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 WASHINGTON-Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York called on everyone "concerned about the tragedy of abortion" to recommit to a "vision of life and love, a vision that excludes no one" on January 14. His statement marks the 43rd anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion. Cardinal Dolan chairs the Committee on Pro-Life Activities of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

"Most Americans oppose a policy allowing legal abortion for virtually any reason - though many still do not realize that this is what the Supreme Court gave us," wrote Cardinal Dolan. "Most want to protect unborn children at later stages of pregnancy, to regulate or limit the practice of abortion, and to stop the use of taxpayer dollars for the destruction of unborn children. Yet many who support important goals of the pro-life movement do not identify as 'pro-life,' a fact which should lead us to examine how we present our pro-life vision to others."

"Even as Americans remain troubled by abortion," wrote Cardinal Dolan, a powerful and well-funded lobby holds "that abortion must be celebrated as a positive good for women and society, and those who cannot in conscience provide it are to be condemned for practicing substandard medicine and waging a 'war on women'." He said this trend was seen recently when President Obama and other Democratic leaders prevented passage of the Abortion Non-Discrimination Act, "a modest measure to provide for effective enforcement" of conscience laws.

"While this is disturbing," said Cardinal Dolan, "it is also an opportunity." Pro-life Americans should reach out to "the great majority of Americans" who are "open to hearing a message of reverence for life." He added that "we who present the pro-life message must always strive to be better messengers. A cause that teaches the inexpressibly great value of each and every human being cannot show disdain or disrespect for any fellow human being." He encouraged Catholics to take part, through prayer and action, in the upcoming "9 Days for Life" campaign, January 16-24. More information on the campaign is available online: www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxJwfcefUiU

He also cited the Year of Mercy called by Pope Francis as a time for women and men to find healing through the Church's Project Rachel post-abortion ministry.

The full text of Cardinal Dolan's message is available online.
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Keywords: Roe v. Wade, anniversary, Pro-Life, Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, 9 Days for Life, USCCB, U.S. bishops, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Year of Mercy, Project Rachel, Pope Francis
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Philadelphia, Pa., Jan 21, 2016 / 02:18 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The Archdiocese of Philadelphia and World Meeting of Families have announced that they have a unique way to raise money for local charities this year: auction off the car that Pope Francis used during his historic first trip to the United States.

“I’m deeply grateful to FIAT Chrysler for its generosity in giving the Archdiocese of Philadelphia the two FIATS used by Pope Francis during his visit to Philadelphia on September 26-27, 2015,” said Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap. in a Jan. 20 press release.

During his September 2016 visit, FIAT Chrysler made a pair of FIAT 500Ls available for the Holy Father to use during his time in Philadelphia.

After the trip, the cars were donated to the archdiocese who has teamed up with the annual Philadelphia Car Show to auction at least one of the cars to benefit various archdiocesan charitable initiatives including Catholic Charities, a women’s maternity home, and special education schools, among others.

“The FIAT is such an icon of Pope Francis’ visit to Philadelphia and the auction of this vehicle serves as an extraordinary final event to close this memorable chapter in the City’s history,” Donna Crilley Farrell, Executive Director of the World Meeting of Families – Philadelphia 2015 said. “The good that this auction will bring to the Catholic Charities Appeal, Mercy Hospice, Casa Del Carmen and the Archdiocesan Schools of Special Education is simply incomparable.”

Each year, the Philadelphia Auto Show Black Tie Tailgate which will be held on Jan. 29 and the Philadelphia Auto Show, which will run from Jan. 30 to Feb. 7, benefits the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia through Auto Dealers CARing for Kids Foundation, a group of Philadelphia-area car dealerships that has contributed more than $6.3 million to the hospital and other children’s charities. This year the event will benefit the hospital’s Division of Neurology and, through the papal car auction, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

Bidding will take place on the night of the Black Tie Tailgate at 9 p.m. EST, where attendees can place bids in person and remotely, allowing even more people to participate.

