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JANUARY 17, 2008
Editor’s note: Bishop Olmsted will resume his columns on the Virtue of Love in the next edition of The Catholic Sun.
Jan. 22: National Day of Penance
Fourteen years ago, Mother Teresa of Calcutta spoke at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C. To President Clinton and to other officials of the highest levels of government, she said:
“The greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion.”
Then, she went on to ask: “How do we persuade a woman not to have an abortion? We must persuade her with love and we remind ourselves that love means to be willing to give until it hurts.”
Love for Christ and love for mothers and their unborn children is what Mother Teresa was urging, and it is what motivated the American Bishops to designate Jan. 22, the anniversary of the tragic US Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade, as a National Day of Penance.
In observance of this National Day of Penance on Jan. 22, I invite us all to do penance for violations to the dignity of the human person committed through acts of abortion, and to pray for the full restoration of the legal guarantee of the right to life. For those who are able, I recommend that we fast from all food except bread and water during one or more meals of the day, that we receive the Sacrament of Penance to deepen our own personal conversion, and that we spend extra time in adoration of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament, entrusting to Him all mothers and their unborn children.
In addition, I invite our young people to join me, on Friday, Jan. 18, at a Pro-Life Vigil of Adoration and Prayer to be held at the All Saints Newman Center on the Arizona State University campus in Tempe.
Pray, fast with hope-filled hearts
The U.S. Supreme Court decision of Roe v. Wade shall forever be held in infamy. It stands in stark contradiction to the legal traditions of our country to that point. It robbed one entire segment of society of any legal protection. The most vulnerable and defenseless among us, unborn children, could now be killed with impunity. And to our nation’s shame, they have been slaughtered for the past 35 years, at a rate of more than 1.5 million per year.
The Declaration of Independence stated that our legal and political system would be based on the “Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God.” And it proclaimed those famous words: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” Tragically, we have departed from these founding principles by ignoring the right to life of unborn children.
That is the bad news. It is indeed bad. When the most fundamental right, the right to life, is denied to one group of people based on their age, the consequences are catastrophic.
But there is also good news to tell. Above all we are full of hope in view of the victory of Christ over sin and death. Because of His Cross and Resurrection, we know that it is only a matter of time until Roe v. Wade is reversed.
On the human level too, we see solid reasons for hope. Let me list a few:
1. The number of doctors willing to do abortions is on the decrease.
2. Fewer abortions are being performed in the United States each year.
3. Thousands of pregnancy assistance centers across our land help mothers facing troubled pregnancies to bring their children to birth and to care for them.
4. The first federal restriction of an abortion procedure in 30 years was passed in 2003 and signed by President Bush. On April 18, 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act.
5. Young people today identify themselves as strongly pro-life.
Pro-life youth
Let me just comment briefly on this fifth point. Recent surveys show that our youth today are much more pro-life than the next older generation. Those who have grown up under the shadow of Roe v. Wade know that it has robbed them of more than a third of their peers. They know that a judicial system that tolerates such actions is based on false premises.
Chastity is also making a comeback among our young people. A new study from the Center for Disease Control documents this hopeful trend. Sexual activity among teens has steadily decreased since 1991. Even in our sex-saturated popular culture, abstinence is winning. Our youth want to live life to the full and want the right of others to do the same.
Abortion destroys peace
Legalizing abortion in America in 1973 has left us with millions of dead babies and countless broken hearts. It has not solved problems and could never bring peace. Mother Teresa is right: The greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion. It is our duty to work for a culture of life, built on truth and compassion. It is our task to labor for that day when every unborn child will be happily welcomed, protected and loved.
Please join me and the entire Church in America on Jan. 18 and Jan. 22 in praying for an end to abortion and offering sacrifice for the grace of conversion.
Copyright 2008 The Catholic Sun.
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