Dear Parish Family,
The recently canonized saint, Mother Teresa, was not only a champion of the poorest of the poor, the abandoned, and the dying, but she was also one of the most courageous voices in the world for preborn children. She emphasized the point that, if we have a society that says it’s okay for a mother to kill her own child, then what leg do we have to stand on to say as a society that anything at all is wrong? We don’t. In St. Teresa of Calcutta’s own words:
America needs no words from me to see how your decision in Roe v. Wade has deformed a great nation. The so-called right to abortion has pitted mothers against their children and women against men. It has sown violence and discord at the heart of the most intimate human relationships. It has aggravated the derogation of the father’s role in an increasingly fatherless society. It has portrayed the greatest of gifts ~ a child ~ as a competitor, an intrusion, and an inconvenience. It has nominally accorded mothers unfettered dominion over the independent lives of their physically dependent sons and daughters. And in granting this unconscionable power, it has exposed many women to unjust and selfish demands from their husbands or other sexual partners. Human rights are not a privilege conferred by government. They are every human being’s entitlement by virtue of his humanity. The right to life does not depend, and must not be declared to be contingent, on the pleasure of anyone else, not even a parent or a sovereign.
And so, that’s why we, the pro-life community in Jackson, will ardently pray and join the national movement of prayer, 40 Days for Life (www.40daysforlife.com) from Wednesday, September 28 to Sunday, November 6, when we will be joining hundreds of communities all across the country and 23 other countries who will pray for the victims (both mother and child) and for an end to abortion. Here in the United States, we will be praying right in front of the biggest facilitator and shameless promoter of this “right” of a mother to do away with her own child, Planned Parenthood. In Jackson, the address is 2009 West Michigan Avenue, and people will be in vigil from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. each of the forty days. St. John Parish will focus in particular on filling each of the twelve hours on Mondays (October 3, 10, 17, 24, and 31), so I encourage you to sign up for an hour in the binder located in the main vestibule of the church (at either St. John or St. Joseph).
The powers that be in our country have done unspeakable damage in convincing many Americans that abortion is part of women’s liberation. By sweeping under the rug and repressing the profound
psychological and emotional toil abortion has on every mother, this so-called “right” has done the very opposite. To conclude with the words of Mother Teresa once again: “Abortion kills twice. It kills the body of the baby, and it kills the conscience of the mother. Abortion is profoundly anti-women. Three quarters of its victims are women: half the babies and all the mothers.” Let us then advocate for both women and children, beginning with the fundamental act of solidarity that is prayer.
Yours in Christ,
Fr. Chas