Homily - 31 May/1 June 2025 - The Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord

The Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord

Dear brothers and sisters,

It seems a strange question to ask of the Apostles: “Men of Galilee, why are you standing there looking at the sky” (Acts1:11)? They had just seen Jesus “lifted up” and taken from their sight” (Acts1:9). The one to whom they devoted three years of their lives “blessed them [and] parted from them and was taken up to heaven” (Luke 24:31). They had never seen this happen with anyone else. What else were they supposed to do except stare up in wonder and awe? What would you have done?

MS M.648 fol. 123v

There is an important lesson for us in Jesus’ Ascension into heavenly glory, one we too often overlook; it is the importance of the human body. If the creation of the human body by God was not enough for us to recognize the dignity of the human body; if the breath of God being breathed into the human body to enliven it was not enough for us to recognize the dignity of the human body; if the only Son of God taking on human flesh in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary was not enough for us to recognize the dignity of the human body; then surely the fact that the Son of God and Son of Mary took his human flesh with him into heaven should be enough to make us understand the dignity of the human body. It is so important that Jesus did not leave it behind or discard it; he took it with him because, being human, he could not do otherwise.

Today’s Solemnity, aside from highlighting an important moment in the life of the Lord, focuses our attention on what it means to be human: “The human person, created in the image of God, is a being at once corporeal and spiritual.”[1] To put it perhaps more simply, to be human is to be a union of body and soul. This is why the Second Vatican Council said,

Man, though made of body and soul, is a unity. Through his very bodily condition he sums up in himself the elements of the material world. Through him they are thus brought to their highest perfection and can raise their voice in praise freely given to the Creator. For this reason man may not despise his bodily life. Rather he is obliged to regard his body as good and hold it in honor since God has created it and will raise it up on the last day.[2]

This is why the sin of abortion is so unspeakably horrendous and why turning someone’s earthly remains into jewelry is so dreadful; both deny the God-given dignity of the human body. This is also why the sin of physician-assisted suicide or so-called euthanasia – literally, “good death” – is so unspeakably horrendous.

This past Thursday, the Illinois House of Representatives debated SB1950, a piece of legislation titled, “Sanitary Food Preparation.” Despite being described as “AN ACT concerning health,” much of the bill concerns the enshrinement in law of a medical doctor’s legal ability to violate the Hippocratic Oath he or she took to do no harm; instead, the legislation seeks, at the patient’s request, to allow physicians to do great harm by prescribing medication to actively kill his or her patient.

What does a food sanitation bill have to do with suicide, you might ask. Nothing, except by way of a legislative amendment; namely House Amendment 2, which is nearly eleven times as long as the original bill. SB1950 cleared the House of Representatives on a purely partisan vote; it now moves to the Illinois Senate for approval by that body before going to the Governor’s desk.

Before I say more, let me first say a word to those who have contemplated or attempted suicide: “May the eyes of your hearts be enlightened, that you may know what is the hope that belongs to his call” (Ephesians 1:18). You are loved by God. You have been made in love, by love, and for love. Loved suffered for you. Love died for you. Love rose from the dead for you. Love ascended into heaven for you. Love did all this so you might know how very much you are loved.

At his inaugural Mass, Pope Leo XIV proclaimed, “Brothers and sisters, this is the hour for love!”[3] This is truly the hour for us to love each other, especially those who live without hope. This is the hour for us to open ourselves to receive love from one another and from God. This is also the hour for us to share love with those who feel far away from love.

Even as the government rightly puts resources behind suicide prevention – and has even recently created a mental health hotline to prevent suicides – the General Assembly wants to legalize one form of suicide. What sense does this make? How can any suicide be justified and encouraged?

The State of New York is also considering legalizing euthanasia, which led Timothy Cardinal Dolan to point out this legal double-standard:

I can’t help but shake my head in disbelief at the disparity in official responses. Our government will marshal all its resources to save the life of one hopeless and despondent man. Yet it may conclude that some lives aren’t worth living — perhaps due to a serious illness or disability — and we will hand those despondent women and men a proverbial loaded gun and tell them to have at it.[4]

 

The Archbishop of New York urged lawmakers to prevent - and not to assist - suicide.

Here in Illinois, Blase Cardinal Cupich, the Archbishop of Chicago, also called out the double standard in healthcare, saying:

I have to ask why, in a time when growing understanding of the deteriorating mental health of the U.S. population – and particularly among our youth – caused the country to create the 988 mental health crisis line, we would want to take this step to normalize suicide as a solution to life’s challenges. While the bill sets parameters for assisted suicide, the data from places where assisted suicide is available are clear. Rates of all suicide went up after the passage of such legislation. These rates are already unacceptably high, and proposed cutbacks in medical care funding will add to the burden faced by those contemplating suicide.[5]

It makes no sense at all to encourage people away from suicide by means of a weapon or a bridge and at the same time to tell them they may commit suicide through a physician.

House Amendment 2 purports to deal with “the full range of end-of-life care options;” what it actually amounts to, however, is purposeful and sanctioned medical killing.[6] No sane person who understands the human person as a union of body and soul could ever refer to killing someone as “end-of-life care.” Even the government does not do this, which is why the mental health hotline exists.

