Christ, now raised from the dead, will never die again; death has no more power
over Him! From the beginning of Christianity, his disciples have proclaimed,
“Christ is Risen!” and have thereby announced the end of the kingdom of death
and the inauguration of the new People of Life. As we read in Evangelium Vitae,
“
The Gospel of God's love for man, the Gospel of the dignity of the person
and the Gospel of life are a single and indivisible Gospel”
The
gift of eternal life which the Church proclaims presupposes the natural gift of
human life itself. In our day, this most basic good and most fundamental right
is under unprecedented attack, particularly by abortion, which claims the most
defenseless human victims, and in greater numbers than any other form of
violence.
The
Biblical call to rescue the vulnerable and defend the defenseless, commits us to
defend the lives of the poorest of the poor – the unborn – and of others whose
very right to life is denied.
Thank
God, countless ministries have arisen around the world to defend the unborn.
Among the largest and most effective is Priests for Life. Based in the United
States and serving the Church worldwide, this ministry has borne tremendous
fruit in the battle for life. I have witnessed that fruit firsthand in many
ways.
Knowing that the Church is the only entity with a divine guarantee that the
gates of hell will not prevail against her, Priests for Life seeks to fully
equip and activate the Church in the fight against abortion and euthanasia. We
serve the clergy by networking them with one another, so that they can encourage
and train each other in the best ways to preach, counsel, and mobilize their
people on behalf of life. Bishops worldwide invite our pastoral team to speak to
their priests. One diocese, for example, wrote to us and said, “The response
to your message was tremendous. In fact, never before have we had a uniformly
positive response to anyone speaking to the entire priestly community here in
our diocese. This is a first!”
Dr.
Bernard Nathanson, who helped start the abortion industry in the United States,
expressed profound gratitude to Priests for Life, because he testifies that he
and his colleagues succeeded only to the extent that they did not encounter an
activated and mobilized pro-life Church community!
Norma
McCorvey, the Jane Roe of the Roe vs. Wade decision that legalized abortion in
the United States, refers to Priests for Life as the catalyst that brought her
into the Catholic Church!
Priests for Life trains not only priests, but mobilizes the laity directly, and
forms them in the spirituality of being pro-life, training them to live as
“Missionaries of the Gospel of Life.”
The
world’s largest ministry for healing after abortion, Rachel’s Vineyard, operates
under the auspices of Priests for Life and brings the peace and healing of
Christ every day to families who have lost children to abortion. Moreover,
Priests for Life, working together with Anglicans for Life, coordinates the
world’s largest mobilization of women and men who bear public witness about
their pain and healing after having their child killed by abortion. It is called
the Silent No More Awareness Campaign.
These
women, holding signs saying “I Regret My Abortion,” and the men holding signs
that say “I Regret Lost Fatherhood,” gather at public rallies, speak in the
media, testify in Churches, and share with individuals the stories of their
redemption. These beacons of hope bring many people back to the Church, for they
realize that if God can forgive these people for the sin of abortion, then he
can forgive any other sin as well.
Priests for Life bears witness to the Gospel of Life in the media, having the
world’s largest outreach on radio and television for the pro-life message. In
the political arena as well, Priests for Life advances the teachings of the
Magisterium about political responsibility, and has been called by political
experts the most effective catalyst for Catholic political action.
Dr.
Alveda King, niece of Martin Luther King, Jr., works full time on the Priests
for Life pastoral staff. When asked if the pro-life marches remind her of the
civil rights marches, she responds, “The pro-life movement IS the civil rights
movement of today!”
Priests for Life has worked for many years with the Pontifical Council for the
Family and is grateful for its leadership in defense of life. We will continue
to join hands and hearts in this battle, as all of us form a collective and
visible voice for the voiceless millions who have been killed and are yet in
danger of being killed by abortion.
As
Pope John Paul II declared in Christifideles Laici, “…[T]he common outcry,
which is justly made on behalf of human rights -- for example, the right to
health, to home, to work, to family, to culture -- is false and illusory if the
right to life, the most basic and fundamental right and the condition of all
other personal rights, is not defended with maximum determination” (n.38)
and as Blessed Teresa of Calcutta said, “The greatest destroyer of peace
today is abortion” (Speech to National Prayer Breakfast, Washington DC, February
3, 1994).
To
quote Evangelium Vitae once more, “What is urgently called for is a general
mobilization of consciences and a united ethical effort to activate a great
campaign in support of life. All together, we must build a new culture of life”
FR. FRANK PAVONE
is one of the most prominent pro-life leaders in the world. Originally from New
York, he was ordained in 1988 by Cardinal John O’Connor. He is a priest of the
Amarillo Diocese and serves full-time in pro-life leadership with his bishop’s
permission. In 1993, he became National Director of Priests for Life. He is also
the President of the National Pro-life Religious Council, and the National
Pastoral Director of Rachel’s Vineyard, the world’s largest ministry of healing
after abortion. He travels throughout the country, to an average of four states
every week, preaching and teaching against abortion. He produces programs
regularly for religious and secular radio and television networks. He was asked
by Mother Teresa to speak in India on the life issues, and has addressed the
pro-life caucus of the United States House of Representatives. He has served as
an official of the Pontifical Council for the Family at the Vatican, which
coordinates the pro-life activities of the Catholic Church. He received the
“Proudly Pro-life Award” by the National Right to Life Committee. Norma McCorvey,
the “Jane Roe” of the Supreme Court’s Roe vs. Wade abortion decision, called Fr.
Pavone “the catalyst that brought me into the Catholic Church.”