By J.D. Long-García | February 3, 2009 | The Catholic Sun

TEMPE — To say pro-life advocates were disappointed would be an understatement.

On his fourth day as president of the United States, Barack Obama signed an executive order that made federal funds available for abortion overseas. The Jan. 23 order reversed the “Mexico City policy,” which had been in place for eight years.

“The president’s decision to begin funding organizations that promote abortion overseas with our tax dollars was not unexpected, but painful,” said Mike Phelan, director of Marriage and Respect Life Issues for the diocese.

Hours after the executive order, an estimated 600 hundred Catholics followed Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted in a eucharistic procession up “A” Mountain on the Arizona State University campus.

“We can get discouraged, but Friday night we were right where we needed to be — close to our Lord, full of joy and determination mixed with indignation at this great injustice of abortion,” Phelan said of the event. “So many young people understand the injustice when provided with the actual facts.”

The procession and eucharistic adoration closed three days of pro-life events in Tempe, which marked the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision which legalized abortion. This year’s events were a departure for the annual life rally, which had previously been centered on a march to the state Capitol in downtown Phoenix.

Phelan explained that the move targeted young people, in whom “education, inspiration and culture change” can take place.

Daniel Vasquez was one of several youth and young adults from an apologetics ministry at St. John Vianney in Goodyear that trekked across the Valley for the procession.

“We’re here to spread the truth of this ugly thing that many people don’t see,” he said.

Many prayed the rosary as they made their way up the mountain. Others held signs reading “Stop Abortion Now.” The line that snaked up the mountain was even more impressive considering it was Friday night on a college campus.

Once on top, students knelt on the gravel in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. They joined in praying John Paul II’s “Prayer for the Unborn Child.”

As rain fell, the bishop blessed the group and the city with the monstrance.

“I think it was beautiful,” Rori Madril, a young adult from St. Timothy Parish in Mesa, said of the rain. “I thought that God was kind of cleansing the city in a soft and gentle way.”

Before the procession, Bishop Olmsted spoke to the students about the conquering power of love.

“So when facing great evil, especially evil such as Roe v. Wade, which has made it possible for 50 million unborn children to be killed in the last 36 years, we cannot become discouraged,” he said.

“We can be tempted to used tactics other than truth and love,” the bishop added. “How important that we resist those temptations.”

Praying to end abortion

The night before the procession, Jan. 22, some 500 pro-life advocates gathered in front of a Tempe Planned Parenthood. They sang and prayed the rosary to end abortion.

From there, the group made its way to the nearby Hayden Lawn on ASU’s campus for a concert and slate of speakers. There, the pro-life group met some counter-protestors.

“I’d rather have an abortion that eat a hamburger,” one young woman told a pro-life advocate she was speaking with. Others held signs that read, “I love birth control,” “I support a woman’s right to choose,” and even “Overpopulation is ruining the economy.”

Larissa Rodgers, a physician who works for Catholic Healthcare West, engaged one of the counter-protestors. The protestor had accused the pro-life advocates of being uninformed.

“If it’s really about being pro-choice,” Rodgers challenged the students, “why don’t they show [pregnant mothers] the ultrasound image of their baby? Why not give women a choice?”

David Portugal, director of religious education at St. John Vianney Parish, also engaged a young ASU student in debate.

“There’s no anger here. It’s just out of love and hope,” Portugal said.

“All I’m saying is go to a class or something,” the young man replied, insisting that the human race was threatened by overpopulation and would have to move to another planet. “Spend more time on science.”

Portugal was unabated. “We have to get back to the family, family values,” he said.

The dialog between the clump of five or six pro-abortion students and the pro-life advocates continued through the evening, never reaching a point of hostility.

Mass for the unborn

On the vigil of the Roe v. Wade anniversary, Jan. 21, Catholics gathered at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish for the Mass for the Unborn, celebrated by Bishop Olmsted.

During his homily, the bishop referenced the great mass of people who assembled on the National Mall for President Obama’s inauguration the day before.

Thirty years earlier, the bishop said, Pope John Paul II celebrated Mass on the same Mall. The pontiff spoke eloquently and forcefully for life.

“We will stand up every time human life is threatened,” Bishop Olmsted quoted the pope.

Likewise, he continued, every Catholic is called to defend the right to life of the unborn, even though it may cause embarrassment or discord among friends and family.

“Many of our contemporaries feel pressure or pressure us to be silent about the rights of unborn children. Friends may cringe when we walk outside of abortion clinics,” he said. “Standing up for their life and dignity will not make us popular.”

Bishop Olmsted asked the congregation to be “messengers of hope” to those who have either helped procure or have had an abortion. He asked that they pray and “offer up acts of penance asking God to bring an end to abortion.”

FOCA legislation threatens

The fight for life is also taking on the Freedom of Choice Act, better known as FOCA, which was introduced by the last Congress. If brought forward in the same form today, it would outlaw any obstacles to abortion at will.

“It would deprive the American people in all 50 states of the freedom they now have to enact modest restraints and regulations on the abortion industry,” said Chicago Cardinal Francis George, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, in a November statement.

The bishops are heading up a postcard campaign encouraging Catholics to voice their dissent from FOCA to their senators and representatives in Washington. Parishes in the Diocese of Phoenix are in the process of distributing the cards to parishioners.

According to Ron Johnson, executive director of the Arizona Catholic Conference, the public policy arm of the three Arizona dioceses, FOCA poses a substantial threat to the body of laws developed over the years to restrict abortion.

“In past years, FOCA has proposed to obliterate all legislation that restricts abortion in any way or that provides for conscientious objection for health care providers who do not want to participate in abortion,” he said.

The diocese has arranged for more than 200,000 postcards to go to parishes to be signed, according to Phelan.

“The message is simple: we as Catholics stand unified to protect our most innocent — don’t pass this legislation and divide our country further,” he said. “So, the best hope is to see that FOCA never gets to the president’s desk.”

Joyce Coronel, Ambria Hammel and Andrew Junker contributed to this story.