What a great joy and privilege to be here
with all of you. Bishops, priests, religious,
deacons, seminarians and faithful. For all
of us it is an immense consolation to have
so many of our young Catholics here tonight.
I am also pleased and humbled to be able to
welcome the Orthodox Metropolitans, Bishops
and Clergy, especially my dear friend Metropolitan
Methodios of Boston, who are also joining
us here at the Basilica.
This year we are saddened that Nellie Gray
is not with us, as she has been for 40 years.
I call her the Joan of Arc of the Gospel of
Life. As a young priest working here at the
Spanish Center in Washington, I heard about
Nellie, who had left her career as a lawyer,
like the Apostles leaving their boats and
nets, to embrace a special vocation to work
on behalf of pre-born children. It was my
privilege to help her organize those first
marches, and I have come to every march since
the beginning. Nellie Gray has been an inspiration
to me and countless others. Surely she continues
to pray for us from her place in eternity.
We all owe her an enormous debt of gratitude,
and tonight we lift her up in prayer in this
Eucharist, which she loved so much.
I am always a little surprised when I'm
invited to preach here. You see many years
ago as a young priest I was preaching at a
big Mass at St. Matthew's Cathedral. It
was the Independence Day for Argentina during
a very difficult period of their history.
I spoke on John Paul the Second's teachings
on human rights; and the whole congregation
got up and left during the homily. Instinctively
I knew that 800 people were not all going
to the restroom. I was of course concerned
what the Archbishop would do to me. When the
affair was reported to Cardinal Baum, he said,
"Whenever Friar Seán preaches, I want the
collection taken up before the Gospel."
It would appear that no one has warned them
here tonight since the collection has not
yet been taken up.
Today's Gospel, the second joyful mystery,
is a great pro- life Gospel where two pregnant
mothers appear together, filled with the radiance
of faith and life.
Elizabeth reports that John the Baptist leaps
for joy in her womb when he hears Mary's
voice. John dances in his mother's womb
like David danced before the Ark of the Covenant.
We too rejoice at Mary's voice. In the Gospel,
Mary's first word is fiat. It means yes.
Mary is saying yes to God, to life, to love,
and even to the Cross.
When God was knocking on the door of humanity,
it is Mary who says yes and who opens that
door in our name, so that God can come into
our world. The last words of Mary recorded
in the Gospel are those spoken at the wedding
feast of Cana; "Do whatever He tells you."
Mary's last word is telling us to say yes
to God, to life, to love. The Gospel of Life
is an imperative for Christ's disciples.
Christ through His Church is urging us to
be defenders of life in the midst of the culture
of death.
The term culture of death, coined by John
Paul II, is an accurate description of the
drift of Western culture. Just last week,
January 16, 2013, the newspapers reported
a case of euthanasia in Belgium. Twin brothers
Marc and Eddie Verbessem, who were born deaf,
were recently diagnosed with glaucoma which
could eventually lead to blindness. Judging
their future to be too burdensome, they presented
themselves at the University Hospital of Bruxelles
and the forty-five year old brothers were
both given a lethal injection.
We recently managed to defeat a ballot initiative
in Massachusetts that would have legalized
physician assisted suicide. The initial polls
had us losing 70% to 30%, but thanks to much
prayer, hard work and alliances with a broad
collation of hospice, health care workers,
faith groups, disabilities people, Catholic
colleges, and the hard work of our Knights
of Columbus councils and our priests and parishioners,
along with aggressive advertising, we actually
won. It was like the race 
between the tortoise and the hare. In our
race we were the turtle that beat the rabbit.
There is no doubt however that the next major
assault on the Gospel of Life will come from
those pushing physician assisted suicide and
euthanasia. A society that allows parents
to kill their children will allow children
to kill their parents.
During the past forty years, pro-life Americans
have felt the frustration of being disenfranchised
by an activist Supreme Court which has denied
us the right to vote about abortion policy.
Nevertheless, pro-life activists have not
ceased to wage a campaign of moral suasion
on campuses, workplaces and neighborhoods.
It is amazing to think of the tens of thousands
of volunteers working in the some 3,000 pregnancy
help centers that provide over 2.3 million
women in difficult pregnancies with invaluable
help; medical, material and spiritual.
Forty years ago when the Supreme Court handed
down a second Dred Scott decision that renders
unborn children, like people of African-American
descent in the days of slavery, unprotected
by the Constitution of the United States.
Since 1973 there have been 55 million abortions
-- that is how many people there are in Italy,
the United Kingdom or France. That translates
into abortions for a quarter of all pregnancies.
However, a study in New York City from last
year shows that the abortion rate in New York
City is actually over 40% and over 60% of
black children are aborted. The same study
showed a solid consensus that voters were
shocked by the number of abortions, opposed
tax payers funding of abortion and favored
parental consent laws, waiting periods and
accurate information about the abortion procedure
and options. The same poll also indicated
that 70% of the New Yorkers favored conscience
rights for health care workers. I believe
that this poll reflects the pulse of the majority
of Americans. Sadly, the government is not
listening to the people.
