Tuesday, March 19, AD 2024 3:53am

Bad Week

 

 

Belying the great progress being made at the state level, the pro-life movement had a bad week on the national level.

The GOP leadership pulled a bill banning abortion after 20 weeks, a piece of legislation that has two-one support in polls, because some House members were nervous about the requirement of the rape exception that the rape be reported to the police.  (Really?  A woman twenty weeks pregnant who claims to be raped hasn’t yet reported the rape to the police?)  Bizarre and cowardly.  The House did pass a bill banning abortion funding and credits for abortion, with the usual regrettable exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother.

Then we have Catholic prelates attempting to turn the pro-life cause into a giant rally for the welfare state.  Frank Walker at Pewsitter has their number:

Here’s an idea. Let’s take the exclusively conservative movement against the uninterrupted slaughter of unborn children and plaster all kinds of leftist slogans to it. Then we can invite Catholic prelates to come advocate for bigger federal programs while they pretend to care about abortion. After all, what is the point of having a Church if isn’t to shepherd Catholics into amoral statist barns and hand power to the enemies of God and man? Isn’t everything about life?

Dead babies aren’t a constituency anyway. Why advocate for them? And if you care about poor people, this is a great way to make sure there’s a lot more of them.

For the pro-life movement to truly succeed, it must fight not only abortion, but also the broader “throwaway culture” wherever life is being discarded, said Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston at a national pro-life Mass.

“What must characterize the pro-life movement is a special love for the poor, the marginalized, the suffering, and especially human life that is in danger of being discarded,” Cardinal O’Malley said in his Jan. 21 homily at the Opening Mass of the National Prayer Vigil for Life.

The cardinal addressed an overflow crowd at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., the largest church in North America. More than 11,000 people were estimated to be in attendance.

Cardinal O’Malley, who heads the U.S. bishops’ pro-life committee, was chief celebrant at the Mass. Five additional cardinals, 44 bishops, and 343 priests concelebrated the Mass, according to a basilica spokesperson. Some 100 deacons and 530 seminarians also assisted.

Wednesday evening’s Mass kicked off an all-night prayer vigil at the basilica, which ends with a closing Mass Thursday morning. The prayer vigil precedes the annual March for Life, which marks the anniversary of the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that led to nationwide legal abortion. The march routinely draws hundreds of thousands from across the country to pray and witness in the heart of Washington, D.C.

Drawing from the Gospel of the day, the story of the Rich Young Man, Cardinal O’Malley cited Pope Francis to explain how one must not only keep the commandments but also love the poor.

Jesus advocates loving your neighbor and helping those in need. He certainly doesn’t teach legal confiscation of property, ruthless regulation of people’s lives, anti-family laws and pro-death policy all blanketed under the excuse ‘loving the poor’, then calling it pro-life.

In the Gospel story, the young man asked Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life. He “went away sad” when Jesus instructed him to go beyond following the commandments by giving all his possessions to the poor and following Christ.

Jesus was asking the man to take a vow of poverty; to become a disciple, not to give all his money to federally-funded Catholic Charities.

So which does Cardinal O’Malley want from the March for Life in Washington: ascetic lives of poverty, their tax money, their Democrat votes, or all three?

Am I discouraged as a result of all this?  Not really, because I know that all this bunk has zip to do with what motivates the marchers each year to come to Washington DC year after year:  a passion to work ceaselessly to save the lives of the most innocent among us.  As long as we have this, the pro-life movement will continue its long walk to victory by the grace of God.

 

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DJ Hesselius
DJ Hesselius
Friday, January 23, AD 2015 6:41am

“So which does Cardinal O’Malley want from the March for Life in Washington: ascetic lives of poverty, their tax money, their Democrat votes, or all three?”
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Misery loves company?

Philip
Philip
Friday, January 23, AD 2015 9:21am

The walk to victory by the Grace of God is what will happen regarding this 42 year long war on life. Your right in your optimism Mr. McClarey. God will see to it and bless those who hear his voice and march forward.

Kyle Miller
Kyle Miller
Friday, January 23, AD 2015 9:25am

“What must characterize the pro-life movement is a special love for the poor, the marginalized, the suffering, and especially human life that is in danger of being discarded,
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I get where they are going. No human life is disposable. We must stand for those who are targets of being discarded. Out of sight means out of mind, which is what the listed share. Just not sure the pro-life definition should be stretched on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade. It is focused on saving the life of the unborn because they are the only class of people in the list above who suffer from legally sanctioned killing. Add to that their innocence and youth, and it all equals a horrific tragedy.

c matt
c matt
Friday, January 23, AD 2015 11:01am

Do these same prelates argue for the protection of unborn life at rallies/demonstrations/etc. for the poor, for immigrants, or for environmental stewardship? Just askin’.

Patricia
Patricia
Friday, January 23, AD 2015 11:49am

Did the Fifth Commandment, or its Origin, get a mention?
Any allusion to the spiritual poverty that charity can remedy?

