JOHN SMEATON, DIRECTOR OF SPUC: My message to US Catholic leaders was well-received

Wednesday, 12 February 2014

My message to US Catholic leaders was well-received

My visit to Russia's UN delegation:
Peter Smith, one of SPUC's chief UN
lobbyists, is on the right

I'm travelling back to the UK today after a three-week working visit to the United States. I met a number of pro-life leaders, either in their offices or at the Legatus Summit, as well as Archbishop Chullikatt and members of the Holy See's delegation to the United Nations. I also met (introduced by Peter Smith, one of SPUC's chief UN lobbyists) the Russian delegation to the UN (pictured) and I congratulated them on recent legislation in Russia to ban advertising abortion services.

I was honoured to receive the Cardinal John J O'Connor Award from Legatus and am pleased to have received some kind and positive comments about the talks I gave: here are a couple of reports from LifeSiteNews.com:

Tom Monaghan (Legatus founder), Josephine Smeaton (John's wife), John Smeaton, Mike Faricy (Legatus board)

Finally, I wish to pause and reflect on the Gospel from this past Sunday Mass, which was from St Matthew, chapter 5:13-16. Here is the same Gospel but starting at verse 10 and ending half-way through verse 13:

"Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye when they shall revile you, and persecute you, and speak all that is evil against you, untruly, for my sake: Be glad and rejoice, for your reward is very great in heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets that were before you. You are the salt of the earth."

These words of our Lord, persecuted so cruelly Himself, seem to me to apply very aptly to the pro-life counsellors who were attacked this week so hypocritically by the mainstream media and their orchestrators in the pro-abortion lobby. We must let pro-life counsellors know that they are the salt of the earth, blessed now on earth and promised great reward in heaven. I am also very proud of SPUC's team in London which issued a strong statement defending those counsellors and fighting back against the culture-of-death business. The statement is full of factual information, based on SPUC's nearly 50 years of experience.

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About Me

I became involved in SPUC after graduating, when I established a branch in south London in 1974. I have worked full-time for SPUC for 42 years. I became chief executive of SPUC in the UK in 1996, having been general secretary since 1978. I was elected vice-president of International Right to Life Federation in 2005. At UN conferences in Cairo, Copenhagen, Beijing, Istanbul and Rome, I helped coordinate more than 150 pro-life/pro-family groups resulting in pro-life victories in Cairo, Istanbul and Rome. I was educated at Salesian College, London, before going to Oxford where I graduated in English Language and Literature. I qualified as a teacher, becoming head of English at a secondary school. I am married to Josephine. We have a grown-up family and we live in north London.