Praying for an end to abortion in the U.S.

Jordan McMorrough
Today’s Catholic

Rick Doucette, Pro-Life director of the archdiocesan Office of Social Concerns, leads Fourth Degree Knights of Columbus and a crowd of more than a hundred pro-lifers at the start of the rosary for life procession on Jan. 19.
Photo provided

    SAN ANTONIO • Two events were held by the archdiocese Jan. 19 to commemorate the 35th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision to legalize surgical abortion on demand, which has resulted in the death of 43 million babies in this country.
    The Office of Social Concerns and the Knights of Columbus sponsored a memorial Mass at St. Mary Magdalen Church, celebrated by Archbishop José H. Gomez and concelebrated by Father Joseph Mary Marshall, SM, and Father Will Combs, BBD, of the parish, and a peaceful rosary prayer procession to the nearby Planned Parenthood abortion clinic.
    Rick Doucette, associate director of the archdiocesan Office of Social Concerns, told the pro-lifers of a recent Guttmacher Institute study that reported that the number of abortions in America dropped to 1.2 million in 2005, the lowest level since 1974 and a 25 percent drop from the all-time high of 1.6 million abortions in 1960.
    Although noting the decrease, he expressed outrage that even one innocent life is taken by abortion in this country. “Over one million abortions means that 3,300 innocent lives are snuffed out each and every day,” Doucette said. He then quoted figures from another study that states about 32 percent of abortions are procured by women who identify themselves as Catholic.
    To mark the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, 35 red roses were brought to the altar by attendees and placed at the foot of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the protectoress of the unborn.

    In his homily at the liturgy, Archbishop Gomez said modern society is threatened by the culture of death, mainly with the crime of abortion but also by euthanasia, violence, especially domestic violence, abuse of children, war and the death penalty.

    “We come to ask for God’s mercy to stop the abuse of life and that people at the beginning of the 21st century value the gift of life as it is a gift of God,” he said. “The respect for the right to life is the first right of the human person, and it is a non-negotiable issue for the church or for any person.”

    The archbishop quoted from the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which states that “society must protect every embryo, (because) the inalienable right of every human individual from the first moment of conception is a constitutive element of civil society and its legislation.” (CCC 472)

    Using the readings of the Mass, Archbishop Gomez said, “God loves us so much, that even if we, as a society, still reject him, he is calling us and giving us his grace to repent and be faithful to him.”
The archbishop asked on behalf of all in the congregation for the grace to strongly reaffirm the gift of life and to faithfully defend, protect and love life as God’s gift to us.

    “Let’s always remember that human life must be respected because it is sacred,” he explained. “It is not licit for anyone to directly destroy an innocent human being, because God alone is the Lord of life from its beginning until its end, and it is gravely contrary to his will and to the dignity of the person and the holiness of the creator.”

    Archbishop Gomez cited the words of Pope John Paul II, who said we are people of life and for life and we are called to preach the Gospel of life, to celebrate it in the liturgy and in our whole existence, and to serve it with the various programs and structures which support and promote life.(GL No. 79)

    “We have to continue helping people to understand the beauty of life by our example and talking to them about it. We cannot be silent and pretend that nothing happens,” the San Antonio prelate emphasized. “Yes, we have to do it, imitating the example of our Lord Jesus Christ. Not by force or imposition, but by love and conviction.”

    He then listed several institutions helping pregnant women in the Archdiocese of San Antonio, and mentioned as well that the latest edition of Today’s Catholic (Jan. 18 issue) had an extensive description of these institutions and the services that they provide in the service of life.

    In closing, Archbishop Gomez asked the Lord, through the intercession of Our Lady of Guadalupe, patroness of the unborn, “to grant us the grace to love life as God’s gift to us.”