Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York ponders the Church's steadfast and ongoing commitment to the pro-life movement and pre-born children in his Oct. 22 Catholic New York column "Lord, To Whom Shall We Go?"
Comparing the Church's silence during slavery to the Church's outspoken condemnation of abortion, he writes that Catholics can "thank God that the Church has indeed been prophetic, courageous and counter cultural in the right to life movement."
Archbishop Dolan continues:
"Many issues and concerns in addition to protecting the baby in the womb fall under the rubric of the right to life—child care, poverty, racism, war and peace, capital punishment, health care, the environment, euthanasia—in what has come to be called the consistent ethic of life. All those issues, and even more, demand our careful attention and promotion.
"But the most pressing life issue today is abortion. If we're wrong on that one, we're just plain wrong.
"When our critics—and their name is legion—criticize us for being passionate, stubborn, almost obsessed with protecting the human rights of the baby in the womb, they intend it as an insult. I take it as a compliment.
"I'd give anything if I could claim that Catholics in America prior to the Civil War were "passionate, stubborn, almost obsessed" with protecting the human rights of the slave. To claim such would be a fib. But, decades from now, at least our children and grandchildren can look back with pride and gratitude for the conviction of those who courageously defend the life of the pre-born baby."
Read the full column HERE.
