 |
| Bishop Patrick O'Donoghue (right) |
Somebody has kindly sent to me the text of Bishop O'Donoghue's sermon at the pilgrimage. I include below some particularly impressive quotes. You can read the full sermon online, thanks to Robert Colquhoun.
For 41 years we've lived in a state-sponsored culture of death that has killed 5 million children, and we're now surprised that some of the surviving children have turned out violent with no regard for the sanctity of life?
How many children know that their mothers have had an abortion? What effect will it have on them knowing that they have been deprived of a brother or sister through abortion?
...
This is why we have come on pilgrimage to Walsingham, to make reparation for the desecration of so many homes throughout Our Lady's Dowry, homes that should have been reflections of the Holy House of Nazareth but have been broken by abortion, contraception and the culture of death.
We also come to ask Our Lady to intercede for us that God continues to bless our homes with the life-giving grace of Nazareth, and to heal the broken homes throughout the UK that cause so much heart-ache and deprivation.
...
Through taking on a human nature, a human body in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Jesus Christ, the eternally begotten Son of God, has united Himself with every woman, man, and child on this planet. By sharing in the same human nature as Jesus every human being born is somehow joined to the divine-human life of the Son of God who took flesh in the immaculate flesh of Mary, the Mother of God.
This means that each human person conceived shares in a triple dignity:
• Made in the Image of God
• The centre and crown of all creation
• Joined to Jesus Christ, the eternal begotten Son of God, through his incarnation in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
This is why all people that sincerely care about nature, and that seek to protect the environment from being destroyed should care about the destruction of the pre-born child by abortion. Every time a child is killed through abortion a person who is created by God as the centre and crown of all creation is destroyed. This is why abortion is the greatest crime against the natural world, against the environment.
This is why all Christians that sincerely care about human dignity and human rights should care about euthanasia and assisted suicide. Every time a vulnerable person's heart is stopped by drugs or the withdrawal of fluids or food, a person who is united with the humanity of the Son of God is unjustly and sinfully tortured and killed. This is why euthanasia and assisted suicide is the greatest crime against humanity.
This is why all Catholics, and all people of good will, who defend human life through their support of the pro-life movement are the most radical environmentalists and most radical advocates of human rights. The most endangered ecosystem on the planet is the mother's womb and the most endangered human right is the right to life of our most vulnerable citizens. Protecting the ecology of man from destruction by abortion and euthanasia should be the foremost concern of every human institution and government, in fact of every ecological group such as Green Peace and Friends of the Earth and every Human Rights group such as Amnesty International.
But tragically for the future of life on this planet, the ecological movement and human rights movement are often the loudest advocates of so called 'reproductive rights', which as we know is just a cynical euphemism for killing unborn children.
The world needs reminding that Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights recognises the right to life of every person. All are entitled to the rights of Freedom set forth in this declaration without distinction of any kind.
It is deplorable that so many states choose to allow the unborn child to be a victim and targeted for killing - a barbaric & evil practice. We must stand firm in our call for respect for human life from natural conception to natural death.
...
There is no one more lowly in our society than the unborn child and the vulnerable sick and elderly.
There is no one more powerful in our society than the politician, medical professional, or journalist who is pro-abortion, and pro-euthanasia. They are the Princes of the Culture of Death that has been established in our country.
...
The abortion industry in this country makes £60 million a year from the Department of Health for killing 200,000 unborn children
Embryonic children have been killed and harvested to produce lines of stem cells for the pharmaceutical industry to make vast profits.
Thousands of teenage mothers are pressurised into having abortions by the State to ensure that they don't claim social housing and benefits. Money is seen as being more important than a child's life.
A Christian, fully human society is one that puts the needs of the most vulnerable first, that values human life more than the balance sheet.It is very encouraging to hear of a bishop in this country powerfully repeating the great message spoken to the world by Mother Teresa, when receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979, that "the greatest destroyer of peace is abortion." With strong leadership from men like Bishop O'Donoghue there is still hope of ending this terrible destroyer of peace.
Comments on this blog? Email them to johnsmeaton@spuc.org.uk
Sign up for alerts to new blog-posts and/or for SPUC's other email services
Follow SPUC on Twitter
Like SPUC's Facebook Page
Please support SPUC. Please donate, join, and/or leave a legacy
