their center is staffed with loving volunteers who give their lives in service to pregnant women and their babies. They provide practical help as well as compassionate support to young girls/women who feel they are all alone in the world and help them find the courage to choose life. They introduced us to two such women and their babies; lives that would have otherwise been lost. These committed volunteers are making a miraculous difference.
The bad news is that there are still nearly 9,000 children killed by abortion every year in this area. A high percentage of those babies are African-American; funny, I don’t hear President Obama objecting to this racial slaughter. And to make matters worse, Planned Parenthood has begun construction on a brand-new abortion clinic in Virginia Beach, to be opened this summer.
Tidewater CPC would like to combat this threat from Planned Parenthood by opening another crisis pregnancy center in VA Beach. They explained that it costs $50 to operate their center for one hour. Once they have 575 hours underwritten each month, they can open another life-saving center. That verse from Psalm 10 is their theme this year: “Arise, Lord! Lift up your hand, O God. Do not forget the helpless.” Now let’s pray there are enough people in this area who will ARISE and help rescue the innocents.Let us also pray for all these wonderful centers throughout the Nation. They are the true champions of the real rights of women and the real rights of children in the first home, their mother's womb!
The same is true in your city and every city across America, support all of these efforts! If every American who claims to be pro-life actually connected their beliefs to their actions, we could win this battle against abortion and push back the Culture of Death. It’s a question of conviction, courage and strength of will. “Arise, O Lord…” It was the late Champion of Life, the Servantof God John Paul II who so often reminded us that we are to be a “People of Life”. ARISE, O people of LIFE!
She spoke to us about her years spent working as a nurse at Christ Hospital in Illinois, and her struggle to shed light on the dirty little secret happening in hospitals all over the country – Christian hospitals, no less. Babies are being aborted alive (that means they survived the initial attempt on their lives) and then left alone to die, often discarded and thrown away as “medical waste”. Their deaths are blamed on “extreme prematurity” when in fact their cause of death is deliberate, forced eviction from their rightful home.
She spoke to us about what she calls “the great disconnect.” How can it be that if 51% of Americans now say they are pro-life we are still struggling to win the battle against abortion? Why is it that people will say they think it is wrong to kill a baby in the womb, and yet that belief is not evidenced in their actions? It certainly seems to have no influence on their votes. Can we truly say we believe abortion is wrong if we are not willing to stop it? Can we truly say we believe abortion is wrong if we are willing to elect lawmakers, even Presidents, who are intent on enshrining abortion “rights” into law?
This is the great disconnect. Americans will say they believe something, yet be unmotivated to defend that belief. Worst of all, Christians will say they believe something, yet be weak-willed and silent in the face of opposition to that belief. That is pathetic. Satan is mocking us and the horrors caused by abortion on demand continue.
Jill reminded us Tuesday night of a simple fact: abortion is manslaughter. Whether our laws reflect it or not, it is a crime. As Catholic Christians we know that it is an egregious violation of the Natural Law. Any person who claims to be pro-life must demand the laws be changed to reflect the truth about the fundamental human right, the right to life. It is entirely illogical and frankly absurd to charge one man with murder in the death of his unborn child and to declare another man a patriot and a hero for causing and profiting from the deaths of tens of thousands of preborn children. The only difference? In the first case, the mother wanted the baby. In all the others, the mothers didn’t want what we call the “fetus”, as if that somehow lessens the gravity of the utter evil of the act.
That is the great disconnect. This disconnect proves that we all know quite well that there’s something wrong with causing the death of a baby in the womb, but we are too weak or too selfish or too lazy or too calloused to require justice. Our conscience is supposed to be soothed by the mantra of “choice.” Who are we to tell a woman what she has to do with her body?