We now also face a grave challenge to religious
liberty with the health care mandate that
redefines religious institutions in a way
that hinders our ability to continue the valuable
services that the church offers to the greater
community. Conscience rights and religious
exemptions have been important features of
our American democracy that from the beginning
has valued religious freedom and an authentic
pluralism with a strong society based on solid
families and committed marriages.
We have been wandering in the desert for 40
years but we are getting closer to the Promised
Land. Austen Ivereigh has put it very well:
"The direction of Western cultural history
indelibly marked by Christianity is toward
the eventual revelation of the humanity of
the victim. Just as the voices of the slave,
the ostracized foreigner, the battered housewife,
the disabled, and the child abuse victim,
have all eventually been heard, so will eventually
the voice of the literally voiceless -- the
unborn child."
As the latest issue of Time magazine states,
the vast majority of Americans are opposed
to the abortion policies as they exist and
would favor limitations. The most encouraging
fact is that younger Americans are more pro-life
than older Americans. Pro choice activists
insist that the abortion question is inherently
a religious one and therefore safely beyond
serious philosophic reflection or public debate.
We hear Catholic politicians saying they are
not in favor of abortion but do not want to
impose their religious views on others in
a pluralistic society. Abortion, like slavery,
is not just a religious issue. It is a human
rights issue.
This is most evident in our country where
society has become more secular and far more
socially liberal on a large range of questions,
but the opposition to abortion is always growing,
including among younger Americans who tend
to be more liberal on other issues.
Given the state of public opinion and the
fact that 75% of Americans believe that abortion
is at least the taking of human life, to change
the public attitudes of support for "abortion
as a necessary evil" will require educating
Americans about abortion's impact on women
and changing attitudes toward adoption.
Too many Americans see abortion as a necessary
evil. We need to educate the public on the
damage done to women by abortion and show
that abortion is not a necessary evil, but
is simply evil. Increasingly, studies reveal
the harm done to women, as well as men who
suffer and remorse for many years. The abortion
option is often used as a fulcrum to push
women to do away with their child. The Medical
Science Monitor reported that 64% of American
women who abort feel pressured to do so. The
doctors, boyfriends and insurers all have
their reasons to push abortion. The boyfriend
prefers paying for the procedure rather than
providing child support, and if the woman
refuses his generous offer to underwrite the
abortion and instead gives birth, then it
is her problem.
One of the great joys of being a priest is
to be able to celebrate the sacraments for
your own family: family weddings, baptisms,
first communions, even funerals which are
such important moments in the life of a family.
A few years ago I had the joy of celebrating
the wedding of my nephew, Tom O'Malley.
Tom was adopted by my brother and sister-in-law
as a baby. He is from Mexico, has jet black
hair and dark skin. When he is introduced
as an O'Malley it always causes a double
take. I tell people that his freckles ran
together.
His wedding was so beautiful at their parish
church, Ave Maria. When I saw him so happy
with his lovely bride and her sister, Diana,
who was the maid of honor, I was so moved.
Diana has Down syndrome. She was radiant,
she exuded joy and excitement and she walked
down the aisle in her beautiful gown. The
adopted groom and the maid of honor who has
Down syndrome were part of this extraordinary
celebration because their mothers had the
courage and the generosity to say yes to life.
We know that an estimated 92% of all women
who receive a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome
choose to abort their child. (Research Dr.
Brian Skotko, Children's Hospital, Boston.)
In addition, less than 1% (one percent) of
women with an unwanted pregnancy opt to place
their child with an adoptive family. That
translates into 86 abortions for each adoption.
One of the greatest challenges before us is
to change women's perception of adoption
as being a bad choice. I often point to the
story of King Solomon who one day was called
upon to settle a dispute between two women
who claimed to be the mother of the same baby.
At one point the wise king asked for a sword
and offered to cut the baby in two. Immediately,
the real mother shouted no and gave the baby
to the other woman. Sometimes being a real
mother means entrusting your child to someone
else so that the child will live.
Paul Swope much studied article in First Things,
Abortion: A Failure to Communicate, attempts
to answer that question that baffles pro life
activists. How can women and the public in
general simultaneously hold that "abortion
is killing" and "abortion should be legal"?
The Vitae Caring Foundation produced a study
with the intriguing name "The Least of Three
Evils -- Understanding the Psychological
Dynamics of How Women Feel about Abortion."
The report shows that unplanned motherhood
is seen as a greater evil than abortion. An
unwanted pregnancy is perceived as equivalent
to a "death of self," a loss of control
over one's present and future. Given this
perspective, the choice of abortion becomes
a lesser evil, a choice of self preservation,
a much more defensible position both to the
woman and to those supporting her decision
to abort.
Tragically, adoption is seen as the most evil
of the three options, as it is perceived as
a kind of double death. First, the death of
self by carrying the baby to term. The second
death perceived by the woman is the death
of the child thru "abandonment." A woman
worries about her child being mistreated,
abused, and neglected. She would perceive
herself as a bad mother, one who gave her
own child away to strangers. Basically the
woman desperately wants a sense of resolution
to her crisis, and in her mind adoption leaves
the situation the most unresolved, with uncertainty
and guilt for as far as she can see.