Wherever such legislation has been passed, both within and without the United States of America, physically and mentally ill patients have been pressured to commit suicide with the help of a doctor to save money or to no longer be a burden on others. Let us remember: no human being is ever to be looked upon as a burden, but as someone to be loved, someone made in the image and likeness of God with an inherent value, dignity, and worth that cannot be taken away. This must be stressed in every moment of life, especially when life seems unbearable.

If we consider today’s Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord, we can learn another important lesson in addition to the sacredness of the human body: the importance of being with the Father, for Jesus took his human body to the right hand of the Father (cf. Ephesians 1:20).

…there is no doubt at all of what mattered most to Christ – his Father. The first word we hear from him is, “Didn’t you know I must be in my Father’s house?” The last word before he died on the Cross was, “Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit.” The first message he sent to the Apostles after his Resurrection was, “I ascend to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” A good hundred times we find him talking of or to his Father. He makes him the object of his life: “I do the will of him that sent me”; he makes him the object of ours: “No one comes to the Father but by me.” At death our welcome will be, “Enter into the joy of my Father.”[7]

But such a welcome cannot be ours if we have not died in friendship, in communion, with our Father, with his Son, and with their Holy Spirit.

The Father clearly commands, “You shall not kill” (Exodus 20:13; Deuteronomy 5:17). Jesus takes this command a bit further yet. In no uncertain terms, Jesus says, “The Father and I are one” (John 10:30). So it is that Jesus also commands us not to kill (cf. Matthew 5:21-22). Because Jesus is “the way and the truth and the life,” anything directly contrary to his commands and teachings must be opposed (John 14:6). Jesus says to us, “You are my friends if you do what I command you” (John 15:14). If we wish to die in friendship with God and be welcomed into the Father’s house, we must die in friendship with Christ; we must keep his command against killing.

The Church strongly opposes physician-assisted suicide because each of us, body and soul united, “is the result of a thought of God. Each of us is willed, each of us is loved, each of us is necessary.”[8] It remains for us never to forget this, and to help others know it. Amen.

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[1] Catechism of the Catholic Church, 362.

[2] Gaudium et Spes, 14 § 1; in Catechism of the Catholic Church, 364.

[3] Pope Leo XIV, Homily, 18 May 2025.

[4] Timothy Cardinal Dolan. In Tyler Arnold, “Cardinal Dolan Urges New York lawmakers: ‘Prevent, don’t assist, suicide,” Catholic News Agency, 30 May 2025. Accessed 30 May 2025. Available at https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/264451/cardinal-timothy-dolan-urges-new-york-lawmakers-prevent-dont-assist-suicide-in-op-ed?fbclid=IwY2xjawKn2XBleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFGOFVvZGF2Zm9sNDc2M3NaAR6v0_KMMvOi__FohiD5wFGRk3mzzlw-oVevyh8MP9k3Yl1w2wTc4zXDU6sUtg_aem_jiQP_QeXyLzoTr1fENAxZw

[5] Blase Cardinal Cupich, “Statement of Cardinal Blase J. Cupich, archbishop of Chicago, on SB 1950 Assisted Suicide Bill.” Accessed 30 May 2025. Available at https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1AsuXutzGY/

[6] House Amendment 2, Section 5(a)(2). Accessed 30 May 2025. Available at https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/fulltext.asp?DocName=10400SB1950ham002&GA=104&SessionId=114&DocTypeId=SB&LegID=161335&DocNum=1950&GAID=18&SpecSess=&Session=

[7] Frank J. Sheed, Christ in Eclipse: A Clinical Study of the Good Christian (San Francisco: Ignatius Press), 25.

[8] Pope Benedict XVI, Homily, 24 April 2025.

Yet another sad day in Illinois - HB 40 passes the Senate

25 April 2017 marked a sad day in the history and future of the State of Illinois as the House passed HB 40, a bill that would not only make abortion legal in Illinois should Roe v. Wade be overturned but would also allow taxpayer dollars to be used to pay for abortions. Yesterday marked yet another sad day in the history and future of Illinois as HB 40 passed the Senate less than twenty-four hours after it cleared the Senate committee.

Following its unfortunate passage, the Catholic Conference of Illinois issued the following statement, with my emphases:

We are dismayed the Illinois Senate followed the House in passing House Bill 40, which allows taxpayer monies to pay for elective abortions in the Medicaid program and state employees’ health insurance plans. Public opinion polls regularly show little support for this public policy move. We thank Governor Bruce Rauner for his promise to veto House Bill 40, and we will continue to make our voices heard in the coming days about this troubling legislation.

I hope and pray the Governor will hold to his promise.

His Excellency the Most Reverend Thomas John Paprocki, Bishop of Springfield in Illinois, also released statement shortly after the passage of HB 40 (with my emphases):

The hasty manner in which this appalling legislation that forces taxpayers to pay for abortions was rubber stamped today by the Illinois Senate shows the disregard most Illinois legislators have for the sanctity of human life. Thirty-three Senate votes in favor mirrors the majority that HB 40 received in the Illinois House just last week. I applaud the courage shown by 22 state senators who stood up today for life. 

Make no mistake about the intent. This legislation was orchestrated to pass as quickly as possible to silence dissent on the issue of protecting the unborn by masking it behind the facade of women’s health care. It is also designed to place political pressure on the legislators who dare to stand up to lavishly-funded special interests, primarily Planned Parenthood of Illinois. Passage is also designed to intimidate Gov. Bruce Rauner with the threat that he will jeopardize his political future if he fulfills his promise to veto HB 40. 

