Editor’s Note: Ahead of Respect Life Month, the pro-life committee chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is urging “a revival of prayer and action” to end abortion and uphold the sanctity of human life. Below is the statement for the October observance, written by Bishop Michael F. Burbidge of Arlington, Va.
We are living in an exciting time of revival. Our National Eucharistic Congress, and the Eucharistic processions that led to it, involved hundreds of thousands of Catholics who will never be the same. The revival continues, and is so needed, especially in our efforts to defend human life.
Jesus, truly present in the Eucharist, gives us the fullness of life. He calls each of us to respect that gift of life in every human person. While we live in a society that often rejects those who are weak, fragile, or vulnerable, they are the most in need of our care and protection. Pope Francis reminds us that “every child who, rather than being born, is condemned unjustly to being aborted, bears the face of Jesus Christ, bears the face of the Lord, who even before he was born, and then just after birth, experienced the world’s rejection.”
The law and millions of our brothers and sisters have yet to recognize this reality. We thankfully no longer live under the regime of Roe v. Wade, and our elected officials are now empowered to reduce or end abortion. But what we now see is that 50 years of virtually unlimited abortion has tragically created a national mindset where many Americans have become comfortable with some amount of abortion. This allows the abortion industry to continue to provide any amount of abortion. Given this challenge, the U.S. bishops have affirmed that, while it is important to address all the ways in which human life is threatened, “abortion remains our pre-eminent priority as it directly attacks our most vulnerable brothers and sisters, destroying more than a million lives each year in our country alone.”
In a tragic way, abortion has become the pre-eminent priority for others as well. We see many politicians celebrating the destruction of preborn children, and protecting access to abortion, even up until the moment of birth. Few leaders are standing up to limit the harm of chemical abortion (abortion pills) to mothers and children, which is now the most common form of abortion. And heading into the November elections, as many as 10 states face gravely evil ballot initiatives that would enshrine abortion in their state constitutions.
Pope St. John Paul II’s words resonate today: “We are facing an enormous and dramatic clash between good and evil, death and life, the ‘culture of death’ and the ‘culture of life’ …we are all involved and we all share in it, with the inescapable responsibility of choosing to be unconditionally pro-life.”
And so we need a revival of prayer and action:
• We must renew our commitment to work for the legal protection of every human life, from conception to natural death, and to vote for candidates who will defend the life and dignity of the human person.
• We must call for policies that assist women and their children in need, while also continuing to help mothers in our own communities through local pregnancy help centers and our nationwide, parish-based initiative, Walking with Moms in Need. (walkingwithmoms.com)
• We must likewise continue to extend the hand of compassion to all who are suffering from participation in abortion, through the Church’s abortion healing ministries like Project Rachel Ministry. (hopeafterabortion.com)
• Most importantly, we must rededicate ourselves to fervent prayer on behalf of life.
I invite all Catholics to join me in a concerted effort of prayer between now and our national elections, by daily praying our Respect Life Month “Prayer for Life to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.”
Through the graces of this revival, may we witness, work, and vote so that all children in the womb will be protected in law and welcomed in love, and that all mothers and families will be strengthened by our support and accompaniment.
For information on October Respect Life Month, visit respectlife.org.
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