CHARLOTTE — “Abortion is certainly the gravest moral evil of our time.”
That message rang loud and clear in churches across the Diocese of Charlotte at Masses last weekend, as priests preached homilies decrying the recent expansion of abortion rights in New York and similar proposed legislation in Virginia and elsewhere.
On the Jan. 22 anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion nationwide, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Catholic, signed into law the Reproductive Health Act. Among other provisions, the New York law permits abortions with few restrictions throughout all nine months of pregnancy.
People have been reacting strongly against the new law – preaching about it, seeking ways to oppose it and criticizing Cuomo for his support of abortion in defiance of Catholic teaching.
Catholic News Herald readers expressed their feelings on Facebook after seeing New York legislators cheer when Cuomo signed the law.
“Sad day in America,” wrote Angela Ayers Allen.
“Like Sodom and Gomorrah, abortion advocates take pride in their wickedness and sins,” wrote John King. “They will cling to them right up to the moment of their utter destruction.”
In his Feb. 3 homily, Father Patrick Winslow, a New York native and pastor of St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Charlotte, called the new law “abhorrent.”
Contemporary culture is “a rather hostile environment,” Father Winslow acknowledged. “I think we’ve arrived at a very creepy and ugly place on this issue. It used to be that discussions swirled around medical necessity, complicated medical scenarios. But now we are way beyond that. We’ve arrived at more of an issue of lifestyle choice ... We’re pro-life versus pro-lifestyle. That is a scary moral place to be as a society.”
“The moral compass of our culture has gone so far off course that we are losing our humanity – our understanding of who we are as creatures of God,” said Father John Putnam, pastor of St. Mark Church in Huntersville, in his Feb. 3 homily. “God is the Author of life, and we in our arrogance and our pride are calling right over life to ourselves.”
Father Putnam and other homilists reiterated Catholic teaching on the value of all human life, and they encouraged Catholics to speak out in its defense.
“In every age the Church has a duty to speak her Gospel to society, her Gospel in its entirety,” said Father Brian Becker at St. Mark Church. “Each and every person is made in the image and likeness of God, and is to be loved according to that human dignity that he and she has, from the moment of conception to natural death.”
Every member of the Church – not just the clergy – is called to preach this truth, several homilists emphasized.
“It’s your responsibility as Christians to be a light to the nations in the world,” Father Winslow said. “Don’t lose your courage, your fortitude, don’t become accustomed to the coarseness to which life is treated out in the world.”
Clergy urged their parishioners to be more active in local pro-life efforts.
“The truth is that it will not change unless we strive to change it,” said Father Putnam. “We have to be a peaceful witness of love and a living testimony of the worth and value of every human life.”
They also urged their parishioners to support only pro-life political leaders.
The Church should bring “politicians to their feet rather than have the politicians bring the Church to its knees,” said Father Thomas Kessler, pastor of St. Philip the Apostle Church in Statesville.
Since the New York law was signed Jan. 22, the diocese’s Respect Life coordinator, Jessica Grabowski, said she has been contacted by a number of people wanting to know what is being done and what they can do.
“People are realizing the severity of the issue, and that it’s really a time for action,” Grabowski said. “You can make the biggest difference in prayer, fasting and participating in local pro-life activities.”
Although North Carolina is not under threat of having similar abortion legislation enacted here, people in the Charlotte diocese should still get involved with this issue, urged Mike FitzGerald, coordinator for C-PLAN Charlotte.
“We can make a difference in the communities without waiting for Roe v. Wade to be overturned,” FitzGerald said. “There have been many abortion facilities that have closed due to routine prayer and sacrifices. Praying daily, weekly sacrifices and monthly devotions could really be efficacious in ending abortions in Charlotte.”
One of the busiest abortion facilities in North Carolina is located in Charlotte, and at least a half dozen abortion mills are operating in the diocese.
Praying daily, especially the rosary, Divine Mercy Chaplet and prayers to St. Michael the Archangel is a good place to start, FitzGerald said.
“Prayer and sacrifice are needed to end this tragedy,” he said. “Sacrifice weekly, abstain from meat on Fridays, give up TV or desserts.”
Joining in a monthly devotion can also be helpful, he said. Examples are First Saturday devotions to Our Lady of Fatima, the Vigil of the Two Hearts offered the first weekend each month at St. Patrick Cathedral in Charlotte, or a prayer vigil outside abortion facilities in Asheville, Charlotte, Greensboro, High Point and Winston-Salem.
Grabowski advised people to speak to their pastor if they are unsure of what pro-life advocacy work their parish offers.
“Ask him what you can do. Can you organize a special Mass?” she said. “This goes a long way coming from the parishioners, and you’ll see a lot can be done as a parish community to make a difference.”
— Kimberly Bender, Online reporter
More online
At www.ccdoc.org/respectlife and www.prolifecharlotte.org: Learn more about pro-life ministry work in the Diocese of Charlotte
Related stories:
Archbishop urges 'renewed vigor' to protect life, stop 'evil' of abortion
N.Y. bishops decry new law signed on Roe anniversary to expand abortion
Pictured: Austin Jennings, a member of the Students for Life at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Va., joins pro-life advocates in front of the Supreme Court during the March for Life Jan. 18, 2019. (CNS photo/Gregory A. Shemitz)