We ask that people of good will and the love of God join me in praying for Gov. Rauner to follow through and to protect the unborn children of this state.

You can found out how your Senator voted here; I am happy to say my Senator voted against this heinous legislation.

If your Senator voted in favor of HB 40, please contact him or her to offer a kind word of rebuke; if he or she voted against HB 40, please contact your Senator to offer a word of gratitude and encouragement. Either way, make it know that you will remember this vote at the next election. Please also write to the Governor to encourage him to keep his word.

Life in Illinois: Where the Election Code apparently also concerns the funding of abortion

His Excellency the Most Reverend Thomas John Paprocki, Bishop of Springfield in Illinois, has written a letter to the faithful of his diocese to alert them a particularly troubling piece of legislation soon to come before the Illinois General Assembly, HB 40, which is supposed to amend the Election Code.

The text of Bishop Paprocki's letter follows, with my emphases:

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, 

I am writing to alert you about a bill that is pending before the Illinois legislature that, if passed, would use your tax dollars to pay for the taking of innocent human lives through abortion.  The bill is HB 40, and I am told that it may pass if there is not a strong outcry against it. 

Since the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision of Roe vs. Wade, our country has endured the termination of more than 57 million lives.  We are working hard to build a culture of life by advocating for laws that make it easier to bring a child into this world.  And we are succeeding – the national abortion rate is at its lowest since Roe v. Wade was handed down.  Unfortunately, the enactment of House Bill 40 would set back those efforts by coercing all who pay taxes to indirectly support the taking of innocent human life.  It is worth noting that abortion is an elective procedure and using state tax dollars to pay for it is not only immoral, but also an injustice.  A far better use of tax money would be to fund prenatal services for the poor and child care for working mothers, as well as expand health care options for those in need.  

House Bill 40 not only mandates state support of abortion, but it would also include abortion coverage in state employees’ health care plans and the Medicaid program.  Additionally, the bill allows taxpayer money to fund grants to organizations such as Planned Parenthood that refer, counsel for, and perform abortions.  

The Catholic Conference of Illinois, which serves as the public policy arm of the Catholic bishops, has long joined with Catholic Charities and Catholic health care organizations to advocate that essential services be funded. However, as we have seen over the past few years and in the current budget stalemate, their efforts have largely been ignored by state lawmakers and officials.  We have to ask why our elected representatives would turn their backs on paying for programs that help the disabled, the elderly, children in need and students, yet find the will to publicly fund the terrible tragedy of abortion.  Please contact your state representative to vote against this bill. 

If you need assistance in determining the name of your lawmaker, or in sending a message to him or her, go to www.ilcatholic.org or call the Catholic Conference at its Chicago office at 312-368-1066 or its Springfield office at 217-528-9200.

One might well ask what the Election Code has to do with the funding of abortions, but such is the quality of the General Assembly these days.

Remember, those we elect to public office are supposed to represent us and our interests. If we do not contact them to tell them what we think about certain pieces of legislation, they cannot represent us. Please, pick up your telephones and your pens and urge your representative to vote against HB 40.

Life Advocacy Days in Springfield to be held April 8-12

The Bishops of the Dioceses of Illinois are inviting the faithful to participate in Life Advocacy Days, the purpose of which, writes the Most Reverend Thomas John Paprocki, Bishop of Springfield in Illinois, in a February 1st letter, "will be to make our voices heard regarding legislation in conflict with Catholic teaching and belief."

Sponsored by the Catholic Conference of Illinois, the Life Advocacy Days will begin on the Feast of the Annunciation, April 8th, and run through April 12, 2013.  A special lobby day at the Capitol will be held on April 10th, beginning at 10:00 a.m.

To help mark the Life Advocacy Days, Bishop Paprocki has called for special prayers on the Feast of the Annunciation: "perhaps a Holy Hour, Mass for Blessing Unborn Children, a parish rosary, etc."

Father Stephen A. Thompson has written a written a prayer for the Life Advocacy Days, which His Excellency has asked be printed in parish bulletins during the months of March and April:

Gracious and merciful God, we ask that you send your Spirit among us to guide us and direct us in order to inspire all of our political leaders to advance the culture of life in their duty to uphold the common good for all the people they serve. 

You sent your Son Jesus to teach us how to pray, how to serve you in obedience and how to be the people you are calling us to be. 

You inspire us each and every day to appreciate the gifts you bestow upon us and to use them to change the hearts and minds of all people. 

The most precious gift you have given to us is the gift of life and you call us to be good stewards of all your creation. 

Help us to cultivate a spirit of prayer and of reconciliation for the  lack of due diligence in protecting the most vulnerable among us; the children who are forgotten, abandoned and thought of as an inconvenience to the welfare  of societies. 

Inspire all those in public office to protect the dignity of the unborn and those who are living who are deemed unfit to receive our care. 

Help us to receive your wisdom so that we may know how best to serve you and your people. 

We ask this through Christ our Lord.

Bishop Paprocki stresses that "it is critical that all our voices be heard."

Please, join in this important effort and keep an eye on your parish bulletin for more information as the Life Advocacy Days draw closer.

Homily - 25 January 2013

Mass Before the March for Life

The Solemnity of the Conversion of Saint Paul

 

My brother priests and deacons, consecrated men and women, seminarians, parents and chaperones, my dear young friends, Pilgrims for Life: May the Lord give you peace!

