By Dennis Kellogg
Director of communications
Hundreds of pro-life supporters, Nebraska Governor Jim Pillen, a number of state senators and all three of Nebraska’s bishops celebrated right-to-life efforts and focused on the work still to be done for the cause at the Bishops’ Pro-Life Banquet and Conference.
The annual event, hosted by the Nebraska Catholic Conference, was held Oct. 6 and 7 at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Lincoln.
Bishop Joseph Hanefeldt of the Diocese of Grand Island delivered the opening remarks for the banquet. Bishop James Conley of the Diocese of Lincoln talked about Saint John Paul II’s insistence on the dignity of all people and then awarded the annual Gospel of Life Award to four medical professionals. Archbishop George Lucas of the Archdiocese of Omaha gave a preview of an upcoming renewed initiative focused on healing from abortion called “Hearts Restored.”
The banquet’s keynote speaker was Joe Heschmeyer, a speaker and apologist who appears frequently on the national radio program “Catholic Answers.” Heschmeyer’s talk examined the spiritual warfare dimension of defending our faith in the context of pro-life efforts. He said it can be a “deeply uneasy sort of topic” that can seem “too religious to talk about in politics and too political to talk about in church.”
Heschmeyer said it is easy to pick out prominent pro-abortion politicians and organizations as enemies in the fight for life. However, he noted St. Paul said, “We are not contending against flesh and blood.”
Heschmeyer said it is the “the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” we must face in this battle.
“There’s an easy litmus test you can do here,” Heschmeyer said. “If the person you are imagining as your chief opponent as a pro-lifer has a body, you’ve got the wrong person.”
Heschmeyer said knowing the real enemy we face changes how we understand the pro-life battle, changes how we engage in the pro-life battle and changes how we measure success in this effort.
“It would be easy to imagine success just means overturning Roe (v. Wade) and as we’ve seen in the time since then, that’s clearly not the case,” Heschmeyer said. “That’s not the end of the fight, that’s the beginning of the fight. And this is a fight involving the hearts, minds and, yes, souls of those around us.”
Heschmeyer said once one understand this is a spiritual battle, “to put the matter very frankly, the pro-life battle is absolutely unwinnable without prayer. Cannot be done. Will not be done. As Jesus says in the Gospel of John, ‘Apart from me, you can do nothing.’ But on the flip side, with prayer, the pro-life movement is absolutely unstoppable.”
Heschmeyer ended his talk by encouraging everyone to “redouble what you’re doing, but redouble it with the spirit of prayer… with the recognition of who your true enemy is and who your true enemies are not.”
Before the banquet’s keynote address, Bishop Conley talked about several encyclicals Saint Pope John Paul II gave us including Evangelium Vitae, “The Gospel of Life,” that “reaffirmed the invaluable dignity of every human person at every stage, in every condition of life.” Bishop Conley said as a priest and bishop, he has received much inspiration and guidance from John Paul the Great.
Bishop Conley said Pope John Paul II gave us the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and the encyclicals Veritatis Splendor, Evangelium Vitae, and Fides et Ratio.
“These four… are really pillars that he left us, almost as if he knew that we needed these in twenty of thirty years, and he’s absolutely right,” Bishop Conley said.
The Gospel of Life Award has been presented since 2007 to Catholics “for exemplary efforts to promote the Gospel of Life in their parishes and diocese.” Bishop Conley, who has served for nearly a decade as the episcopal advisor to the Catholic Medical Association, presented this year’s award to four medical professions: Dr. David Hilger, Dr. Robert Bonebrake, Dr. Elena Kraus and Dr. Sean Kenney.
“These are doctors who love the mother and love the baby, and they practice that every day,” said Tom Venzor, executive director of the Nebraska Catholic Conference. Venzor thanked them especially for providing their medical expertise throughout the efforts to draft and pass pro-life legislation in the Nebraska Legislature.
Archbishop George Lucas of the Archdiocese of Omaha joined Paige Brown, statewide pro-life activities coordinator at the Nebraska Catholic Conference, to preview a renewed initiative in Nebraska focused on healing from abortion. The initiative, called “Hearts Restored,” will be introduced later this month. It will be a post-abortion healing ministry open to anyone impacted by abortion.
Four students were also honored at the banquet as winners of the Pro-Life Essay Awards.
The all-day Bishops’ Pro-Life Conference held the day after the banquet included topics on a Catholic response to LGBTQ+, medical conscience rights, the myths of a contraceptive culture, defending school choice in a world of misinformation and post-abortion healing.
The next Bishops’ Pro-Life Banquet and Conference will be held Sept. 20 and 21, 2024.
You can watch Bishop James Conley’s talk and the Gospel of Award presentation, as well as Joe Heschmeyer’s keynote address from the banquet, on our Catholic Diocese of Lincoln YouTube channel.
