ViewPoints Pro-life movement embraces new frontier of advocacy

Admitting weakness allows grace to work in us

In a recent issue of “The Way,” a spirituality journal of the British Jesuits, a writer compared the 12 steps of Alcoholic Anonymous with the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. Both recognize that without a Higher Power, God, in my life, my life can easily follow the wrong path and even spin out of control.

Alcohol is commonplace in the financial industry and, though the writer was not an addict, he recognized that he “used the bottle to self-medicate during times of stress, anger, or anxiety. …

[Alcohol] was the mode by which business at times was done. … I had friends who were regulars at bars, and I often met for a social drink. But after one Sunday of having too much, I decided to put down the bottle.” (The Way, 61,2, April 2022, p. 65).

Going to his first AA meeting, he found the members gruff. More importantly, “These members shared their deepest and truest selves, their brokenness and their desire to be whole, more than I had ever experienced. I better understood God’s revelation to St. Paul: ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness’ (2 Cor 12:9).”

We all need God, even when our lives have not spun out of control. This is what the Hebrews learned at the foot of Mt. Sinai. Some weeks after Moses had gone up onto the mountain, the people waiting in the desert became restless. They wanted a god like the Egyptians and the Canaanites had, so they asked Aaron to fashion a golden calf for them to worship. They abandoned the one true God to create their own false god. Our world is not much different. People move away from our Triune God to follow gods of human making, whether those gods be alcohol or drugs, sex or material goods, power or pride, social media or internet games, peer groups or media or sports icons. We think that we are in control but, like alcohol, these things begin to control us.

But God is merciful, and by turning to Him, we can be restored to sanity and to real freedom. The God of the Gospel is the father, who is prodigal in his love for his foolish son (Luke 15:11-32). God loves all of His sons and daughters, and He wants to reveal what is true, good and loving to us. We are loved sinners who need to admit how these things often control us so that we might turn our lives over to God and be freed to grow in Jesus’ way. By admitting our sins and weaknesses, we can allow grace to work in us and bring us to new life.

This is what Paul shares with Timothy and with us. He is saying that “I am Paul, and I am a sinner.” “I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and arrogant, but I have been mercifully treated because I acted out of ignorance in my unbelief. Indeed, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ has been abundant, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus” (I Timothy 1:13-14). “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Of these, I am the foremost. But for that reason I was mercifully treated, so that in me, the foremost, Christ Jesus might display all His patience as an example for those who would come to believe in Him for everlasting life” (1 Timothy 15b-16). Like St. Paul, we are called to admit our sins and weaknesses so that God’s love might bring us forgiveness, healing, and strength. As the psalmist says, “A clean heart create for me, O God, and a steadfast spirit renew within me” (Psalm 51:4). This is the gift that our loving God has for each of us.

Let us pray: Loving God, we come to You not in power but each in our own weaknesses and struggles. We need You, for without You our lives easily go astray. In Your mercy be our rock foundation. Should we stray, bring us back. In You alone will we find our peace. Amen.

It’s good to let the jeering skulls laugh

Like St. Teresa of Avila, I have a skull on my desk. Two, actually – one plain and one riotously decorated in green and purple. I think they’re funny; they remind me not to take myself, or the world, too seriously. When I have tied myself into knots due to some perceived weakness or spent more than a minute brooding because I feel ignored, the skulls jeer at me with all of their teeth and whisper from the prophet Isaiah, “All flesh is grass. … The grass withers, the flower fades” (Is 40:6-7). In our high-stimulus society, keeping to an “all flesh is grass” philosophy can bring balance and perspective. It’s of a piece with something I’ve read about St. Bernadette Soubirous: When an exalted sister within her community would disparage the visionary of Lourdes due to her lack of stature or her poor education, Bernadette would say, “Move along, creature” – to herself, as well as to her tormentor. “Only Christ matters.”

“Move along, creature” is, like the smiling skulls, a fine way of reminding ourselves not to invest too much into our hurt feelings or our offense-taking. It reminds us that passing human stupidities and insults (I am redundant) ought not to command too much real estate in well-grounded souls. Social media have conditioned us to believe that everything we do, everything we think, every bit of umbrage we feel and every thoughtless slight offered by some stranger at a distant keyboard must be marked and then responded to by others – voted up or down in the virtual circus of chaotic consensus through which we waste so much time. We moderns do take ourselves very seriously. We bore others with details of our diets, we fret over our retirement planning or our workout schedules. How much is too little, how much is too much? Will any of this ever be enough?

There is nothing wrong with wanting to be fit or to plan for some future day when (with any luck) all the workouts and investments will have paid off and you’re ready to slow into retirement. But while we’re doing all that, it’s worth recalling a wry old Jewish maxim: “You make plans; God laughs.”

All our efforts to last another day, or decade, and to live in relative comfort are contingent upon controls that, ultimately, we do not possess. How often have we heard that someone who “did everything right” in terms of diet and exercise suddenly succumbed to a heart attack that came out of nowhere? How many stories can we recite about someone’s life savings being lost to an unforeseen market turn?

