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Email a FriendPosted by Maureen on Tuesday, Jan 24, 2012 5:12 PM (EDT):
It should be made available and watched by all the kids in religious ed classes across the country…heck, all the adults too.
Some Go To Sing & Shout
...but after six months they're all turned out
Posted by Rebecca Teti in News on Tuesday, January 24, 2012 3:18 PM
It may have been rainy and cold at the March for Life yesterday, but there was such warmth and fire in the crowd.
Part of that fire was stoked by Msgr. Charles Pope’s homily for the huge Youth Rally the Archdiocese of Washington put on prior to the March.
It’s worth listening to at the link: Msgr. Pope’s an engaging preacher, and his bare-bones text doesn’t convey the spirit of the thing at all.
But I want to focus on a challenge he issued to the kids yesterday: not to let the March for Life be a lot of sound and fury signifying nothing.
He invoked an old spiritual:
There’s a line from an Old African American spiritual that says, “Some go to Church for to sing and shout. But before six months they’s all turned out” . In other words, I’m glad you’re here today, and I’m glad we can celebrate that life is good and Life is sacred. Praise the Lord! But the bigger question is, what will you be doing tomorrow, and next week, and six months from now?
Then he asked them to live four “Cs” to bring abortion to an end.
Chastity. Charity. Courage. Constancy.
On chastity he makes a simple point, but one it seems to me is often neglected.
Did you know that 85% of abortions are performed on unmarried women? Now think about that. That means that the primary cause of abortion is being unchaste.
He doesn’t limit the message to just say no, though:
one of the first ways you can work to prevent abortion is to be chaste and to encourage your friends to do the same! To be chaste means that you are going to wait until you are married to have sex. To be chaste means that you will dress modestly, act modestly, and prudently avoid situations that might cause you temptation. It means you are going to encourage your friends to do the same. Some may laugh at you. Others call you names. But a lot of them will respect you for it and know deep down inside that you are right. So keep at it. Chastity isn’t easy and there are a lot of temptations and pressures put on you in this world. But stay chaste and call on your friends to do the same.
With respect to charity he says:
Another statistic about abortion is that 42% of them are performed on poor women. So I hope you understand that we have to reach out to pregnant women in crisis. Some of them lack financial resources, some others fear the social consequences of being pregnant. And because they are in crisis they don’t think they have options. So we have to reach out and help women and families in this situation. And the Church does! We have crisis pregnancy centers, we have project Gabriel and project Rachael. We also have Catholic Charities to reach out to all the poor and help them. And as you get older please consider helping the Church to help women and families in crisis. Get involved. Remember almost half of abortions are related to poverty and social crisis. We can’t just say no to abortion, we have to help people say no.
His challenge to be courageous doesn’t go where I expected it to. He’s already covered having the courage of our convictions under chastity. It’s about courage to accept the disabled.
Finally, constancy. He encourages the kids with some evidence that people’s minds are changing bit by bit on the subject, and challenges them once again to be constant in living as pro-life people.
They’re not to be merely against the act of abortion, but consistent in making pro-life decisions all their lives.
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Posted by Theresa Korte on Tuesday, Jan 24, 2012 10:19 PM (EDT):
I listened to this homily earlier today via his blog (which is worth reading on a regular basis) and thought wow more people need to hear this. I was thrilled to check out F&F tonight and find it here! Once again thanks for helping to build a culture of life!
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