Saturday, January 23, 2010

Fr. Neuhaus on Life

I came across this speech by the late Father Richard John Neuhaus while browsing the online forum at the American Lutheran Publishing Board.  I won't go into the full details here, but before I get to the 'life article', let me say that Father Neuhaus is possibly THE reason I am Catholic today.  I happened to hear an short interview with him on C-SPAN in 2005 at a very critical time in my faith life life as a Lutheran.  In the course of that interview I was overwhelmingly convicted that I must look into the Catholic Church.  To make a long story short, I did, and my family and I went through RCIA, and entered into full communion at the Easter Vigil in 2007.  I thank God daily for leading me to what Fr. Neuhaus described as, and I truly believe to be, "the Church of Jesus Christ most fully and rightly ordered through time".  Like Fr. Neuhaus, I remain thankful for my upbringing in the Lutheran Church, where I was taught the Creeds and the faith and received grace. Fr. Neuhaus did not know me, but he changed my life.  I finished reading his wonderful book 'Catholic Matters' just days before his passing in Jan 2009.

Father Neuhaus was raised Lutheran and became a leading Lutheran Theologian.  He marched with Dr. King and fought for justice and truth tirelessly his entire life.  Later in life, this included justice for and the protection of the most vulnerable among us, the unborn.  You can read about the role of abortion in his transformation here.

First Things is reprinting the following speech from Fr. Neuhaus on each anniversary of Roe-vs-Wade.  In this 2008 speech, Father Neuhaus said the following:

"The culture of death is an idea before it is a deed. I expect many of us here, perhaps most of us here, can remember when we were first encountered by the idea. For me, it was in the 1960s when I was pastor of a very poor, very black, inner city parish in Brooklyn, New York. I had read that week an article by Ashley Montagu of Princeton University on what he called "A Life Worth Living." He listed the qualifications for a life worth living: good health, a stable family, economic security, educational opportunity, the prospect of a satisfying career to realize the fullness of one’s potential. These were among the measures of what was called "a life worth living."


And I remember vividly, as though it were yesterday, looking out the next Sunday morning at the congregation of St. John the Evangelist and seeing all those older faces creased by hardship endured and injustice afflicted, and yet radiating hope undimmed and love unconquered. And I saw that day the younger faces of children deprived of most, if not all, of those qualifications on Prof. Montagu’s list. And it struck me then, like a bolt of lightning, a bolt of lightning that illuminated our moral and cultural moment, that Prof. Montagu and those of like mind believed that the people of St. John the Evangelist - people whom I knew and had come to love as people of faith and kindness and endurance and, by the grace of God, hope unvanquished - it struck me then that, by the criteria of the privileged and enlightened, none of these my people had a life worth living. In that moment, I knew that a great evil was afoot. The culture of death is an idea before it is a deed."

Sadly, I have heard this 'subtle eugenics' argument often, including from my brother and sister Catholics. The argument is that many 'unwanted' children are brought into this world, and that abortion is somehow a solution to pregnancies that would bring a child into 'unfavorable situations'.  The argument is that their lives 'may not be worth living'.  Then I ponder the setting and family into which our current President was born in Hawaii in 1961 (before Planned Parenthood existed on the campus of the University of Hawaii which came to Hawaii in 1966). One has to wonder if the Mother of our current President would have made the same 'choice' that she did in 1961 today.  After all, his Father and Mother had just met at the University of Hawaii, his Mother, Ann Dunham, was barely 18 when she became pregnant, his Father had another pregnant wife and children back at home, and they were three months pregnant with our 44th President when they got married in 1961.  It would be very difficult to convince me that this was pregnancy was "planned parenthood" on their part.  According to the wiki source, Ann was a single mother by January 1962 when Barack was just 4 months old.  She enrolled at the University of Washington and her parents helped raise Barack as she pursued her studies and career.  Now under the circumstances, how many freshman 18 year old college students today, finding themselves in an unplanned pregnancy, would be persuaded to simply 'plan parenthood', and make a 'choice' to have the 'problem' go away?  How many lives of important historical figures have been shaped under difficult and uncertain circumstances similar to the early life of our President?  How much did the parents and other responsible adults charged with the care of these children grow in virtue as they 'did their best' to give birth and raise them?  How truly sad it is that we have become a country that has so little hope and faith that we feel the choice of death is favorable to life.  Lord, have mercy on us, and awaken in us a zeal for life.  Grant us the gifts of hope and faith which we so desperately need to embrace life and support all Mother's who are tempted, mislead, or coerced to believe that their only 'choice' is abortion.