“When we learned that these vehicles would be given to us, we wanted to find some way for the public to see them and answer Pope Francis’ call to love and care for the poor,” Archbishop Chaput said. “Our partnership with the Philadelphia Auto Show provides us with the wonderful opportunity to share these vehicles with the community while also connecting with a highly engaged audience for the great benefit of society’s most vulnerable and marginalized members.”  

The second car will be on display to the public for the duration of the Philadelphia Auto Show. However, the archdiocese has said that they may choose to auction that one off as well.

“We are delighted to have Pope Francis’ FIAT 500L on display for the entirety of the Philadelphia Auto Show and we are excited to add this auction component to the Black Tie Tailgate. David Kelleher, Chairman of the Philadelphia Auto Show said.

“No other Auto Show in the U.S. has such a display and we are hopeful that this will drive even greater attendance in Philadelphia. An opportunity like this is truly once in a lifetime.”

 

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Washington D.C., Jan 21, 2016 / 02:46 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The U.S. Supreme Court has announced that it will review a case about a Missouri Christian pre-school which was prohibited from participating in the state’s scrap tire program because it is run by a church.

“All we are asking is that we be treated the same as any other group and not be disqualified from the grant program just because we are a church,” Philip Glenn, congregation chairman of Trinity Lutheran Church, told CNA.

In January 2012, Trinity Lutheran Church Child Learning Center, which is run by Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, applied for the grant, which provides recycled tires to surface children’s playgrounds. The learning center wanted to replace a large portion of the pea gravel surfacing on its playground with a safer rubber product.

But the Missouri Department of Natural Resources Solid Waste Management Program said the school could not participate in the 2012 Playground Scrap Tire Surface Material Grant program because the state constitution prohibits government funding of religion.

“Our playground met Missouri’s safety standards but we simply wanted to improve it for our children so they can fully enjoy the playground,” said Glenn, a Missouri native who has been an active member of Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia with his wife for the past 16 years. “We never thought we would be excluded from the program because we are religious.”

In 2012, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources provided grants to 14 projects and ranked applicants according to their eligibility. The department ranked the school fifth out of 44 applicants but still chose to deny the school because it is run by a church.

“We qualified for the grant but we were denied based on religion,” said Glenn.

“They said public money can’t be given to church organizations,” he stated. “That’s not fair. It was obvious the government was discriminating against a religious organization.”

The Missouri Department of Natural Resources also claimed that if the grant was given to Trinity Lutheran Church it would benefit only those children who attend the church’s programs and would hurt more disadvantaged children.
 
However, Glenn argued this is not true.

“The playground is not just for children at our school but for any child in the community who wants to use it,” said Glenn. “Our church has a lot of great people and we want to help the community and share our resources.”

School officials and parents are also dismayed about being denied the grant.

“This situation is unjust since we ranked so highly and qualified for the grant,” Gail Schuster, director of Trinity Lutheran Church Child Learning Center told CNA. “All schools should be eligible for state grants. It is unfortunate. All we wanted was to upgrade our playground and have the best for our children and others who wanted to use it.”

Trinity Lutheran Child Learning Center currently has 109 pre-school children ages 2-5 that are enrolled.

Jay Manda, parent of three children currently attending the school, told CNA that “Trinity Lutheran submitted the proper paperwork and there was no clause about being excluded because of religious affiliation.”

“My kids are getting a fantastic education at the school and would have benefitted if the school had received the grant,” Manda said. “To deny the school the grant because of religious reasons is unfair and unfounded.”

In January 2013, Alliance Defending Freedom filed a lawsuit on behalf of Trinity Lutheran Church against the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. Both a district court and an appellate court sided with the natural resources department, ruling that the decision to deny program participation to the child care center was justified.

Alliance Defending Freedom disagrees.

“Rubber scrap tires do not advance religion,” ADF senior counsel Erik Stanley told CNA. “If this decision stands, it will bode poorly for churches and mean they can potentially be excluded from a variety of other programs and services.”  

