March for Life 2010
Monday, January 18, 2010
Joan Crown
When a single child dies - the world mourns /
When over 40 million die, the world pretends it didn’t happen!
Who will stand up for the little ones? For those who cannot speak for themselves?
Over 150 people from the Archdiocese of Miami have come forward and answered, “Send me Lord”. On Jan. 20, as Respect Life director for the Archdiocese of Miami, I once again have the privilege of leading a large group of high school students and their chaperones to Washington, D.C. for the annual March for Life.
We will begin our three-day pilgrimage with a visit to the U.S. Holocaust Museum. It is here that the students will see clearly the evil that one human being is cable of doing to another. They will also see that when the full horror of Nazism was revealed at the end of World War II, the German people responded, “We didn’t know”.
They are then asked to consider what future generations will think about us – a people that ended the lives of their own children at the rate of 1 every 23 seconds through elective abortion. Will they also say, “We didn’t know”?
The Catechism of the Catholic Church (#2270) states:
“Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception. From the first moment of his existence, a human being must be recognized as having the rights of a person – among which is the inviolable right of every innocent being to life.”
On Jan. 22, we will march in our nation’s capital as visible witnesses to the teachings of our Catholic faith. We will proclaim the sanctity of all human life and by our action declare to the 4,000 little ones who will die from abortion that day in our nation that we refuse to act as if it didn’t happen; as if their lives didn’t matter.
1 Corinthians 9:16 says: “If I preach the gospel, this is no reason for me to boast, for an obligation has been imposed on me, and woe to me if I do not preach it.”
Our obligation is to speak to whomever we can, wherever we can, whenever we can, so no one can say I didn’t act because “I didn’t know”
We are all called “To speak the truth in LOVE”: To love that young mother in a crisis pregnancy so much that she has the courage to give life to her child. To love that woman
/ or man / who hurts from a past abortion so much that they will have the courage to receive God’s healing mercy.
My prayer for this world is that soon we will reach the place where kindness and truth shall meet. If we can seek to discover in all things God’s will and not our own, then we will experience the peace the Lord wants for us.
And when the final history of humanity is written:
and it is asked:
Who spoke up for LIFE?
- for the unborn?
- for the special people?
- the sick?
- the aged?
- the poor?
When that terrible and beautiful question is asked of human kind, then I want my name emblazoned in the Book of Life next to yours!
The Book of Life
Joan Crown
Director, archdiocesan Respect Life Ministry
Comments from readers
We have been watching these children die at the astonishing rate of 4,000 a day, 365 days a year, for the past 37 years. These numbers, by the way, only represent the documented body count of those abortionists who turn in their statistics, the law does not require them to do so.
Last week a devastating earthquake hit Haiti, and who was the first to respond? Whenever and wherever there is a need, the heart of the American people is always so giving. In particular, I hear the voice of so many women that I know wanting to go and help the little children of Haiti who are suffering.
I am compelled to ask the obvious: America, why are we not outraged at the indiscriminate killing of our own children? Could it be because we cannot bring ourselves to believe that these are real children? Could it be that we cannot wrap our minds around the idea that there is a holocaust going on in the USA?
When was the last time you allowed yourself to look upon the human remains of an abortion procedure? I challenge you to go to this website: www.priestsforlife.org/resources/abortionimages/inc We cannot begin to address a problem we refuse to admit exists!
My prayers are with Joan, Dr. Jim Dugard, and all of these young people from the Archdiocese of Miami as they march for life today to the Supreme Court building. These students will be wearing backpacks with the name Fr. William Kidwell emblazoned on them. Fr. Kidwell so understood the plight of the unborn and the importance of educating our youth on the Life Issues, his faithfulness to the pro-life cause continues to inspire all of us! Joan, he is smiling down from heaven on all of you today!
I hope this small note finds you well and getting ready for another year in Washington. I wanted to send you word to let you know that you are in my prayers; many blessings for the Respect Life March. I am sorry not to be sharing the trip with you this year. In solidarity with all of you, my classes and I will be offering special prayers and making sacrifices for the lives of the unborn. My best to everyone attending, I pray for safety and conversion. Have a blessed trip.
God Bless you and all who are participating in the March for Life!!
ps. I look forward to reading all the student posts. Peace.
The message is as simple as it is profound. Human life is priceless. It flows from the creative Word of the Father who became the Incarnate Logos. Like the second person of the Trinity, every human being has a special place in the eternal heart of the Father. So great is the Father's love for humanity that he bestows human nature on his only Son as a gift. So that through the Incarnation of his Son, the Father reveals himself to the world and draws the world into his divine life, revealing and affirming, once and for all, the dignity of human life.
Like the Apostles, our youngsters going to Washington, their sponsors and chaperones, the staff at the Office for Respect Life, their parishes, home schools and those who are supporting them locally are part of a great mission: to proclaim what God has revealed about himself and man�s relationship with him.
May God continue to bless the Office for Respect Life, the schools, parents, teachers, and young people who responded to this call as did Abraham and Mary.