As much as we might like to see the slogan
"Adoption, not Abortion" embraced by woman
facing an unwanted pregnancy, studies suggest
that in pitting adoption against abortion,
adoption will be the hands-down loser. In
fact while abortion itself is seen as something
evil, the woman who is making that choice
is seen as courageous, making a difficult
but necessary decision.
The study goes on to show that abortion is
considered the least of the three evils because
it is perceived as offering the greatest hope
to a woman to preserve her sense of self.
This is why so many women deeply resent our
pro-life movement which they perceive as uncaring
and judgmental. We have consistently focused
on the safety of the unborn child while the
pro choice, pro abortion activists focus on
the woman in crisis. With almost 100 abortions
for every adoption, we have so much more work
to do.
Obviously, we must never abandon our commitment
to the unborn child, a precious human being
made in the image and likeness of God. But
we must learn to focus more on the woman in
crisis. We must listen with empathy to be
able to communicate the Gospel of Life. Pregnancy
crisis centers, Project Rachel and an aggressive
advertising campaign that communicates greater
understanding of the situation of women facing
an unwanted pregnancy are of paramount importance.
The media can be a powerful tool in communicating
a pro-life message.
The Vitae Foundation has had amazing results
with their television advertising that has
increased pro-life sentiments among the general
population in the areas where they appeared.
We must never lose sight of the fact that
we must work to change the laws, to overturn
the Roe vs. Wade decision, but we must work
even harder to change people's hearts, to
help Americans understand that abortion is
evil and unnecessary.
Spielberg's film, Lincoln, shows the monumental
struggle against slavery and Lincoln's resolve
to pass the Thirteenth Amendment, but the
law was only part of the struggle. The evil
of racism perdured for over a century and
the civil rights legislation and sacrifices
of so many are contemporary realities in an
ongoing struggle to live the ideals of our
country. Changing hearts is always the hardest
part. The laws will change. Hearts are harder
to change.
We must never tire of clarifying misunderstanding
and shedding light where there is myth and
confusion, demonstrating empathy and compassion
and a deeper vision. That is the method being
presented by Catholic Voices. It is not just
about the lucidity of our arguments; it is
about the effect that our words have on others.
Our task is to present the truth with civility,
empathy and clarity. Being champions of the
Gospel of Life is about building a civilization
of love.
The New Evangelization is really about changing
hearts. It begins with our heart, with our
own conversion. Tomorrow, the day of the March
for Life, is fittingly the Feast of the Conversion
of St. Paul. His conversion was a great surprise
that God had in store for the Church, like
the conversion of Bernard Nathanson one of
the founders of the pro-abortion movement
who became a Catholic pro-life activist.
To be able to carry out them mission Christ
has given us, we need to be better people,
to grow in faith and to witness God's love
by our service to the poor and the suffering
and especially to women experiencing a challenging
pregnancy. Gandhi once said 
that he would have become a Christian if he
had ever met one. It's a shame he didn't
live long enough to meet Mother Teresa of
Calcutta. This Year of Faith is a call to
a deeper conversion so that we can become
effective apostles of the Gospel of Life in
the New Evangelization.
Once I was invited to the White House for
a State Dinner. The President of Brazil was
there, and the White House wanted a Portuguese-speaking
bishop to attend. Needless to say they were
very surprised when an O'Malley showed up.
They sat me between President Bush senior,
whom I recognized, and a lovely young lady
who introduced herself as Gloria Estefan.
When I asked her if she worked in the White
House, she informed me that she was a famous
singer. I said to her, "you obviously don't
sing Gregorian chant." I hope she wasn't
offended. I suspect she understood that a
Friar wouldn't necessarily know who all
the stars are. Our culture, on the other hand,
is addicted to entertainment and lionized
the celebrities. For us the rela celebrities
are the saints. The world needs saints and
heroes to help us glimpse God's holiness
and beauty.
Today we recall the pro-life saints and heroes
like Blessed Mother Teresa, Saint Gianna Beretta
Mola, Blessed John Paul II and our own darling,
Nellie Gray. Pope John Paul II, the true hero
of the Gospel of Life, once said that "if
faith does not become culture, it is a faith
that is not fully accepted, not intensely
conceived, not faithfully lived." Our task
is to live our faith so intensely that we
will generate a culture of life, a society
that welcomes the weak and the poor, that
makes a place for every child at the table
of life, where people are more important than
money, and where the sick and the dying are
cherished and cared for.
Today's gospel 
gives us the first beatitude on the lips of
Elizabeth; "Blessed are you because you
believe." Faith brought blessedness, joy
and peace to the heart of Mary, the woman
of faith. May this Year of Faith, a gift from
our beloved Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI,
be a time of growth in faith and love, a deepening
of our personal conversion, and a renewed
sense of our mission to be witnesses of the
Gospel of Life. And like John the Baptist
in his mother's womb, may we jump for joy
each day to be in the presence of the Lord,
making clear to the world that our faith is
about joy, love, service to others and building
a culture of life.
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