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Religion See other Religion Articles Title: Pray, seek new societal vision to fight abortion, archbishop says Pray, seek new societal vision to fight abortion, archbishop says By Nancy Frazier O'Brien 1/22/2007 Catholic News Service WASHINGTON (CNS) – Calling silence and ignorance the "twin allies of atrocities," Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl of Washington urged participants in a Mass preceding the March for Life Jan. 22 to "repudiate all forms of violence" and pray for an end to abortion. "If the spiral of violence and death that haunts our streets, schools, families and communities is to be broken, we need a new vision," he said. "We must realize and proclaim that there is something wrong with our society if all we can offer a woman caught up in the drama of an unexpected pregnancy is abortion." The archbishop was chief celebrant and delivered the homily at an early morning Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. The 7:30 a.m. Mass closed an all-night vigil – sponsored by the basilica, the U.S. bishops' Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities and The Catholic University of America – that also included a rosary for life, night prayer, Holy Hours, morning prayer and the opportunity for confession. Archbishop Wuerl said "Jesus offered the way – demanding but fruitful" – to change hearts through prayer. "The current culture of violence will yield only to that spiritual force that first touches and then changes individual hearts," he added. The Washington archbishop said a high school student asked him a few months ago what the church has to offer society today. "What the church brings to our world, to our culture, to our society, to our nation, to our lives, to you and me, is the encounter with Jesus Christ, the risen Lord and the word of God, the voice and gospel of life," he said. "When we ask, why does the church struggle so hard to defend human life, the answer will be found, I believe, in what will be history's reproach of this age that condones the single greatest moral plight in our nation since the days of slavery," Archbishop Wuerl said. When looking as such atrocities as the concentration camps of World War II, slavery in Civil War times and abortion today, "one wonders how such activities could be accepted by any people anywhere at any time," he added. Rejecting all arguments in favor of abortion, he said there can be "vexing, painful and pressing circumstances that call for a great deal of assistance, understanding, compassion and support, but they can never justify the taking of the innocent life of the baby in the womb." Archbishop Wuerl recalled visiting a maternity hospital in Chimbote, Peru, years ago as bishop of Pittsburgh and holding a day-old infant there. "The baby latched onto my finger with all of his force and held tight," he said. "That infant can be a parable figure for us," he added. "Countless unborn infants are reaching out to hold on to us with all of their strength since we are the only voice they have in the struggle to find a place, a home, a life in this world." The crowd at the basilica for the morning Mass was estimated at more than 2,600, including 359 people who spent the night at the church to participate in vigil activities.
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