Mary De Voe
Friday, January 23, AD 2015 3:01pm

“exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother.” Science has proven beyond any doubt that the individual in the womb is a sovereign person – See Gracie Crane Snowflake baby. It was the sovereign person who was on trial in Roe v. Wade. The Court stands on delivering Justice through due process of law to the person.
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To execute the innocent person because of the crime of his father, as in incest or rape, the first being worse than the second, ended along with human sacrifice. To snuff out the life of the innocent child in the womb because his father is a rapist upsidedowns civilization. To tolerate the incestuous father and rapist while silencing the innocent victim and witness to the crime who, with his mother, is being victimized and silenced a second time by society, by the court, by the father and rapist is uncivilized, barbarian, and criminal. The death of the mother must be imminent. It cannot be that the child destroys the mother who is giving him life. It is not the case of the child committing miscarriage of himself.

Mary De Voe
Friday, January 23, AD 2015 3:08pm

Roe v. Wade has not one single piece of truth. In a court of law the person must be given due process of law. Every person under the age of 42 is a survivor of Roe v. Wade. How was it that they were not aborted?

Anzlyne
Anzlyne
Friday, January 23, AD 2015 5:20pm

I am afraid I turned the channel as soon as I heard what Sean Cardinal O’Malley was saying. I wonder if he realizes the effect of his words. I wonder if people in his live crowd felt like turning their backs.

trackback
Saturday, January 24, AD 2015 12:02am

[…] Cardinal O’Malley, March for Life, […]

Christine MCS
Christine MCS
Saturday, January 24, AD 2015 1:34am

Unbelievable media blackout. I was there and the only news camera, vehicle, presence was EWTN. Every year….. Once or twice I saw the media cover the tiny group of counter protestors who usually appear in front of the Supreme Court bldg. All 5 or 6 of them. Really incredible. I told someone who called me yesterday while I was there that I was in Wash DC at the March for Life. (It was hard to talk on your cell with all the movement, crowds, noise, etc.) They said “I don’t know what that is”.

Anyone have any numbers?
Any know how numbers for big events are calculated? or who does it?

As for Cd O’Malley……
He attended Ted Kennedy’s funeral Mass. He attended Boston College commencement ’14 with speaker John Kerry. He attended the Mass at the fence for immigrants passing communion through the fence to those on the other side.
Why is he trying to twist the March for Life message- obviously about abortion on the anniversary of RoevWade- into this obsession with the poor and the peripheries?

Phillips
Phillips
Saturday, January 24, AD 2015 6:11am

Yes Cardinal O’Malley, we stand with the poor and the marginalized.

We oppose government programs that impoverish and marginalize persons and their inherent dignity by fostering dependency

We oppose government programs that do not accomplish what they claim they will do and thus unjustly deprive workers of the fruits of their labor.

We oppose the marginalizing of people by taking away their right to determine the course of their work through centralizing decisions in bureaucracies in Washington.

We oppose government programs which foster single parenthood, destroy historic neighborhoods and, as a result, create crime and despair.

We oppose taxes which sap productivity and the human spirit and create unemployment and despair.

And we oppose those who think that such programs are good when in fact they are destructive.

Mary De Voe
Saturday, January 24, AD 2015 7:05am

because, Christine MCS, the Supreme Court has made Roe v. Wade, the unmitigated miscarriage of Justice, the murder of human life and the obliteration of sovereign personhood into a sacred cow.
The media will milk that sacred cow for all its worth. Human sacrifice must increase as it will not diminish.
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Framing Roe.v. Wade as a right, the media has created a monster that they themselves fear; fear for their very lives. Without trust in God, the media has no one to speak for them and they are afraid to speak the truth for themselves. The devil is frozen to the bottom of hell.
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Jesus descended into to hell to free the patriarchs. Oh, Well, I guess that means that the media will have to stay in hell.
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Phillips: Excellent parsing of O’Malley’s heresy. A saver for future posting.

Shawn Marshall
Shawn Marshall
Saturday, January 24, AD 2015 7:45am

With 18T in debt we are all poor – living in a monetary bubble. O’Malley is just kissing up to PF. He is a sycophantic echo chamber.

Father of seven
Father of seven
Saturday, January 24, AD 2015 9:38am

Great to read that you are optimistic. We all should be as we know who wins in the end. However, I do believe the cause will be furthered when we have shepherds who are actually pro-life. How disheartening then that Cardinal O’Malley is head of the USCCB pro-life committee. But, that seems about right coming from that organization.

CAM
CAM
Saturday, January 24, AD 2015 10:59am

My grandfather was a R. Catholic doctor. He received his MD in 1907. The norm was that babies were delivered at home; rarely was there a hospital delivery. In the twenty some years he practiced in a rural area he NEVER had a case where the in utero baby endangered the life of the mother.
What I don’t get with all the advances of medical science, why in 2015 is the “life of the mother” still listed as an exception. There is no rational or moral reason for an innocent (and they are all innocent) unborn to be murdered because of the means of his or her conception.
Why the emphasis on poverty being the reason women abort? I’d like to see the statistics on that. Convenience, I would guess, is the rationale for many abortions on women from middle and wealthy classes. But that sounds just too selfish doesn’t it?

Philip
Philip
Saturday, January 24, AD 2015 11:46am

CAM.