We are supposed to be a just society. We are supposed to be an honorable people. We do not need it explained to us that a mother’s body ends where her baby’s begins. We know that. We simply want to pretend we don’t. We want to act like it’s not our place to say. We want to distance ourselves from the responsibility by saying, “I think it’s wrong, but it’s not my choice.” While we sit mute, the truly voiceless have no defense, no advocate, and no rescue. “Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter. If you say, “But we knew nothing about this,” does not He who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not He who guards your life know it? Will He not repay each person according to what he has done?” Proverbs 24:11-12
This is the same disconnect that was at work during the shameful days of slavery. Dear Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York, in a column published here on Catholic Online as well as in his Diocesan Press, made this point! Americans attempted to deny the humanity of black men and women and insisted they had the “right” to “own” another human being and subject them to degradation, cruelty and, in some instances, the taking of their lives through abuse. Evil had so corrupted the thinking of so many people, and evil is still corrupting our thoughts today. Today our nation proclaims the lawful right to kill an unwanted child. Say that out loud: America proclaims the lawful right to kill an unwanted child.
There is only one reason America still asserts that abhorrent and nonexistent “right” today: because those who know better lack the will to put an end to it.
We can cry out like the Psalmist: “Arise, Lord! Lift up your hand, O God. Do not forget the helpless.” And God will rightfully turn to us and ask, “When will YOU arise? When will you lift up your hand to defend the helpless? When will you stop rallying to the support of men and women who refuse to protect the innocent?” So, when will we?
According to Planned Parenthood’s own statistics, in the last two decades one billion babies have been aborted. One billion. Have we had enough yet? We’re drowning in blood.
The Tidewater CPC had some encouraging as well as heartbreaking statistics of their own, and I relate them to you to use as a guide to what’s happening in your own city. The good news is that our CPC has seen the number of abortions in our area decline every year for the last four years, and in just three years, the number of women they’ve served has more than doubled. Many babies’ lives are being saved and many mothers are being cared for and spared the wounds of abortion.
Their center is staffed with loving volunteers who give their lives in service to pregnant women and their babies. They provide practical help as well as compassionate support to young girls/women who feel they are all alone in the world and help them find the courage to choose life. They introduced us to two such women and their babies; lives that would have otherwise been lost. These committed volunteers are making a miraculous difference.
The bad news is that there are still nearly 9,000 children killed by abortion every year in this area. A high percentage of those babies are African-American; funny, I don’t hear President Obama objecting to this racial slaughter. And to make matters worse, Planned Parenthood has begun construction on a brand-new abortion clinic in Virginia Beach, to be opened this summer.
Tidewater CPC would like to combat this threat from Planned Parenthood by opening another crisis pregnancy center in VA Beach. They explained that it costs $50 to operate their center for one hour. Once they have 575 hours underwritten each month, they can open another life-saving center. That verse from Psalm 10 is their theme this year: “Arise, Lord! Lift up your hand, O God. Do not forget the helpless.” Now let’s pray there are enough people in this area who will ARISE and help rescue the innocents.Let us also pray for all these wonderful centers throughout the Nation. They are the true champions of the real rights of women and the real rights of children in the first home, their mother's womb!
The same is true in your city and every city across America, support all of these efforts! If every American who claims to be pro-life actually connected their beliefs to their actions, we could win this battle against abortion and push back the Culture of Death. It’s a question of conviction, courage and strength of will. “Arise, O Lord…” It was the late Champion of Life, the Servantof God John Paul II who so often reminded us that we are to be a “People of Life”. ARISE, O people of LIFE!
1 comment:
"People of Life" = beautiful!
Not "people for life" - that's just political.
"People of Life" bespeaks the source of its constituent members - life itself. One cannot be against the essence of what one is. "People of Italy" are notoriously proud of - hang on to your hats, kids! - Italy. And the "people of Croatia" etcetera...
So it only makes sense that "People of Life" would espouse the virtues of Life, and indeed, the essence of Life itself, which is a perpetuating cycle.
His Holiness John Paul II was brilliantly playful. His Holiness Pope Benedict is playfully brilliant. Pople of Life should explore their words and discover the fun fair of faith both men documented during their lifetimes. John Paul II was particularly insightful and funny.
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