I bring you greetings from His Excellency the Most Reverend Thomas John Paprocki, Bishop of Springfield in Illinois, and in his name I thank you for your presence here today and for your invaluable witness to life.  He wishes he could be here with you today and is remembering you in his prayers, especially at the altar of the Lord.  Let us remember him in our prayers, as well.

When Bilbo Baggins returned to his hole in the hill after his adventure with thirteen dwarves and a dragon, the wizard Gandalf said to Bilbo, “Something is the matter with you!  You are not the hobbit that you were.”[1]  Indeed, having gone to Lonely Mountain and back again, Bilbo lost the respect of his neighbors, but he won the esteem of the great lords of Middle earth.

In the very dangers and marvels in which he found himself with Thorin and Company, Bilbo encountered something numinous – we might say it was grace – and he was never the same because of it.  His adventure, then, was more than an adventure; it was a pilgrimage, though he did not know it when he left his comfortable hobbit hole.

As we celebrate today the Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul, we see that he, too, encountered something – rather someone – numinous during his travels on the road to Damascus; he encountered Jesus Christ, whom he had been persecuting, risen from the dead, and he would never be the same because of it (cf. Acts 22:8).  His journey, then, was more than a journey, though he did not know it at the start; it, too, was a pilgrimage of sorts.

Whenever we think of Saint Paul’s conversion and how it occurred, Pope Benedict XVI reminds us that 

we may be tempted to linger too long on certain details, such as the light in the sky, falling to the ground, the voice that called him, his new condition of blindness, his healing like scales falling from his eyes and the fast that he made.  But all these details refer to the heart of the event: the Risen Christ appears as a brilliant light and speaks to Saul, transforms his thinking and his entire life.  The dazzling radiance of the Risen Christ blinds him; thus what was his inner reality is also outwardly apparent, his blindness to the truth, to the light that is Christ.  And then his definitive “yes” to Christ in Baptism restores his sight and makes him really see.[2]

On the day of our baptisms, the light of Christ shone brightly before us, as well, and we also gave our definitive “yes” to Jesus Christ.  It is this great yes - by which we have entrusted the entirety of our lives to the Lord - that has brought us here together in faith in our nation’s capital city.

Like Bilbo and Saint Paul, we, too, have set out from our respective homes on a journey.  And like Bilbo, we know at least where we are going and that we intend go back again; like Saint Paul, we are zealous for God, or at least we hope to be when we, too, return changed (cf. Acts 22:3).  But unlike Bilbo, we have not set out on a mere adventure, and unlike Saint Paul, we have already encountered the Risen Lord.  Why, then, have we set out on a long ride through the night, through cold and snow, only to stand around a long time to walk through crowded streets in the cold, and possibly in the snow?  From a pragmatic perspective, it seems rather foolish, but we know, as Bilbo knew about adventures, that pilgrimages “are not all pony-rides in May-sunshine;” a pilgrimage necessarily entails a sharing in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.[3]

To be sure, we have set out not as adventures, not as tourists, but as pilgrims; this we must not forget.  An adventurer seeks a tale to tell; a tourist looks for a quick image to capture or a meal to enjoy; but a pilgrim searches for the face of God (cf. Psalm 42:3).

Today, in the streets of Washington, D.C., we will join hundreds of thousands of others in the great March for Life.  In so doing, we take up the command of the Lord to “go out to all the world and tell the Good News” of God’s love (Mark 16:15).  We come in peaceful protest of the terrible – in the true sense of that word – decision of the Supreme Court Roe vs. Wade.

As you know, this decision legalized the killing of unborn children through the despicable practice known as abortion.  Since that horrid day on January 22, 1973, more than 55 million babies have been killed in this nation alone.

To put that number in some perspective, some 1.5 million Americans have been killed in every war in which this country has fought since 1775.  Put another way, the number of children killed by abortion each year is this country is greater than the present populations of the States of Illinois, Missouri, Indiana, Wisconsin, Ohio, and Tennessee combined.  To put it even more starkly, in the same span of time in which more than 55,000,000 children were aborted in our land, just 133,115,440 were born.  The number is staggering.  And terribly sad.

All of this in this nation founded on the very principle 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.”[4]  These rights, we say, are “self-evident,” though many in our day are, like Saul once was, blinded to the truth.  We march today and speak for those who cannot speak for themselves; we ask for the recognition of their same inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Today, dear brothers and sisters, let us remember that we come as humble pilgrims of peace who seek not only to share in the sufferings of Christ for the redemption of the world, but also to imitate him in his Passion.  Saint Paul knew the power of redemptive suffering very well.  He realized it so well that he wrote, “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of his body, which is the church” (Colossians 1:24).  What is more, the Lord Jesus said to him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness” (IICorinthians 12:9).

Today we march not with power, but with weakness; not with anger, but with love.  We come in imitation of Our Lord who, when mocked and taunted, reviled and beaten, “though harshly treated, he submitted and did not open his mouth” (Isaiah 53:7).  We cannot forget what the philosopher Peter Kreeft has wisely observed: 

The weakness of evil is that it cannot conquer weakness.  No matter how much power evil has, it is always defeated by the free, loving renunciation of power.  It can be defeated in Middle-earth as it was on Calvary: by martyrdom.  Scripture’s image of the last battle between good and evil is a battle between two mythical beasts: Arnion, the meek little Lamb, and Therion, the terrible dragon beast.  And the Lamb overcomes the Beast by a secret weapon: His own blood. 

