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Cardinal says pro-life cause strengthening American freedom

January 26, 2000
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- On the eve of the annual March for Life, Cardinal William H. Keeler of Baltimore told a crowd of pro-life Catholics estimated at 7,000 that their cause is strengthening American freedom. ``By promoting the Gospel of life with conviction, with compassion, and, yes, with extraordinary perseverance, you strengthen the foundation of our American house of freedom,'' he said in his homily at a standing-room-only Mass Jan. 23 at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington. ``The cause we serve continues to be the great civil rights issue of our time,'' said Cardinal Keeler, principal celebrant of the Mass and chairman of the U.S. Catholic bishops' Committee on Pro-Life Activities. ``In defending the right to life of every person from conception until the time of natural death, we defend the first of those rights upon which the founders of our country built our national claim to independence,'' he said. ``In proclaiming the culture of life in which every child is welcomed in life and protected in law, we challenge our nation to renew the great promise of its founding.'' The evening Mass opened the National Prayer Vigil for Life held in conjunction with the March for Life. The march -- Jan. 24 this year -- draws tens of thousands of people from around the country to protest the Jan. 22, 1973, U.S. Supreme Court decisions that legalized abortion in the United States. The all-night vigil -- which included night prayer in the Byzantine tradition, confessions and holy hours -- was co-sponsored by the bishops' Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities, The Catholic University of America and the shrine. Concelebrating the two-and-a-quarter hour liturgy were Cardinals James A. Hickey of Washington and Francis E. George of Chicago; Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo, apostolic nuncio to the United States; and about 30 archbishops and bishops from around the country. Also participating were nearly 250 priests, including Msgr. Michael Bransfield, shrine rector, and Vincentian Father David O'Connell, president of Catholic University, and 25 deacons. The congregation filled every aisle and side chapel of the Great Upper Church. At the beginning of his homily, Cardinal Keeler noted that someone who had never missed the vigil Mass or march was both missing and missed: New York Cardinal John J. O'Connor. Cardinal O'Connor, who turned 80 Jan. 15, had brain tumor surgery last August, and returned to work only in early January. ``He is much distressed at not being able to be with us,'' said Cardinal Keeler, adding that Cardinal O'Connor told him he would ``offer up his missing the event as a prayer for God's blessing on what happens here tonight and tomorrow in the March for Life.'' In his homily, Cardinal Keeler said that ``the abortion mentality is now spilling over its cauldron's brim'' and affecting other areas of life. He condemned a new proposal from the National Institutes of Health that ``would instruct researchers in how to destroy vast numbers of human embryos to obtain their stem cells.'' Should the proposal be accepted, he said, it would mark the first time in U.S. history that ``the deliberate destruction of human life would be legally sanctioned for purposes of obtaining raw material for scientific research.'' The cardinal also decried euthanasia, assisted suicide and capital punishment as signs of the culture of death permeating society today. He urged ``true conversion'' in mind and heart. ``We might wonder whether our prayers and penance have any effect beyond ourselves,'' he said. ``But we must never ever lose faith in the Holy Spirit.'' Before the Mass, John and Linda Wohar of Washington, Pa., told Catholic News Service they came for the march with five of their 10 children and several other family members. The Wohars were among some 400 people spending the night at the shrine. Their sleeping bags were lined up on the floor outside the Crypt Church on the lower level. ``Because we talk about pro-life,'' said Linda, explaining why she has participated in the march for 10 years, ``I feel that I have to be able to tell my children that I'm doing everything I can to help change the laws, so that the laws of our country reflect a pro-life attitude.'' Claudio Acevedo, 16, was attending the vigil and march for the first time. He arrived from the Dominican Republic only three months ago, he told CNS, and journeyed to Washington by bus with fellow parishioners from St. Ann's in Bronx, N.Y. ``I am very pro-life,'' said the youth, who was spending the night with hundreds of other marchers in the nearby gym of Catholic University. ``I want to say to every people, every people more need life.'' Referring to the commands to love God and neighbor, Claudio echoed the theme of this year's 27th March for Life when he added, ``The baby in the womb is my neighbor.'' Two 16-year-olds from St. Louis, Jessica Rosen, a junior at Bishop Dubourg High School, and Kelly Feicht, a junior at Cor Jesu Academy, each spent $300 to fly to Washington with a group from Dubourg. Kelly, who was attending her third march, said, ``I'm pro-life and I want people to know that.'' Participating in her fourth march, Jessica said, ``No one has the right to say who gets to live or die. I just think it's really wrong.'' Though the young women were serious about their pro-life activism, they also were able to report that their hometown football team, the St. Louis Rams, had just advanced to the Super Bowl. ``We just heard they won,'' they said, smiling.