“If you can categorically exclude religious groups from anything, you will be able to justify discrimination against them,” added Stanley. “And that is unconstitutional.”

Last year, 10 states filed a friend-of-the-court brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in support of Trinity Lutheran Church. They argue that state programs that are neutral should not be allowed to discriminate against religious groups.

Stanley believes this case has garnered support from so many states because there is so much at stake.

“This case isn’t really about recycled tires,” Stanley said. “It is about whether the state can discriminate against churches and what that means for society as a whole.”

“It’s also about how churches can and should be treated. This broader principle at stake is vitally important for churches going forward.”

Glenn agreed, saying, “It’s not about the money the grant would have provided. We could have backpedaled a long time ago but chose not to.”

“It’s about the principle,” he continued. “Christian organizations are no different than other organizations. And we have the same constitutional rights.”

Photo credit: momente via www.shutterstock.com.

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Washington D.C., Jan 21, 2016 / 03:02 pm (CNA).- It was an event that wasn't supposed to have anniversaries.

When the March for Life started 43 years ago, abortion on demand up to the point of birth had just been legalized by the United States Supreme Court in Roe vs. Wade. At that point, pro-life issues weren't nearly as politically entrenched as they are today – in fact, many legislators on both sides of the aisle thought the decision was ill-conceived and would surely be changed.

“People were just in shock, they were short of shell-shocked the year after Roe vs. Wade,” Jeanne Mancini, president of the March for Life Education and Defense Fund, told CNA.

“People were thinking that this thing was going to get corrected...they were such poorly conceived Supreme Court decisions, and really outside of the parameters of what the Supreme Court would normally do,” she added.  

But it's been 43 years since the March for Life began, and the event has become an almost go-to staple in the world of youth ministry trips and church events for pro-life denominations. As a political march that has yet to overturn Roe v. Wade continues to tick off anniversary after anniversary, many people are left wondering - is the March even relevant anymore?

“Fatigue is understandable,” said Mallory Quigley, communications director the Susan B. Anthony list, a political organization that lobbies for pro-life legislation and supports pro-life candidates – particularly women.

“It's been 43 years, that’s so long for this injustice to continue,” she told CNA. 

At the same time, Quigley said, that abortion on demand remains legal is all the more reason to keep fighting.

“We have got to be there as pro-life Americans speaking up and speaking out for the unborn children and moms that are at risk and have suffered and have died because of abortion,” she said.

And yet, there's much to be hopeful about in the pro-life movement. This last summer saw a decline in the number of abortions nationwide in the United States, though the specific reasons as to why remain unclear. A growing number of Americans do not support abortion on demand, though they do support it under certain circumstances.

For Mancini, the March is always an energizing moment as well as a powerful message for politicians about the pro-life cause: it’s a movement that’s robust, powerful, and full of young people.

“It becomes a paradigm of what the entire movement is about, but if you didn't see that in one collective place, people wouldn't believe it's true.”

Not always a right-wing cause

At the time of the March for Life’s inception, pro-life attitudes were a bit more closely aligned with the Democratic party, and it wouldn’t become a deeply divisive partisan issue for several more years. Some of the earliest featured speakers at the March for Life even included several now-prominent pro-choice advocates – Joe Biden, Jesse Jackson and Harry Reid, to name a few, Mancini said.

“The first year the March happened, it was very small and there were a lot of legislators,” she said. “Now, it’s much more cultural.”

The movement grew because it had to.

Through the '70s and '80s, the national March remained a relatively small movement of politically minded activists. During the Reagan presidency, pro-life issues shifted from slightly left to more  definitely right.

But it wasn’t until the mid-1990s that the March became a much more youthful, grassroots and cultural event.

“Nellie Gray (the founder of the March for Life) was working very closely with churches and bishops, it was really grassroots and very Catholic, so more and more schools started bussing young people in for the march for life,” Mancini said.