Evil is limited to power; it cannot use weakness.  It is limited to pride; it cannot use humility.  It is limited to inflicting suffering and death; it cannot use suffering and death.  It is limited to selfishness; it cannot use selflessness.  But good can.[5]

 

It is with this weakness, humility, suffering, death, and selflessness that we march today; we march in the name of the One who is Goodness itself.

Having received baptism into the Death and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus, let us call upon his name, imploring him to open the eyes of those blinded to the slaughter of so many innocents.  Let us ask also the intercession of Saint Paul whose own eyes were opened to the truth of Jesus Christ, to him who is “the way and the truth and the life,” that those who are blinded by selfishness and greed may be converted from the Culture of Death to the Culture of Life, the Culture of Love (cf. Acts 22:16; John 14:6).

On our way to the Supreme Court, let us also humbly ask to encounter the Lord ourselves, that our hearts, too, may be changed and filled with an ever greater love of God and of neighbor.  Let us pray that our walking and witnessing today will bring us into greater conformity with the Person of Jesus Christ so that, on seeing us on our return home, others may rightly say, “You are not the person that you were.”  May we, and all who see us this day, know that “steadfast is his kindness toward us, and the fidelity of the Lord endures forever” (Psalm 117:2).

By our presence here today we may lose the respect of our neighbors, but will win the esteem of the friends of God.  Amen.

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[1] J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit: Or There and Back Again (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2001), 4.

[2] Pope Benedict XVI, General Audience Address, 3 September 2008.

[3] J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit: Or There and Back Again (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2001), 37.

[4] The Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776.

[5] Peter Kreeft, The Philosophy of Tolkien: The Worldview Behind The Lord of the Rings.  (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2005), 184-185.

I will be marching for Life. Will you?

Washington, D.C. will be quite a busy place in two weeks' time, what with the second inauguration of President Obama (on January 21st) and the 40th March for Life (on January 25th) taking place in the same week.

I will be part of a 4-bus pilgrimage from the southern half of the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois. I know of at least four other busses from the Diocese that will make long drive through the night, as well. Historically, our Diocese has been well represented at the March for Life for the past twenty years, or so, especially with the number of our young people in attendance.

In preparation for this 40th March for Life in protest of the Supreme Court decision Roe vs. Woe that legalized abortion, Black Stone Films has produced an excellent promotional video titled, "A Nation Rises - March for Life." The video makes of President Obama's words following the tragic shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut:

The Washington Examiner expects the number of pilgrims in support of the unborn to rival the number of President Obama's supporters:

The march, expected to attract tens of thousands more than the record 400,000 two years ago, could rival President Obama's Inauguration Day crowd, propelled by the growing youth support of efforts to overturn Roe v. Wade, which the president has embraced with open arms. Obama drew 1.8 million in 2009. Just 600,000 are expected January 21st.

Despite the record number of Pro-Life supporters last year, the main stream media purposefully ignored the March for Life, as it has the past several years.  At most, a story might be run on those protesting against the March for Life, which never actually count more than a dozen people (unless have a special hiding place), but the media makes their numbers look considerably larger.  I expect more of the same this year.

I have been marching for Life in Washington, D.C. since my time in college. Though I haven't been able to go every year, I have noticed a growing number of participants as the years have progressed, and the number of young people marching with joy and fervor is simply astounding.

Time Magazine recently noted this fact with a front-page story titled, "They've been losing ever since," the "losers" being the abortion industry. The New York Times is also concerned about what it calls, very professionally, I might add, "crazy new rules that make it impossible for them operate."

And all of this when Planned Parenthood reports a record number of abortions performed in its "clinics." In the fiscal year 2011-2012, Planned Parenthood killed 333,964 babies. And let's not forget that in the same year Planned Parenthood received a record amount of tax-payer money totalling $542,000,000.

Rockford abortuary is closed for good

As people of good will across the nation are gearing up for the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C. in protest of the decision of the Supreme Court in Roe vs. Wade, very good news comes to us from Rockford, Illinois: the abortion "clinic" there - which has been open for forty years - is now closed for good.

Writing for the Rockford Register Star, Corina Curry explains why the Northern Illinois Women's Center (the name is nothing more than a nice to describe the evil that occurred within) is closing:

The clinic's decision is based on a lack of support from the community, the political climate surrounding the abortion issue both locally and nationally and the challenge the clinic would face in rebuilding staff, the director said.

You might be wondering, if the NIWC had been in operation for forty years, where the community support go?  The article doesn't go into this except to say:

The Illinois Department of Public Health ordered an emergency suspension of the clinic's license Sept. 30 because of health and safety violations observed during on-site inspections in June and September.

What, you ask, did the IDPH find that caused them suspend the license?  I'm glad you asked.  The Illinois Review summarized the findings:

Among these cited violations, of which “many members of the public remain unaware,” were the following:

• “3 of 3 operating rooms inspected failed to ensure a sanitary environment”;

• Failure to prevent contamination of clean surgical equipment;

• Autoclave equipment used to sterilize medical instruments failed biological testing on at least two occasions; such equipment should have been tested weekly but was untested for four months and then failed, leaving an undetermined number of patients exposed to unsterile surgical instruments;

• Failure to meet legal requirement for a qualified Registered Nurse to be present in the operating room during procedures, leaving unqualified and unlicensed personnel to do tasks reserved by law for licensed, qualified, professional personnel.

