On November 21st, 2013, I had the honor to be the keynote speaker for Heroic Media's first ever "Prayer breakfast for Life." The event took place at the Hilton Lincoln Centre in Dallas. Good morning everyone! I'm not a morning person, which isn't a good thing if you are a priest...So I hope and pray my message today makes some sense.
We just finished watching some of Heroic Media's ads and I must say they inspired me. But they also inspired the artist in me. So if Mike ever got the awful idea of asking me to design an ad for Heroic Media, I would do the following: I would have a baby in the middle of the screen with the number of abortions per year superimposed. That number would begin to go down from over one million to zero. And then John Lennon's song would be heard: "Imagine all the people, LIVING." That's it. It would stop right there, right after the word "living." Living is fundamental.
Life is what makes earth special. Living is what makes life so special. I find it bizarre - weird - how we must organize events to promote, yep, LIFE! I find it very Orwellian how we must advertise for... LIFE.
How sad.
Imagine for a moment if NASA's Mars rover, Curiosity, discovered a living cell. The major media outlets would be screaming "THERE IS LIFE ON MARS!" And yet, very few are willing to acknowledge the life found in a mother's womb.
How ridiculous. How sad. But it is not surprising. Pro-lifers are sane people in an insane world.
We have all read the recent headlines:
BLOOMBERG: "Pope says Church should stop obsessing over... abortion"
CBS LOCAL: "Pope Francis tells Catholic Church to stop obsessing over...abortion"
REUTERS: "Pope says Church must end obsession with...abortion"
HUFFINGTON POST: "...Abortion too much of Catholic Church's obsession."
THE GUARDIAN: "Pope Francis sets out vision for more gay people and women in 'new' Church."
THE DAILY BEAST: "The Pope confesses Church's obsession with...abortion."
Now you know what I read in the morning! I'm sure you were all expecting FOXNEWS.
But what exactly is the Holy Father saying? It's simple. A long time ago, our Church leaders basically said, Don't focus on political parties; focus on issues. So rather than endorse a particular party or specific candidate, the Catholic Church decided to focus on the issues. Now, Pope Francis is taking it one step further. He is asking us to not only focus on issues but more importantly on people, all people. All sorts of people: atheists, gays, the poor, the abandoned, etc...
This is both new and old.
Jesus saw a tax collector. He looked at him with love and said, "Follow me" (cf. Mt 9:9). He even looked at the adulterous woman with love and said, "No one has condemned you? Neither do I. Go and sin no more" (cf. John 8:10).
What has made the Pro-Life movement so successful in the United States? Again, it's simple. While the world is truly obsessed with abortion and abortion rights, we have been obsessed with people and their dignity.
You may not realize it, but unfortunately there are places in the Church (and world) where women, who have had an abortion, are shunned and slammed by Church officials. Thank God, not here! And this is why we have been so successful at reducing the number of abortions, increasing the number of Pro-Life supporters and converting the hearts of well known abortion advocates as well as providers.
The Pro-Life movement reaches out to women before and after their abortions. Now, we must begin to do the same with others: boyfriends, husbands, parents and even grandparents! We must change our culture, and it will only happen if we look at people with love.
The Holy Father recently compared the Catholic Church to a field hospital. What is the mission of the Church? Heal wounds. Warm hearts. Hold hands. People need nearness, proximity. The Church is a hospital with lots of wounded.
The Holy Father's hope is this: That we see not only the child we wish to save, but also child in each and every one of us.
To do this is nothing short of heroic.
Heroic Media saves lives through the power of media. Heroic Media's mission to connect women in crisis pregnancies with pregnancy resource centers and adoptions agencies changes the lives of women and saves the lives of their babies. For more information, visit their website: www.heroicmedia.org
Dear Father Alfonse,
ReplyDeleteHonestly, Father, I get so tired of hearing and reading about the abortion issue. I do think the subject is obsessed upon. It's an emotionally charged issue to grab attention. That's why it's constantly discussed. Pro-Lifers say they believe in life from the moment of conception until natural death. Why are the majority of prayer vigils only held for unborn babies and abortion survivors? Why aren't there more prayer vigils geared toward the abolition of assisted suicide or the death penalty? Pope Francis calls Catholics to focus on "issues of the people" but obviously fetuses are more important in the eyes of a majority of Pro-Lifers !! Is the innocent baby on the way to being born somehow more worthy of saving than an elderly adult on his way to the grave? Some lay women decide never to have children or cannot conceive. These women may feel just as ostracized by the Church as if they had aborted a child. Motherhood is more accepted in the church than barrenness. Why so much more empathy & support for the abortion survivor and less so for the non-child barring woman? This just goes the prove the Church's age old stance: Women who are mothers are somehow more acceptable than women who are not. ...And if you do decide to get an abortion (and later don't go to confession) than you're destined for hell.
Anonymous
I just don't understand what your problem is.
DeleteYOU SAY: Why are the majority of prayer vigils only held for unborn babies and abortion survivors? Why aren't there more prayer vigils geared toward the abolition of assisted suicide or the death penalty?"
So let me get this straight. If Pro-Lifers are not doing everything and going everywhere, then they are no good? If someone is actively involved in helping sick people but are not going around helping poor people, then they are not really helping people?
Good heavens! You must realize that your argument against Pro-Lifers is simply a disguise for your disdain towards Pro-Lifers and the Pro-Life movement.
It's clear. It's loud and clear.
Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteWhat's helped me in thinking about this issue is viewing the rights of the unborn as the "primary" right, from which all other rights flow. If someone is not born, then there will be no other issues to address with respect to that person, whether it be healthcare or the rights due to a single or elderly person.
About the prayer vigils, well, I think it would be difficult to find statistics as to how many prayer vigils there are of certain types. What the media chooses to cover is another complicating issue. How would you measure that?
>>.And if you do decide to get an abortion (and later don't go to confession) than you're destined for hell. <<
ReplyDeleteThat suggest a lack of compassion toward women who have gotten abortions. I have noticed much compassion within the church community, starting with the Rachel's Vineyard program. It is a respected Catholic program helping post-abortive women heal: http://www.rachelsvineyard.org/
Pope John Paul II's words are heartening too (from Evangelium Vitae":
"I would like to say a special word to women who have had an abortion. The Church is aware of the many factors which may have influenced your decision, and she does not doubt that in many cases it was a painful and even shattering decision. The wound in your heart may not yet have healed. Certainly what happened was and remains terribly wrong. But do not give in to discouragement and do not lose hope. Try rather to understand what happened and face it honestly."
From Pope Francis's newest papal document, "The Joy of the Gospel," regarding the unborn:
ReplyDelete213. Among the vulnerable for whom the Church wishes to care with particular love and concern are unborn children, the most defenseless and innocent among us.
Nowadays efforts are made to deny them their human dignity and to do with them whatever one pleases, taking their lives and passing laws preventing anyone from standing in the way of this.
Frequently, as a way of ridiculing the Church’s effort to defend their lives, attempts are made to present her position as ideological, obscurantist and conservative.
Yet this defense of unborn life is closely linked to the defense of each and every other human right.
It involves the conviction that a human being is always sacred and inviolable, in any situation and at every stage of development.
Human beings are ends in themselves and never a means of resolving other problems.
Once this conviction disappears, so do solid and lasting foundations for the defense of human rights, which would always be subject to the passing whims of the powers that be.
Read more: http://www.ncregister.com/blog/jimmy-akin/pope-francis-new-document-evangelii-gaudium-9-things-to-know-and-share#ixzz2lm8ZFcQM