Now, the March for Life has a reputation for being a youthful event – hordes of college and high school students descend on Washington D.C. during the days leading up to the event, bringing lively chants and songs and colorful posters with them as they make their way to the capitol, often in freezing winter weather.  

“You're not alone”

Aimee Murphy is one of those young people that started attending pro-life events at the age of 17. At the time she was a pro-life atheist, and often felt like the odd one out in her high school – but meeting other young people at bigger events like the March for Life made her realize that she wasn't alone.

“It was so important for me as a young person to see...that I was not the only high school student who cared about the pre-born,” she told CNA.

Now a millennial activist and the Executive Director of the “Life Matters Journal,” Murphy said it’s easy, and maybe even fair, to criticize the March for Life as an expensive, superfluous event – if it remains just that.

“If you don't go home and do something the March for Life is useless,” she said.

“As pro-life activists who struggle against a culture and a media and a legislature who isn’t willing to do anything that would actually make a difference in terms of abortion, you face this idea that the evil is too big, there’s nothing that I personally can do, and you’ll sit around and feel bad for yourself,” Murphy said.

“But the March for Life, inasmuch as it gives people hope and encourages them to do something and change what is going on, then it’s absolutely priceless.”

That sense of community and solidarity, particularly with other like-minded young people, is crucial to keeping high school and college students engaged in the pro-life movement after they graduate said Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life of America.

Last year alone, there were around 200,000 people in attendance at the national March – many of them students and young adults.

“We tell everyone to at least come once, because it's a formative event,” she said. “The key to making them life-long activists is getting people to understand that this is a group that they want to be a part of, and this is a group that’s winning, and the March for Life does that.”

Hawkins echoed Murphy in that while the March is an important event, what happens afterwards is of equal importance.

“That means envisioning a country without abortion and figuring out ok, if abortion was made illegal tomorrow, what would we need? What do we need to do? And that’s eliminating the need for abortion, eliminating the belief that that girl has to kill her child.”

Hopes for change in 2016

Besides serving as a rallying point for the pro-life movement, the March for Life also continues to send a political message to legislators on Capitol Hill as well as to the national media in Washington, D.C.

“We finally have a majority of people in this country who believe that abortion is morally wrong, we have a majority of people in our country who are for common sense restrictions on abortion, we have for the first time in history a Congress that is investigating Planned Parenthood,” Hawkins said.

“It really proves to the rest of the country that this is not the minority, we are the majority, we’re not going away, and it entices others to join our movement,” she added.

According to Gallup, only 29 percent of Americans last year believed that abortion should be legal under any circumstances, while 51 percent of Americans believed that it should be legal only under certain circumstances.

Passing legislation that would allow for some common sense restrictions on abortions – such as banning abortion after five months, when a child is capable of feeling pain in the womb – is an area where the pro-life movement is hoping to see some progress in the next year, Quigley said.

“Public opinion is continuing to catch up with science. People are understanding that the unborn child is alive, that it is a human being,” she said.

Pain-capable abortion bills and the defunding of Planned Parenthood are two of the major issues of political focus in the pro-life movement in 2016. While there are a lot of reasons to hope for political change, the best thing for the pro-life movement would be to elect a pro-life president this year, Mancini said.

“Even when there is codified law, the executive branch pushes it so much or just re-writes things to be what they want, it’s daunting and it’s continual,” she said.

“So it would be so fantastic to have an administration that was pro-life so we’re not always working on the defensive end.”

The March for Life is also a common reference point for politicians when talking about the strength and the youthful energy of the pro-life movement, Mancini said, so it’s important that they continue to see that year after year.  

“I have yet to hear a member of Congress speak about the issues and not allude to the MFL, because it’s such a success and such a victory to point to all those people coming together for a common reason and a common human rights issue,” she said.

This year’s national March for Life will take place on Friday, January 22. Tens of thousands of people are expected to attend, even as a possible blizzard threatens the area.

For Quigley and thousands like her, the March still matters, rain or shine.

“It’s so important that everyone here in Washington understands that America is a pro-life nation.”