There is, of course, much more to be reported that doesn't concern the Department of Health, such as the centers placement of hateful displays in its windows to taunt pro-lifers, including a crucified rubber chicken and a picture of Jesus with his middle finger extended that read, "Even Jesus hates you."  Other attempts by the center including blaring loud music to try to drown out pro-lifers and even going after pro-lifers with a moving chainsaw.  And the media would have us believe the "pro-choicers" are the sane and civil ones.

In a written statement to the newspaper, the center said:

The staff is very saddened by the closing. We are not done grieving this loss and still are struggling with surrendering to the idea that we will not be able to do this work tomorrow or the day after.

I suppose they would like us to feel sorry for them.  I don't. I'm quite overjoyed at their loss.

Now let us redouble our prayers, that the abortuary in Granite City will also close for good.

Is Siri Pro-Life?

Thomas Peters passes along the serious and humorous news that Siri is pro-life:

If you ask Siri for an abortion clinic in New York City, it will tell you “Sorry, I couldn’t find any abortion clinics.” A simple Google web search—which Siri itself uses to find results—gives you seven to start with, some within walking distance of where I’m located. Apparently, women across the country are having similar experiences [more].

Now I'll really have to resume trying to update my iPhone. 

Sibelius "at war" with pro-life supporters

Addressing members of NARAL Pro-Choice America at a luncheon last Wednesday Kathleen Sibelius, Secretary for Health and Human Services, said, "We are at war" with oppenents of abortion funding.

Paprocki running for pro-life causes

One week from today His Excellency the Most Reverend Thomas John Paprocki, Bishop of Springfield in Illinois, will run his eighteenth marathon in Kansas City with the Life Runners, a network of runners who raise funds for pro-life causes.



Bishop Paprocki will run to raise funds for pro-life activities in his Diocese:

• youth scholarships for the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C.
• multimedia resources to educate youth
• advertising campaigns about post-abortion assistance

If you are able, please make a donation online as Bishop Paprocki runs for this most worthy of causes.

Is Pampers pro-life

I don't know the answer to the above question, but - from the video below - one would certainly hope so (I'm not sure how a diaper company couldn't be):



Capello tip to Fr. Z.

From pro-choice to pro-life: Kathy Ireland

With a capello tip to the Creative Minority Report:

Pope: "every human life has an incomparable, a most elevated dignity"

On Saturday evening, Pope Benedict XVI opened the season of Advent with a solemn evening prayer and a Vigil for All Nascent Human Life.

The text of the Holy Father's homily follows, with my emphases:

Dear brothers and sisters,

With this evening's celebration, the Lord gives us the grace and joy of opening the new liturgical year beginning with its first stage: Advent, the period that commemorates the coming of God among us. Every beginning brings a special grace, because it is blessed by the Lord. In this Advent period we will once again experience the closeness of the One who created the world, who guides history and cared for us to the point of becoming a man. This great and fascinating mystery of God with us, moreover of God who becomes one of us, is what we celebrate in the coming weeks journeying towards holy Christmas. During the season of Advent we feel the Church that takes us by the hand and - in the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary - expresses her motherhood allowing us to experience the joyful expectation of the coming of the Lord, who embraces us all in his love that saves and consoles.

While our hearts reach out towards the annual celebration of the birth of Christ, the Church's liturgy directs our gaze to the final goal: our encounter with the Lord in the splendour of glory. This is why we, in every Eucharist, "announce his death, proclaim his resurrection until he comes again" we hold vigil in prayer. The liturgy does not cease to encourage and support us, putting on our lips, in the days of Advent, the cry with which the whole Bible concludes, the last page of the Revelation of Saint John: "Come, Lord Jesus "(22:20).

Dear brothers and sisters, our coming together this evening to begin the Advent journey is enriched by another important reason: with the entire Church, we want to solemnly celebrate a prayer vigil for unborn life. I wish to express my thanks to all who have taken up this invitation and those who are specifically dedicated to welcoming and safeguarding human life in different situations of fragility, especially in its early days and in its early stages. The beginning of the liturgical year helps us to relive the expectation of God made flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mary, God who makes himself small, He becomes a child, it speaks to us of the coming of a God who is near, who wanted to experience the life of man, from the very beginning, to save it completely, fully. And so the mystery of the Incarnation of the Lord and the beginning of human life are intimately connected and in harmony with each other within the one saving plan of God, the Lord of life of each and every one of us. The Incarnation reveals to us, with intense light and in an amazing way, that every human life has an incomparable, a most elevated dignity.

Man has an unmistakable originality compared to all other living beings that inhabit the earth. He presents himself as a unique and singular entity, endowed with intelligence and free will, as well as being composed of a material reality. He lives simultaneously and inseparably in the spiritual dimension and the corporal dimension. This is also suggested in the text of the First letter to the Thessalonians which was just proclaimed: "May the God of peace himself - St. Paul writes - make you perfectly holy and may you entirely, spirit, soul, and body, be preserved blameless for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ "(5:23). Therefore, we are spirit, soul and body. We are part of this world, tied to the possibilities and limits of our material condition, at the same time we are open to an infinite horizon, able to converse with God and to welcome Him in us. We operate in earthly realities and through them we can perceive the presence of God and seek Him, truth, goodness and absolute beauty. We savour fragments of life and happiness and we long for total fulfilment.

