Letter to the Editor
November 23-29, 2008 Issue
How did Americans, about 70 million of whom are Catholic, elect the most pro-abortion, left-wing, inexperienced senator to the highest office of the greatest nation on earth?
Crisis-pregnancy centers like the one I direct are trembling: Can we continue to reach out to women considering abortion? Will we be allowed to discuss abortion’s physical, emotional and spiritual effects on women? Or will we be limited to distributing diapers, formula and baby clothes?
Apparently, more than half of American Catholics didn’t get the memo. While one-third of our bishops made strong public statements about the need to make the right to life for the unborn paramount when considering for whom to vote, the other two-thirds did not. While many individual priests (Father Pavone of Priests for Life being a shining example) explained the repercussions of voting for a pro-abortion candidate, many others were silent. While many lay Catholic pro-life organizations and individuals worked overtime to get the message out, so many other Catholics were afraid to talk to their fellow parishioners who plastered Obama stickers on their cars and planted Obama signs on their lawns.
The Register, on the other hand, was front and center with regard to this election. Issue after issue contained front-page stories about the candidates’ differences with regard to their pro-life or pro-abortion records, what they planned to do as president regarding the life issues, and what kind of Supreme Court justices they would appoint. No one subscribing to the Register had an excuse to be uninformed on this most important of elections.
Thank you, Register, for coming through for the pro-life cause. While we mourn this great loss, let us resolve to make sure that before the next election the other 54% of Catholics get the pro-life memo.
Laura Nelson Executive Director WomanCare Services
Berwyn, Illinois