This weekend, specifically this Sunday, we observe the 38th anniversary of a tragic Supreme Court decision in our country to legalize abortion. Since then, nothing has done more to polarize our country and be the cause of death for the most poor and vulnerable. Nothing has done more to dehumanize men and women and uproot the sacred trust that every child should have in their parent. More children have died in our country through abortion than the sum of all of our wars. This is an atrocity that must end.

Let us be clear, all human life is sacred. Even in the milieu in which we live, the alleged right to have an abortion is outweighed by the right for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for the unborn child. No argument of defect or quality of life for the child is effective. No argument regarding the potential tragic context of conception (ie.rape) outweighs this inalienable right for the newly created child. Our Scriptures and Sacred Tradition are clear and unambiguous. We express and promote a preferential option for the poor and strive to seek out the most vulnerable. Nobody is more poor or vulnerable than a newly conceived baby in the womb.

Until the day that this law is changed and even after that hopeful day, we as Catholics must do what we can to support women and men, who find themselves in situations wherein an abortion is something they seriously consider, to choose life for their child. We need to support all agencies and churches who seek out to help those whose lives have been damaged by abortion in one way or another. We need to teach and support our teens as well as engaged couples about the grace and joy of natural family planning as well as the heroic decisions surrounding adoption. It is not enough to simply say no to abortion. We need to be people who lift up and change our culture to create support structures that will imbue the value of every human life from natural conception to natural death.

Our world is graced with so many amazing people who have changed our world due to the choice of adoption rather than abortion. One popular example is that of the Denver Broncos quarterback, Tim Tebow. Within our own community are amazing people who are with us because of the choice for life. I can even testify that I have met people who are the result of miracles, for they survived either being aborted or the attempt to be aborted. Each one of these persons have gone to do great things for the Church and humanity as a whole. In their presence, I am speechless yet grateful to God for their presence in our midst. Who knows who has not been allowed to change our world because they never got the chance? But, even then, the argument of human accomplishment as the value of embryonic or adult human life is not as strong as the value that every human life is given no matter what their situation or condition because they are a creation of God.

This Sunday (Jan 22, 2012), we have the opportunity, as we do every year, to let our feet do our talking. Join our fellow Christians and people of good will who want to end abortion in our country. Join us at 1PM for the annual March for Life, which begins in front of the Court House here in Grants Pass. Pray for an end to abortion. Pray that our country will turn back to God and recognize the preciousness of life in every person. And until that day comes, let us continue in hope loving each other and proclaiming the Good News of Life.

Blessings,

Fr. William Holtzinger

Pastor