God loves us so deeply, totally, without distinction, He calls us to friendship with him, He makes us part of a reality beyond all imagination, thought and word; His own divine life. With emotion and gratitude we acknowledge the value of the incomparable dignity of every human person and the great responsibility we have toward all. " Christ, the final Adam, - says the Second Vatican Council - by the revelation of the mystery of the Father and His love, fully reveals man to man himself and makes his supreme calling clear.... by His incarnation the Son of God has united Himself in some fashion with every man. "(Gaudium et Spes, 22).

Believing in Jesus Christ also means having a new outlook on man, a look of trust and hope. Moreover, experience itself and reason show that the human being is a subject capable of discernment, self-conscious and free, unique and irreplaceable, the summit of all earthly things, that must be recognized in his innate value and always accepted with respect and love. He has the right not to be treated as an object of possession or something to manipulate at will, not to be reduced to a mere instrument for the benefit of others and their interests. The human person is a good in and of himself and his integral development should always be sought. Love for all, if it is sincere, naturally tends to become a preferential attention to the weakest and poorest. In this vein we find the Church's concern for the unborn, the most fragile, the most threatened by the selfishness of adults and the darkening of consciences. The Church continually reiterates what was declared by the Second Vatican Council against abortion and all violations of unborn life: "from the moment of its conception life must be guarded with the greatest care " (ibid., n. 51).

There are cultural tendencies that seek to anesthetize consciences with misleading motivations. With regard to the embryo in the womb, science itself highlights its autonomy capable of interaction with the mother, the coordination of biological processes, the continuity of development, the growing complexity of the organism. This is not an accumulation of biological material, but a new living being, dynamic and wonderfully ordered, a new unique human being. So was Jesus in Mary's womb, so it was for all of us in our mother’s womb. With the ancient Christian writer Tertullian we can say: "he who will be a man is already one" (Apologeticum IX, 8), there is no reason not to consider him a person from conception.

Unfortunately, even after birth, the lives of children continue to be exposed to abandonment, hunger, poverty, disease, abuse, violence or exploitation. The many violations of their rights that are committed in the world sorely hurt the conscience of every man of good will. Before the sad landscape of the injustices committed against human life, before and after birth, I make mine Pope John Paul II’s passionate appeal to the responsibility of each and every individual: " respect, protect, love and serve life, every human life! Only in this direction will you find justice, development, true freedom, peace and happiness!"(Encyclical Evangelium vitae, 5). I urge the protagonists of politics, economic and social communications to do everything in their power to promote a culture which respects human life, to provide favorable conditions and support networks for the reception and development of life.

To the Virgin Mary, who welcomed the Son of God made man with faith, with her maternal womb, with loving care, with nurturing support and vibrant with love, we entrust our commitment and prayer in favour of unborn life . We do in the liturgy - which is the place where we live the truth and where truth lives with us - worshiping the divine Eucharist, we contemplate Christ's body, that body who took flesh from Mary by the Holy Spirit, and from her was born in Bethlehem for our salvation. Ave, verum Corpus, natum de Maria Virgine!

Pontiff's Prayer for All Nascent Nascent Life

With a capello tip to Rocco:

Lord Jesus,
You who faithfully visit and fulfill with your Presence
the Church and the history of men;
You who in the miraculous Sacrament of your Body and Blood
render us participants in divine Life
and allow us a foretaste of the joy of eternal Life;
We adore and bless you.

Prostrated before You, source and lover of Life,
truly present and alive among us, we beg you:

Reawaken in us respect for every unborn life,
make us capable of seeing in the fruit of a mother's womb
the miraculous work of the Creator,
open our hearts to generously welcoming every child
that comes into life.

Bless all families,
sanctify the union of spouses,
make fruitful their love.

Accompany the choices of legislative assemblies
with the light of your Spirit,
so that peoples and nations may recognise and respect
the sacred nature of life, of every human life.

Guide the work of scientists and doctors,
so that all progress contributes to the integral well-being of the person,
and no one endures suppression or injustice.

Gift creative charity to administrators and economists,
so they may realise and promote sufficient conditions
so that young families can serenely embrace
the birth of new children

Console married couples who suffer
because they are unable to have children
and in Your goodness provide for them.

Teach us all to care for orphaned or abandoned children,
so they may experience the warmth of your Love,
the consolation of your divine Heart.

Together with Mary, Your Mother, the great believer,
in whose womb you took on our human nature,
we wait to receive from You, our Only True Good and Savior,
the strength to love and serve life,
in anticipation of living forever in You,
in communion with the Blessed Trinity.
Amen.

Paprocki responds to Planned Parenthood

In today's issue of the State Journal-Register the Most Reverend Thomas John Paprocki reponds to an invitation and criticism from Planned Parenthood given through the SJ-R's article on a march and protest outside of the Planned Parenthood building.

The text of his editorial - titled "A counteroffer to Planned Parenthood" - follows, with my emphases:

In response to my challenge to Planned Parenthood at our peaceful prayer march to their clinic last Friday, Pam Sutherland, vice president for public policy for Planned Parenthood, is quoted as saying, “Any patient who is considering abortion gets an ultrasound, and we ask if they would like to see it” (The State Journal-Register, Sept. 25).

