January 22, 2011 marks the 38th anniversary of the United States Supreme Court’s tragic rulings (Roe v. Wade, Doe v. Bolton) legalizing abortion through all nine months of pregnancy for virtually any reason. In a legal brief filed with the Supreme Court in 1994, Mother Teresa (Blessed Teresa of Calcutta) said this about the Court’s ruling:
"America needs no words from me to see how your decision in Roe vs. Wade has deformed a great nation. The so-called right to abortion has pitted mothers against their children and women against men. It has sown violence and discord at the heart of the most intimate human relationships. It has aggravated the derogation of the father’s role in an increasingly fatherless society.
"It has portrayed the greatest of gifts—a child—as a competitor, an intrusion and an inconvenience. It has nominally accorded mothers unfettered dominion over the dependent lives of their physically dependent sons and daughters. And, in granting this unconscionable power, it has exposed many women to unjust and selfish demands from their husbands or other sexual partners."
Criticism of Roe has even come from legal scholars who support abortion. Edward Lazarus, former clerk to Justice Blackmun (who authored Roe) said "As a matter of constitutional interpretation and judicial method, Roe borders on the indefensible... [It is] one of the most intellectually suspect constitutional decisions of the modern era."
This and other quotes (with citations can be found in a pamphlet entitled "Roe Reality Check" produced by the U.S. Bishops’ Pro Life Secretariat. It is available from my office and can also be downloaded for free at www.usccb.org/prolife/issues/abortion/roevwade (English and Spanish).
On Jan. 24, (because Jan. 22 falls on a Saturday this year) the annual March for Life will take place in Washington, D.C. This massive and peaceful public demonstration has occurred every year since 1973 to witness against the Supreme Court’s destructive ruling.
I, along with hundreds of other Nebraskans (mostly students), will join hundreds of thousands of other Americans (again mostly students) in Washington, D.C. for this year’s March. I highly recommend this experience as it is impossible not to be inspired by it to become more engaged in the cause to build a culture of life and love.
Nebraskans, however, have a more local opportunity to publicly stand up for the dignity of life with the annual Walk for Life sponsored by Nebraska Right to Life. This year’s Walk will be held Saturday, Jan. 29 at 10 a.m. on the west steps of our State Capitol.
Preceding the Walk a special pro-life Mass will take place at 9 a.m. at St. Mary’s Church across the street from the Capitol. We’re privileged to have two of our three Nebraska bishops (Bishop William Dendinger and Archbishop George Lucas) concelebrating the Mass (Bishop Bruskewitz had a previously scheduled commitment).
We’re also privileged to have Msgr. Philip Reilly as the homilist for this Mass. Msgr. Reilly received a People of Life award last year from the U.S. Bishops’ Pro Life Secretariat for his work as founder and director of Helpers of God’s Precious Infants (http://www.helpersbrooklynny.org/mpr.htm), an organization that focuses on sidewalk ministry outside abortion facilities. Having heard his acceptance speech for this award, I can confidently tell you that you won’t want to miss his inspirational words.
For those able to stay after the Walk for Life events, Msgr. Reilly will conduct a workshop beginning at 1:30 p.m. in which he will talk about the methodology and spirituality of the Helper’s approach to sidewalk ministry. There is no need to pre-register and no registration fee for this workshop which will be held at St. Thomas Aquinas Newman Center (16th and Q) just a couple blocks from the UNL Student Union where the Walk for Life talk will be held.
A promotional poster for these Walk events is posted on my website (www.nebcathcon.org) and is available in Spanish. Please do what you can to attend and promote this wonderful opportunity to be counted among those standing up, publicly, for life.
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