PRIESTS FOR LIFE PREACH THE TRUTH

By Michael J. Gaynor

www.MichNews.com

Feb 14, 2005 

We live in times when pro-abortionists and homosexual activists cleverly claim that abortion and "gay marriage" are "rights" instead of wrongs and "anti-choice" and "homophobia" are the true evils.

"Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!"  Isaiah 5:20

Amen! 

Father Walter J. Quinn, OSA preached at all of the Masses at St. Francis Church in Greenlawn, New York on the weekend of February 12-13, 2005.  

I heard Father Quinn speak at the noon Mass on Sunday.  And Father Quinn included that timely verse from the Book of Isaiah in his sensational sermon.   

Father Quinn is one of a handful of priests of the Priests for Life staff spreading the Gospel of Life.  Priests for Life is an approved, national Catholic pro-life organization.  Its website is www.priestsforlife.org.

In an interview with LifeSiteNews.com, St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke said that as Catholics continue to speak out on life and family issues they will face persecution. "There is going to be a persecution with regard to this, that's clear," Archbishop Bishop said. 

Father Quinn is not one to be cowed by persecutors.  When Father Quinn delivers a homily, he seeks to illuminate and to inspire, not to pretend that all is well when it is not and to avoid upsetting potential donors.  Father Quinn got people's attention.  The pity was that his audience was not larger.  About three quarters of Catholics don't attend Mass regularly. 

Father Quinn should speak on Christmas Eve, Christmas and Easter, when lax Catholics join the regular churchgoers to pack the churches.  Unfortunately, homilies designed not to offend are the order of those days.  Because gentle enticing and fundraising are given a higher priority than frankly telling sinners that they are sinners for whom Christ died and sinful behavior is not transformable into acceptable conduct by the will of any person or even the unanimous wish of all people.

Father Quinn repeatedly called attention to facts that many people don't know, don't appreciate and/or don't think about, because they are unpleasant and the major media choose to direct attention elsewhere. 

Like the fact that a turtle egg has more legal rights than an unborn baby.  It's illegal under the Endangered Species Act to destroy a turtle's eggs, but aborting an unborn baby is legal. 

Like the fact that the number of unborn babies aborted in the United States each year greatly exceeds the number of Americans killed in combat since the Revolutionary War.  There have been about 45,000,000 abortions in the United States since the hapless United States Supreme Court said that the government was helpless to protect the unborn. 

The number of unborn babies killed in the United States since Roe v. Wade was decided is more than seven times the number of Jews slaughtered in the Holocaust. Some six million Jews were killed for being Jews in the Holocaust. 

Father Quinn let his listeners know in the clearest possible terms that the abortion issue dwarfs other issues for faithful Catholics deciding for whom to vote. It's a pity that his homily was not delivered at every Mass on the weekend before Election Day. 

But, don't blame Priests for Life for that omission.  Priests for Life bravely spread the Word and continues to do so. 

Father Frank Pavone, Priests for Life's National Director, included this word of thanks for election activities in the January-February 2005 issue of Priests for Life:

"Brothers and sisters, 

"Many of you have written to thank us for what we did for the Elections of 2004.  But we want to thank you!  You truly proved what happens when the Body of Christ, across denominational lines, bears witness to the Gospel of Life in the voting booth!  Thank you for the voter registration drives you conducted, the phone calls you made, the emails and letters you sent, the homilies you preached, the literature you distributed, and countless other activities.  I would be delighted if you would take a moment to drop me a note and tell me about your activities and experiences with this past election!  And please prepare now for the Elections of 2006, which provide us another opportunity to shape the US Senate into a body which will advance protection for the unborn rather than obstruct it." 

And Father Quinn actually pointed out that only people in "full communion" with the Church are entitled to receive Holy Communion and Canon Law prohibits a priest from admitting to Communion "[t]hose...who obstinately persist in manifest grave sin..."   

On April 23, 2004, Cardinal Francis Arinze, prefect of the Vatican Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of Sacraments, authoritatively explained at a press conference in Rome that unrepentant pro-abortion “Catholic” politicians should be denied Communion.   

Relying on Canon 915, which specifies that "[t]hose...who obstinately persist in manifest grave sin, are not to be admitted to Holy Communion," Cardinal Arinze put it succinctly: "If they should not receive, then they should not be given."  

Recently, Cardinal Arinze was interviewed by Raymond Arroyo, host of EWTN's The World Over.  

Mr. Arroyo reminded Cardinal Arinze of his comments on dispensing Communion and the Cardinal replied that the answer to the question of whether or not Communion should be given to notorious pro-abortion nominally Catholic politicians was so obvious that children preparing to receive Holy Communion for the first time knew it well!  

Perhaps it's time for the children to lead, since some other cardinals apparently are more comfortable violating a canon law mandate, and thereby committing sacrilege and causing public scandal, that they are with a possible unseemly confrontation at the communion rail. 

Priests for Life's January 2005 prayer intention was "[t]hat all bishops will be strong and fearless defenders of innocent children in danger of abortion" for an excellent reason: even though all bishops should be unambiguously pro-life, not all of them are. 

It's time for the flocks to show the way to some of the shepherds.  To that end, Priests for Life urges this Prayer to End Abortion:

"Lord God, I thank you today for the gift of my life, 

And for the lives of all my brothers and sisters. 

I know there is nothing that destroys more life than abortion, 

Yet I rejoice that you have conquered death 

by the Resurrection of Your Son. 

I am ready to do my part in ending abortion. 

Today I commit myself 

Never to be silent, 

Never to be passive, 

Never to be forgetful of the unborn. 

I commit myself to be active in the pro-life movement, 

And never to stop defending life 

Until all my brothers and sisters are protected, 

And our nation once again becomes 

A nation with liberty and justice 

Not just for some, but for all, 

Through Christ our Lord.  Amen! 

A final note:

The Priests for Life brochure contains dozens of "suggestions for legal, peaceful, effective activity."  Which is the only acceptable way to promote life and combat abortion.

Remember that the horrific murder of a homosexual a few years ago created a climate in which "gay marriage" became thinkable instead of a ridiculous oxymoron.  And that pro-life efforts were set back years ago by the bombing of abortion clinics, the murder of an abortionist, and an ad that seemed to target abortionists for murder.

The right answer to sin is never more sin.

Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas is sponsoring the Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act, a bill that focuses on the pain an unborn child experiences during an abortion procedure and would require abortionists to explain to women considering an abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy that unborn children feel intense pain. The abortionists would be required to ask the mothers whether they wanted their babies to be given anesthesia prior to the abortion. A Zogby poll taken last April showed that more than three quarters of Americans favored "laws requiring that women who are 20 weeks or more along in their pregnancy be given information about fetal pain before having an abortion."  

Dr. Kanwaljeet Anand, a pediatrician, testified that be believes that aborted unborn children suffer "severe and excruciating" pain because the fetus is conscious during the abortion procedure.

Abortionists who withhold that information from ignorant women contemplating abortion have no more concern for their innocent victims that Dr. Mengele did for his.

 More Clippings from 2005