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IMAGE: CNS/Paul Haring

By Cindy Wooden

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Professional pilgrimage planners and those who regularly receive or accompany pilgrims set off on their own Year of Mercy pilgrimage in late January.

Most had experience working with pilgrims to Lourdes, Fatima, the Vatican and World Youth Days. But one had a unique experience: St. Joseph Sister Helen Prejean says she is a constant pilgrim to the "holy land" of the human dignity and pain of society's most despised members.

The author of "Dead Man Walking" and a campaigner against the death penalty had a special experience Jan. 21 during the Vatican's Year of Mercy "Jubilee for Those Engaged in Pilgrimage Work." She was invited to Pope Francis' early morning Mass and had a chance to speak to him briefly afterward.

"Yesterday?" the pope asked Sister Prejean. She had to tell him that Jan. 20 Texas carried out the execution of Richard Masterson, convicted of murder. "I pray, I pray," the pope responded, she said.

Sister Prejean was not in Rome to meet the pope; that happened thanks to the intervention of a priest friend who knew she was taking part in the jubilee. And while she does not consider herself a pilgrimage worker, as she attended the three days of conferences, catechesis and prayer services, the connections and relevance to her own ministry became clear.

For example, Msgr. John Armitage, rector of England's Basilica of Our Lady of Walsingham, spoke about the crucial importance of giving each and every pilgrim and visitor to a shrine a proper welcome.

"You've driven four hours to come here and you deserve at least a smile and 'I'm glad you're here,' not 'I've no time' or 'The shrine closes in 10 minutes,'" Msgr. Armitage said. Pope Francis' focused on the same obligation of welcome when he addressed the group Jan. 21.

Speaking to Catholic News Service, Sister Prejean said, "Smile -- it's such a cliche," but it is simply, shockingly important. On death row, she said, just having a visitor is a signal that says "you are a human being because they get a thousand signals a day that they are nothing but disposable human waste."

"Here's what I realized about pilgrimage: First of all, you leave your little comfortable zone to go out on the road toward a place of holiness. That has been to death row. It is pilgrimage. It is setting out. And it has brought me into this land, this very holy place of the dignity and the goodness of people who are so despised and condemned."

Sister Prejean is not naive. Many of the people she has ministered to and accompanied to the electric chair or the chamber where they are given a lethal injection "have done unspeakable crimes and are guilty," she said. But they are human beings created by God.

"People often say their big ambition is to go to the Holy Land, but I feel like I have been and I keep going to the holy land where people are suffering," she said.

Msgr. Armitage, in his formal presentation to the English-speaking participants Jan. 20, said another thing that resonated with Sister Prejean and many of the others, especially those who accompany pilgrims and volunteers to the baths at Lourdes, France.

"A pilgrimage is not just about where you pray, but it's about what you do," he said. "That's what makes the journey so powerful. When you wake young people up at 5:30 in the morning to bathe and toilet patients, that's powerful."

A pilgrimage, like the entire Year of Mercy celebration Pope Francis has called for, is about "prayer, penance and doing something," he said.

Sister Prejean said that although visiting prisoners is one of the traditional corporal works of mercy, it's something most Christians are afraid to do.

"It's about fear and being told we must hate someone," she said. "Where there is no physical contact, where you can't look in someone's eyes, where you never see them and all you hear is, 'These are the worst of the worst. Look at the crime they did,' it becomes this shield, this barrier to being able to see, to hear their cry and to have compassion."

Mercy does not mean wiping your heart of "legitimate outrage over the death of innocent people," Sister Prejean said. "But then we have to go from that outrage to how should we respond in the manner of Christ? That's a harder journey to make."

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By Jennifer Brinker

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Sometimes being pro-life means making difficult decisions.

Because of a predicted snowstorm in Washington, the St. Louis archdiocesan Catholic Youth Apostolate canceled its Generation Life pilgrimage to the March for Life.

About 2,200 teens, adult chaperones, volunteers and staff were expected to participate in the 43rd annual march Jan. 22.