Mostly, we are powerless over the vagaries of life. Rather than disturbing us, that reality should help Christians embrace a daily mindset of pragmatic surrender. Yes, we are responsible for ourselves, for our families, our bodies, our neighbors. We are spirit and matter and so, to a point, material considerations do matter.

But our lives are brief (“our years are 70, 80 if we are strong” says Psalm 90), and our control is, in part, illusory. St. Philip Neri reminds us, “All God’s purposes are to the good,” and they ultimately prove themselves to be right and just. We tend to forget that when we’re stressing over schedules, taking our every mistake to heart or letting someone else’s rudeness ruin our day. Which is why it is good to keep a smiling skull around -- to help us laugh at ourselves as we remember that all flesh goes the way of the grass that fades and the flower that withers.

We shall not weary, we shall not rest, until every unborn child is protected in law and welcomed in life. We shall not weary, we shall not rest, until every young woman is given the help she needs to recognize the problem of pregnancy as the gift of life.” the help she needs to recognize the problem of pregnancy as the gift of life.”

These words from a speech by the late Father Richard John Neuhaus were on my mind as I led a pilgrimage to the Jan. 20 National March for Life in Washington, D.C. They perfectly sum up the purpose and the message of this annual pro-life gathering.

The March for Life began in Washington, D.C., in 1974, one year after Roe v. Wade legalized abortion throughout the country. It has been repeated every year since, around the anniversary of that Supreme Court decision. In recent years the March for Life movement has expanded to other cities across the nation – including Charlotte and Raleigh.

This year was the 50th National March for Life. On this significant anniversary, participants had the joy of celebrating the Dobbs decision, which overturned Roe v. Wade this past June.

We must increase our support for pregnant mothers who are vulnerable to abortion.

The pro-life movement has always supported pregnant moms. The daily work of almost 3,000 pregnancy resource centers providing support and material resources to moms across the country is proof of this.

In the Diocese of Charlotte, MiraVia offers housing for pregnant students and serves moms in all circumstances at their outreach center in Charlotte. Pregnant and parenting mothers experiencing homelessness find shelter at Room At The Inn in Greensboro and Catherine’s House in Belmont.

Catholic Charities partners with hundreds of agencies across our diocese to support families through all stages of life and has recently expanded its “Wee Care” program, which provides diapers and baby supplies at several locations. These efforts are joined to those of dozens more pregnancy resource centers caring for women across our state. We must build on this support for mothers, especially in North Carolina, which saw a 37% increase in abortions between April and August 2022, after the Dobbs decision in June, as women traveled here from states where abortion has become more restricted, according to a report by the Society of Family Planning.

As in years past, the joy and energy of thousands of high school and college students filled the air, mixed with a diverse crowd of families and people of all ages. Priests, deacons, and religious men and women were everywhere, giving witness to God’s love for every human life.

We peacefully marched from the National Mall to the Capitol Building and past the Supreme Court. Our message? “We shall not weary, we shall not rest” – because we know our pro-life work is not over.

The end of Roe is a great step forward. But now the work of the pro-life movement must expand.

It must expand “until every unborn child is protected in law and welcomed in life.”

We must expand our advocacy to the capitals of all 50 states. Every state is now free to adopt laws that protect the unborn child. But these laws will not be passed without persistent advocacy for the right to life.

We must increase our advocacy in the U.S. Congress as well. Nothing in the Dobbs decision prevents a federal law from being passed that outlaws abortion – or that legalizes the procedure through all nine months of pregnancy.

It is more important than ever to hold our politicians accountable for the policies they support, lobbying them to protect life from the moment of conception until natural death and withdrawing our support if they fail in this task.

The pro-life movement must likewise expand “until every young woman is given

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Multiple parishes in our diocese have begun the Walking with Moms in Need program, which guides parishes in providing practical help to pregnant and parenting moms in their local communities. Every parish can embrace this program by following the step-by-step guide available at walkingwithmoms.com.

Finally, in the wake of Dobbs, we must expand our pro-life witness to those around us – friends, family and co-workers. We must share the good news that society doesn’t have to choose between mother and child – we can and should love them both.

And we must proclaim the merciful message that God’s forgiveness and mercy are available to those whose personal history includes abortion. Rachel’s Vineyard retreats are offered regularly in our diocese for women and men seeking healing from past abortions.

Next year, we will march for life again. We will march in Charlotte, Raleigh, and in Washington, D.C. We know our work will not be finished next year – or the next. But the Dobbs decision has shown us that real progress is possible. It has shown us at that the prayers, the witness, the support for the unborn and their mothers, and the loving conversations with friends all bear fruit. We saw them bear fruit at the Supreme Court last year. And we are eager to see the fruit they will bear in the future.

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The Catholic News Herald has reached the Facebook feeds of more than 65,000 people in English and Spanish during the past month. The most talked about post? Coverage of Bishop Jugis closing out the Diocese of Charlotte’s 50th anniversary year and announcing Mary, Mother of God as the diocese’s official patroness. Join the conversation: www.facebook.com/ CatholicNewsHerald

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