Friday, January 22, 2010

2010 Portland Prolife Rally Speeches

I have been looking for transcripts of the speeches given at the 2010 Portland Pro-Life rally. Well, I found even better at http://www.gloria.tv. Gloria TV has videos (embedded below) of speeches. I came across these through another wonderful local Oregon blog from Sacred Heart in Medford

http://sacredheartmedford.blogspot.com/

Here are the speeches, the voices that the local media deemed were not worth covering. You can decide for yourself whether these are important voices in the discussion about the dignity each and every Human life.

Archbishop John Vlazny: Opening prayers and reflection


Deacon Harold Burke-Sivers: on Black Genocide


Dr. Frank Rosenbloom: from Oregon Right to Life


Ann Cowan: on young people and the pro-life movement


Cindy Brunk on the true impact of abortion on women

Thursday, January 21, 2010

March and Rally for Life 2010

Well, it was a cool and rainy day, but the 2010 March and Rally for Life drew thousands of people to Pioneer Square in downtown Portland, OR. Various blogs and news sources have some post-event coverage, including The Oregon Right to Life site, the Catholic Sentinel site, and great images at the Camera 47 blog.  The Oregonian had decent coverage of the event on page A8, Jan 18th. Their story this year was much more balanced that last year.  The print version was basically a word for word copy of this story posted to www.oregonlive.com on the day of the event. I must say, the news media missed the boat again, with not a single mention of this huge gathering of thousands of the good citizens of Portland, including a police escorted march that closed down Broadway. I don't know what it takes to get the local media's attention in this town if they willfully close their eyes to such a significant prayerful and peaceful gathering of thousands.

One of the highlights of the rally for me was Deacon Harold Burke-Sivers' (right) powerful speech which dwelt heavily on the grim abortion statistics within the African American community.  Other wonderful speeches were given by Archbishop John Vlazny, Cindy Brunk of Silent no More, Tamra Johnson for 40 days for life,  and Dr. Frank Rosenbloom from Oregon Right to Life. If/when  transcripts of these speeches become available, I will post some of them here. The point that resonated the deepest with me (and I'm sorry, I don't recall who said it, or the exact quote) was the following:

"The right to life movement's success going forward will be proportional to how much we move away from a message of condemnation, and toward a message of compassion".

The most moving images to me (and the Oregonian included them in their coverage this time) are the courageous women who have experienced healing after abortion though organizations like Rachael's Vineyard, Silent No More, and www.standupgirl.com. We know with absolute certainty that God's mercy is infinite, and true healing after abortion is possible.  My favorite slogans seen on signage:  "I Regret my Abortion",  "Abortion is not Healthcare", "Abortion Hurts Women", and "Men Regret Lost Fatherhood"

Let us pray not only for an end to abortion, but also for continued healing for all who have experienced the pain of abortion in their lives. May those who have experienced this healing continue to be a witness so that others may also experience healing, or choose life if they are contemplating abortion.

On a side note, I also had a chance to meet and talk to a wonderful priest (right) from St. Francis Anglican Parish of Portland.  St. Francis is parish in the Traditional Anglican Communion.  We talked about the recent action by Pope Benedict making it possible for Anglicans to come into full communion with the Catholic Church.  This decision was in response to requests for a way to come into communion from many traditional Anglicans.  It is very possible that we see him become one of the first in Portland to make use of this new avenue to full communion.  He said that some decisions within the Anglican body are expected in February, and more will be known about if/how/when the move could happen.