Selfishness is next to Godlessness.

Abortion for health reasons? Hummmm.
I also would like to see the data.
The “I can not have a baby now because of lack of money-lack of support-bad timing-school plans”,..they all take priority over a human life. FEAR!

My guess is Fear. When support networks are found in each Catholic Church in each City Village or Hamlet across the country, then the fear will subside. So will many of the abortions subside. Our Lady of Good Council Homes in N.J. is proof.

Cthemfly25
Cthemfly25
Saturday, January 24, AD 2015 7:38pm

Quite some time ago during the debate about one the most corrupt pieces of legislation addressing illegal immigration, the I famous gang of 8 senate bill, Cardinal O’Malley was interviewed by Raymond Arroyo. I was struck by his political crassness in advocating passage of this particular bill and his remark that Republicans faced dire political consequences if it weren’t passed. Not much was said about that interview but it stuck with me.

Cardinal O’Malley, it is said, is a confidant to the Pope. I’m beyond believing that a certain cadre of prelates engage in similar messaging by coincidence. The Pope has instructed us that we should not be “obsessed” about abortion. Cardinal O’Malley’s comments are sleights of hand but appear remarkably in lime with the Pope’s messaging.

Carlos X.
Carlos X.
Saturday, January 24, AD 2015 11:28pm

So you think you’re going to stop abortion in this country by keeping the Pro Life crew an “exclusively conservative movement,” eh?

Mary De Voe
Sunday, January 25, AD 2015 5:29am

Carlos X: The Right to Choose “crew” have as much freedom to choose Life as they have to choose death. Let us pray for wisdom to make the right choice. Thank your mother and father for giving you life. In the continuum of life, the child lives on as the mother’s and father’s descendant, carrying their genes and some of their cells. Science has discovered that cells from the mother to the child and cells from the child pass through the placenta into the blood stream of the one and the other. It is kind of exciting to know that through the child, the mother carries her beloved’s cells.
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Through abortion, men and women are committing suicide, now, literally discarding their own genes, their own descendants, their own future; the devil’s eighth sacrament.
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Through Life, man gets to enjoy knowing he will not disappear from the face of the earth, for he has chosen Life. If you are a survivor of abortion, know that you have been prayed for.

Mary De Voe
Sunday, January 25, AD 2015 5:51am

Now, let me comment on my comment: “through the child, the mother carries her beloved’s cells.” The practice of blood brotherhood of the Native American Indians, without scientific proof, bears witness.
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Shawn Marshall: “With 18T in debt we are all poor – living in a monetary bubble. O’Malley is just kissing up to PF. He is a sycophantic echo chamber.

Deuteronomy 14: 22-29 tells our Pope and our bishops how to proceed about the poor and about our money tithes to God, the practice of charity and the freedom to practice charity. The practice of charity is the taking on the poor to redeem oneself. The poor is our gift from God, but in Deuteronomy, the family comes before the poor. Only the third year tithe is shared with the Levite, the widow and the alien…and these would be legal aliens…because they are mentioned in the Bible, in the very Old Testament.
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Charity is a virtue, a virtue in the exercise of conscience for the individual person. for government to extort charity without the citizens’ informed consent is against the Seventh Commandment. for the government, the violation of the Seventh Commandment is a violation of separation of church and state. It is not “the price of citizenship” to be subjected to injustice. It is the price of citizenship to resist the devil.

Rick
Rick
Sunday, January 25, AD 2015 8:14am

The republicans will wriggle out of any attempt to ban legalized abortion. Just watch over the next few years.

Micha Elyi
Micha Elyi
Sunday, January 25, AD 2015 8:08pm

“So which does Cardinal O’Malley want from the March for Life in Washington: ascetic lives of poverty, their tax money, their Democrat votes, or all three?”

My question to Cardinal O’Malley is, “How much did you steal?”

jm
jm
Monday, February 2, AD 2015 1:44pm

I suggest our clergy start looking at the facts (you know, that pesky thing, the truth). Those of us who are pro life give disproportionately to the “poor” and other charitable causes compared to the pro abortion group. Furthermore, If they really want to help the illegal immigrants. then I suggest they put their own money where their mouth is and have them housed, fed, clothed and their healthcare taken care of within catholic institutions, parishes and esp, clerics residences. Better yet, why don’t they take up the cause of bringing the reasons for the USA proserity to these other countries: i.e., capitalism, free enterprize and the rule of law. Oh. I’m sorry… I forgot: that whould be hard. No its much easier to have someone else pay the bill for their upkeep while the clerics and liberal catholics pat themselves on the back as to how compassionate and great christians they are, while reminding us prolifers of how deficient we are to be so narrow.

John Peter
Monday, February 2, AD 2015 7:37pm

The way to holiness is love for the poor, but the way to love the poor is not to exploit the envy of some to help grant legal authorization of theft from the better off to redistribute it to the poor. Th way to holiness is to appeal to the hearts and generosity of those who could help, and thus bring the love of Christ into their hearts, as well as aid the less fortunate. Confiscation is evil, despite the ends. Jesus did not demand that his disciples confiscate the young mans wealth, he appealed to the man’s heart.

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