Masses mark Roe anniversary; pro-lifers say movement stronger than ever

By Ed Langlois, Catholic News Service

PORTLAND, Ore. (CNS) -- Oregon's pro-life advocates will be relentless and even extreme in peaceful efforts to secure the lives of the unborn, Portland Archbishop Alexander K. Sample said.

Speaking during an online forum in lieu of an annual pro-life rally and march organized by Oregon Right to Life, the archbishop said abortion must remain the preeminent -- but not the only -- issue in the nation and the culture. Medical care, schools, racism and other matters of injustice require attention, too, he said.

"But we can't talk about having adequate health care for those not allowed to be born," said Archbishop Sample, who serves on the U.S. bishops' Committee on Pro-Life Activities. "We can't speak about a right to education for children who never see the light of day."

The coronavirus and political tensions in the nation and state led to the Jan. 23 online format for the annual rally, which in recent years has included a gathering on the steps of the Oregon Capitol and a march in Salem.

There have been about 62 million legal abortions in the United States since the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision on Jan. 22, 1973.

Archbishop Sample quoted St. Teresa of Kolkata, who in 1994 told Americans that Roe v. Wade had "deformed a great nation," pitting mothers against children and women against men. The greatest of gifts, a child, is now viewed by some as an intruder or competitor, Mother Teresa said.

The archbishop lamented that now, 27 years after St. Teresa spoke, the country's new political leaders want to advance and codify abortion rights. Those who favor legal abortion have called the pro-life movement "relentless and extreme," the archbishop said.

He has decided to embrace the insult, with the caveat that advocacy always is nonviolent.

"We are ready to do our part in ending abortion," he prayed. "Today, we commit ourselves never to be silent, never to be passive, never to be forgetful of the unborn. We commit ourselves to be active in the pro-life movement and never to stop defending life until all our brothers and sisters are protected and our nation again becomes a nation with liberty and justice not just for some but for all."

Other speakers noted a steady increase of pro-life sentiment.

Melody Durrett, president of the board for Oregon Right to Life, said the pandemic offers pro-lifers a chance to speak intimately to those in small bubbles about their views, which are backed by scientists who say a unique genetic code emerges just after fertilization.

Colm Willis, a Marion County commissioner and a member of Immaculate Conception Parish in Stayton, Oregon, said the pro-life movement is stronger than ever. Leaders in his county are pro-life and the Oregon Legislature gained two pro-life lawmakers this past fall.

In Colorado, Denver Archbishop Samuel J. Aquila said during the Respect Life Mass he celebrated Jan. 23 that if the dignity of human life does not exist at the beginning and the end, it will not exist in between.

"When it comes to human life and the dignity of human life, Pope Francis has spoken clearly about the dignity of the unborn child and about the evil of abortion," he said in his homily for the Mass, livestreamed from the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in downtown Denver.

All one needs to do "is Google 'Pope Francis sayings on abortion,' and you will have a lengthy list of what he has stated -- a list that the media does not want to look at, and a list that Catholics at times do not want to look at because it does not fit their image of Pope Francis," the archbishop continued. "He is one who has always said, 'The teaching of the church is clear on abortion, and I am a son of the church.'"

Archbishop Aquila urged mercy and compassion be shown toward women who have had abortions.

"When one is merciful toward a woman who has had an abortion, it does not mean that one condones the abortion," he said. "The two are quite different. Women who have had abortions are broken. They are wounded."

The church accompanies these women because "the mercy and the love of Jesus Christ ... is what is going to heal the wound," he said. "That is what is going to help her, to see how much the Father loves her and bring her to true repentance."

Archbishop Aquila said many today want to "completely write off Jesus," because they think he "is crazy, or some of his teachings are crazy ... especially when it comes to human life and the dignity of the unborn child."

Catholics in their hearts, minds, words, thoughts and actions are always to conform "to Jesus Christ and to the Gospel, and not to the ways of the world," he said.

That is precisely the problem "with now-President (Joe) Biden, (House Speaker) Nancy Pelosi, and other Catholic politicians and laity who, when it comes to the dignity of human life for the unborn child," the archbishop said.

These Catholics "do not subordinate their positions to the truth of the Gospel and fail to give witness to life," he explained. "And what they truly do not understand is that they are putting their eternal souls in jeopardy by the position they take. ... By their positions they give scandal to the church."

It is important "to give witness to the dignity of the human being" with regard to immigration, capital punishment and other life issues, he said, but the preeminent concern, "and the place dignity begins, is with the unborn child and the dying -- at the beginning of life and at the end of life."

He urged Catholics to pray "for the conversion of our country and for the conversion especially of Catholics who take a so-called pro-choice position, or who say, 'Well, I am personally opposed, but it is fine for you to do it.'"

He also asked all to pray that "we may always have the courage to be those who give witness to the Gospel of Life, at both the beginning of life from the moment of conception, until natural death at the end of life."

In Kansas, Bishop Carl A. Kemme of Wichita said in his homily at a Jan. 21 Respect Life Mass in Topeka: "Life is God's first gift to us. It's also the gift upon which all the other gifts depend."

He said a strong prayer life is an important weapon in the spiritual battle for the sanctity of life, as are adoration, the rosary and fasting.

Prayer together is essential, he continued, "so that we will not grow weary in this Herculean struggle to fight for the life of the unborn, for the newborn and for those whose lives are vulnerable."

"None of us has the strength on our own to do what the Lord asks of us -- to complete our mission," said Bishop Kemme. "But with the Lord at our side, we have strength from above."

Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of Kansas City, Kansas, who is chairman of the U.S. bishops pro-life committee, was the main celebrant of the Mass. Bishops Kemme, John B. Brungardt of Dodge City and Jerry L. Vincke of Salina were concelebrants, along with priests from the various dioceses.

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Langlois is managing editor of the Catholic Sentinel, official newspaper of the Archdiocese of Portland. Contributing to this story were Marc and Julie Anderson in Topeka.