Photos: personal(1), http://camera47.wordpress.com (2), http://www.ortl.org (3)

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Portland Oregon March and Rally for Life



Portland March and Rally for Life Details

Rally in Pioneer Courthouse Square

Time:      Sunday Jan 17th, 2:00-3:00 PM
Website: http://www.portlandproliferally.org

Speakers include:
There are two pre-rally marches being coordinated by the Precious Children of Portland

12:30 March for Life from Broadway and MLK to the 2:00 Rally @ Pioneer Courthouse Square:

The 1.7 mile March for Life begins at Broadway and MLK Jr. Blvd and concludes at Pioneer Courthouse Square in Downtown Portland. Portland Police will provide an escort for the March on Broadway. Marchers will begin meeting at 12:00 pm at Broadway and MLK (next to Holy Rosary Parish). The actual march will start at 12:30 pm and will end around 1:30 at Pioneer Courthouse Square. The rally will start at 2:00pm. Last year there were an estimated 7000 people at the rally, Oregon’s largest ever pro-life gathering, and the hope is that there will be 10,000+ this year.


View Larger Map

Special Martin Luther King Jr. Tribute March @ 11:30am

There will also be a shorter one mile march starting at 11:30am on Beech St. and MLK (the proposed site for the new Planned Parenthood center). This walk will join up with the main March for Life from MLK and Broadway, to Pioneer Courthouse Square. Start gathering at 11:00 am for the Beech to Broadway Martin Luther King Jr. March.


View Larger Map

Photo: Jones Oliver @ http://camera47.wordpress.com/2009/01/19/50-million-lost-rally-portland-or/

Pray for the Protection of Life



Last year, Jan 18th, there was an amazing event in downtown Portland which I attended (the image to the left is not it, more on that in a bit).  The event was the 50 million lost event, in which 7000+ people, young and old, of all faiths, gathered in Pioneer Courthouse Square to stand in solidarity for the protection of all human life.

This was the first such event I ever attended, and I went home truly amazed by the number of people present, and the peaceful, hopeful tone of the event, -- even as there were some vocal opposing voices from planned parenthood.  I looked forward that evening to seeing how the local media would chose to cover the event.  I am a realist, so I expected a particular slant to the coverage, however, I was stunned that the local media was breathtakingly silent. Many much smaller gatherings of people for various causes in Portland routinely receive headline coverage by the local media.  It seems to me that the only possible reason for this silence was a conscious decision of the local media.  I know it is not popular to say, but really, shame on them for failing to objectively cover an event in which 7000+ gather for peace and hope, to uphold the value of life, and yes to oppose the atrocity of the culture of death as a solution to 'problems'.  So why would the media fail to cover such a huge gathering of decent citizens in an unbiased straightforward manner?

Because images, and the truth are tremendously powerful.

A case in point is the opening image above.  In early 2007, my family and I were in RCIA on our way to being received into full communion in the Catholic Church.  I will never forget the amazing images I came across from the 2007 Washington Prayer Vigil for Life at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.  I was overwhelmed by the 100s of Bishops, Priests, Deacons, and Religious, the young people sitting on the floor, and the throngs of people that jammed the Basilica to capacity.  I was about to become Catholic in 1 month, and these images gave me much hope, strength, and certainty that I was indeed on the right path.  Here was the clear voice of truth which is so plainly lacking in our public debate.  The images left me with a deep desire to be present in that Basilica and to join in prayer for a change of heart in our great nation.


The annual prayer vigil fro life will be going on in Washington again on Jan 21-22 2010.  Living in Portland Oregon, I will not be able to be there (maybe someday :-)).  However, this coming Sunday, I will enthusiastically join with thousands of Oregonians at the March and Rally for life in Pioneer Courthouse Square.   I hope anyone reading this will prayerfully consider joining in this peaceful, prayerful event for life!

For the record, I did find one local story came out on the day of the event last January.  It is truly an amazing (in a sad way) story by oregonlive, and must have taken some serious effort to ignore the peaceful diverse crowd of 7000 people in order to capture the few photos that were almost all negative, divisive,  and woefully unrepresentative of the overall event.  You can judge for yourself if you have the time by comparing oregonlive's coverage to actual raw images and video of the event. 
Part one of 3 youtube video


Photos: http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/mar/07030113.html