From the Pro-life march:
Former Rep. Bob Dornan of California delivered a caustic assessment of Obama’s comments from his inaugural address. .March for LifeMarch for Life
Paraphrasing the president’s speech, Dornan said, “We will not apologize for our way of life — I add our love of life — nor will we waiver in its defense. And for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror — the terror of abortion — and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken. You cannot outlast us and we will defeat you.”
“I add we will defeat you,” Dornan said, the pitch of his gravelly voice rising, “and defeat the culture of death or we will perish as a nation.”
Near the rally’s end Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia introduced to loud applause 23 Catholic prelates representing both the Latin and Eastern rites, including Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley of Boston and Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl of Washington.
“All of the Catholic bishops are in solidarity with this wonderful group,” he said.
In his closing prayer, Auxiliary Bishop Barry C. Knestout of Washington prayed for world peace, a solution to the economic crisis gripping the globe, and the continued commitment of the marchers as well as policymakers and elected officials so that they work to support all life.
My parish, St. Sebastian’s in Woodside said they would have a free bus going to the Pro-life rally. The pastor ended up getting around 6 buses due to demand. And as a nice gesture and a staunch commitment to life issues, he footed the bill for all the buses and merely asked parishioners for a small donation at mass if their means allowed. Great commitment!
I would add the following. FOCA–as I stated in a previous post today, has no shot of passing. That doesn’t mean that we don’t care about it–but it does mean that our energies need to be expended in greater amounts on things that make actual change. While we should care about legislation with regards to abortion, we also need to care about actually making this a part of our lives in helping the mothers of those children who are most at risk. Legislation is not going to change anytime soon, so this is paramount for us to start working hard at the grassroots level to serve the needs of those who are at risk, while we also work on those who make our laws. It may take a long time to change the law–so what else do we need to do in the meantime?
I am open to your thoughts. Meanwhile not too far from my home state of New York a group in Connecticut is doing exactly the kind of thing I think we all could pitch in on.
And the more politically minded, James Salt, offers some other good thoughts from Catholic United.