If so, I welcome this change in Planned Parenthood’s policy, since this has not always been their practice.

In light of this change, they should also have no problem supporting the Ultrasound Opportunity Act (HB 5743), introduced by 18 co-sponsors in the Illinois House. The Ultrasound Opportunity Act would require abortion facilities to offer a woman seeking an abortion the opportunity to view her baby in an ultrasound and would set standards for the quality of the ultrasound image. The facility would also be required to document the woman’s response to the offer. I await Planned Parenthood’s endorsement and support for this bill.

Sutherland also invited me to work with them “to help reduce the need for abortion by making sure women have access to comprehensive birth control.”

I decline the invitation since I don’t buy into the myth that contraception will reduce abortion. In fact, the contraceptive mentality does just the opposite.

Instead, I invite Planned Parenthood to join the majority of Americans who oppose abortion on demand.

Most Rev. Thomas John Paprocki
Bishop of Springfield in Illinois

Follow the leader

What follows are pictures from yesterday afternoon's prayerful and peaceful march to Planned Parenthood in Springfield:

Walking with a marathon tends to make the front of the march go a bit faster than the rest of the group. A few blocks into the march, one of the organizers joked with Bishop Paprocki, trying to get him to slow the pace a bit. He responded, "Only twenty-five and a half miles to go." We did try to slow the pace, but it's not an easy thing to do.

A peaceful march

Yesterday afternoon Bishop Thomas John Paprocki hosted an ecumenical prayer service for life with Dr. Alveda King, niece of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., before leading a peaceful march to Planned Parenthood in the capitol city.

What was to be a cool and rainy afternoon turned into a beautiful warm and sunny one.

I am in the above picture on the far left. Another priest referred to me as "Father Security Guard."

The Catherdal of the Immaculate Conception was rather full - though, sadly, not packed - for the prayer service with members of various Christian traditions, from all ages and ethnic backgrounds. To see such a varied congregation was a clear witness to the Gospel of Life.

Molly Beck of the State Journal-Register wrote the following story in today's issue (with my emphases and comments):

Singing “We Shall Overcome,” hundreds of people marched through the streets of downtown Springfield Friday afternoon led by an heir to the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. — not for race relations, but to protest what the walkers said they see as the U.S.’s foremost civil rights infringement: abortion.

Alveda King, a niece of the slain civil rights leader and an anti-abortion activist, spent her second day in Springfield with Bishop Thomas John Paprocki at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. They asked about 400 people [that seems about right] in attendance to help efforts to curtail abortions in the United States.

“Will you be able to say that you defended life?” King asked during a prayer service Paprocki held at the cathedral. “Let our dream that every man, every woman, every girl … that we do all we can.”

Paprocki’s ecumenical service promoted a peaceful march to Planned Parenthood’s health clinic at 1000 E. Washington St. Marchers included groups from area parochial schools.

Charlie Brown, 17, one of four Sacred Heart-Griffin students asked to participate in the service, read a quote from Martin Luther King asking for those in attendance to be concerned with “the nonviolent affirmation of the sacredness of all human life.”

Brown, who is black, said the significance of the day’s event for him was the promotion of anti-abortion efforts, not Alveda King’s appearance [a wise young man].

King, who lives in Atlanta, Ga., spoke about her uncle’s, father’s and grandfather’s work as pastors and said she knew they would support her years of work to end abortion.

On Thursday, Planned Parenthood released a statement saying King is using her uncle’s name to “further her position in the anti-abortion movement to the detriment of the health and well-being of women.”

The walkers headed out on foot about 2 p.m., going east on Lawrence Avenue and Cook Street, north on 11th Street and then west on Washington Street. The group, some holding signs, settled in front of the clinic [in part of the road and in a parking lot acros the street from Planned Parenthood] with a black pickup truck as home base.

Paprocki and King addressed the crowd again, asking Planned Parenthood to “bear witness to the truth” and offer women who seek their services the option of seeing an ultrasound.

“You say you want to give (patients) a clear choice — let them see their babies,” Paprocki said.

Pam Sutherland, vice president for public policy for Planned Parenthood of Illinois, responded that the organization does just that.

“It just shows how clueless the bishop is and Alveda King is about medical services that we provide,” she said. “Any patient who is considering abortion gets an ultrasound, and we ask if they would like to see it.

“I ask (Paprocki) to work with us to help reduce the need for abortion by making sure women have access to comprehensive birth control,” she said.

Sutherland said she also was concerned that Springfield police hadn’t notified clinic officials in advance of the rally [Why should they notify them of a peaceful protest? The event was publicized for at least a month], which blocked traffic to the Planned Parenthood building [traffic was not blocked; it was diverted from one direction, while access from the other direction was not blocked. Access to the parking lot of Planned Parenthood was easily made, and two cars left the sidewalk in front of the building while we were there].

“Ninety percent of our services are general health-care services, so I find it interesting that (protesters) would want to protest and block access to our patients,” Sutherland said. “They blocked women from getting good health care services today.”

Police deputy chief of criminal investigations Cliff Buscher said police are not obligated to notify businesses of protest marches, but to provide traffic control.

In the next few days a video of the march will be published on the Diocesan web site, which I will link here. I'll also post a few pictures I took later today or tomorrow.

Photo source: Justin L. Fowler/State Journal-Register