The youth apostolate consulted with several area meteorologists, who were "95 percent confident" the Washington region would receive approximately 15 to 18 inches or more of snow over a few days, beginning the day of the march, according to executive director Brian Miller.

Participants will be refunded the cost of the trip, minus a small non-refundable registration fee. The apostolate planned to host a local event at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis the afternoon of Jan. 23.

"This is not a decision that was taken lightly," Miller told the St. Louise Review, the archdiocesan newspaper. "The likelihood was so high of a major weather event in D.C. As a father, I considered if those were my children on the bus, what would I want to happen? We have a moral obligation to prioritize the safety and well-being of our youth."

As of late afternoon Jan. 21, the Capital Weather Gang was reporting that starting at 3 p.m. (EST) Jan. 22, a blizzard warning will span the entire Washington region until 6 a.m. (EST) Jan. 24. About 2 feet of snow was forecast for the area.

"Everything is still on schedule," Jeanne Monahan-Mancini, president of March for Life, told Catholic News Service mid-day Jan. 21. She said that so far only one speaker had canceled.

"The March for Life will go on no matter the weather," noted the organization's website, http://marchforlife.org.

"Pro-Life Is Pro-Woman" is this year's theme.

Because of the ongoing refurbishment of the National Mall and strict new regulations that require temporary flooring to protect the grass, the Jan. 22 rally will be held at noon on the Washington Monument grounds.

Others schedule to speak included retired Baltimore Ravens football player Matt Birk; Republican presidential candidate and businesswoman Carly Fiorina; Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa; Rep. Chris Smith, R-New Jersey; and Jim Daly, president of Focus on the Family.

Daly also was headlining the first major pro-life conference for evangelicals to be held in conjunction with the March for Life.

After the rally, participants planned to march up Constitution Avenue to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Many groups that still planned to come to the event marking the anniversary of the 1973 Roe decision included busloads from the Diocese of Bismarck, North Dakota.

"They're a bunch of tough folks," said Suzanne O'Connor, an office assistant at St. Peter's Catholic Church on Capitol Hill, where the North Dakotans expected to arrive in the early morning Jan. 22 before the rally and march.

Also not canceling as of the afternoon Jan. 21 were groups from the Diocese of Springfield, Illinois, and the dioceses of St. Augustine and Venice, Florida.

AP quoted Monahan-Mancini as saying that "most marchers do tend to come from a strong religious background" that makes them willing to sacrifice their comfort at what usually is the coldest time of the year."

She added that anyone who is pro-life and "a peaceful protester is welcome to join us at the March for Life."

The Missouri Life Caravan was moving forward with its travel plans to attend the march, according to Connie Eller of Missouri Right to Life.

Other pilgrims from St. Louis arrived in Washington a week earlier last week and were expected to go ahead with plans to participate in the march. And more than 500 St. Louis teens separate from the Generation Life group had tickets to attend the Rally and Mass for Life at the Verizon Center, organized by the Archdiocese of Washington.

Diocesan groups in Ohio, Virginia, Indiana and Michigan canceled their trips to Washington, but the Philadelphia Archdiocese indicated no change in plans as late Jan. 21. Some Philadelphia parishes were canceling their trips, and the archdiocese left the call up to individuals.

Auxiliary Bishop John J. McIntyre planned to lead the Philadelphia contingent traveling by bus, train and car to Washington. Hundreds of parishioners, clergy and religious from the Philadelphia Archdiocese normally travel each year for the march.

Dubbed Winter Storm Jonas, some 74 million Americans from Nebraska to New York City will be affected by blizzard conditions of the mammoth storm.

Brinker is a staff writer at the St. Louis Review, newspaper of the Archdiocese of St. Louis. She and photojournalist Lisa Johnston of the Review arrived in Washington Jan. 19 to cover the march but the impending blizzard cut their trip short. Contributing to this story was Kurt Jensen in Washington and Matthew Gambino in Philadelphia.

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