⇒ From The Catholic Times ⇒
COLUMBUS — While the Respect Life Mass at Columbus St. Joseph Cathedral and Roe Remembrance event at the Ohio Statehouse on Friday, Jan. 22 were disrupted by several protesters, members of the Diocese and area pro-life supporters participated in these prayerful observances marking the anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion.
“I want to express my great admiration and thanks to all those attending the Mass whose respectful and prayerful response reflects the joy, hope, and mercy that marks our pro-life witness,” Bishop Robert Brennan of Columbus said in a statement Friday evening. “I ask all to continue to pray for the unborn who died, for all those who have experienced the pain of abortion, and for those who cannot understand our divine and steadfast calling to champion this cause,” Brennan said.
The pandemic limited attendance at the Mass to about 200 people, but more people than ever participated via Livestream on the diocesan website. The Roe remembrance was attended by about 150 people and was moved outdoors due to COVID-19 concerns. The remembrance was also live streamed by sponsor Greater Columbus Right to Life.
Bishop Brennan and Bishop Edward Malesic of Cleveland were concelebrants of the Mass and were in attendance at the Statehouse event. Bishop Malesic, a graduate of the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, has been the Cleveland diocese’s spiritual shepherd for four months after serving as Bishop of the Diocese of Greensburg, Pennsylvania, for five years. He accepted Bishop Brennan’s personal invitation to attend.
In his homily at the Mass, Bishop Brennan noted that the 50th anniversary of the decision will take place in two years. “Can you believe it? Nearly a half-century which has marked our nation with the terrible scourge of abortion on demand. What started off as being a choice, something very limited, has come down now to our age of very, very extreme measures,” he said.
He said the current acceptance of abortion by much of the public was a fulfillment of Pope St. Paul VI’s prediction in 1968 that anti-abortion attitudes would begin sliding downward and, once the slide started, would keep going further downhill.
“Often we’re made to feel as if we’re the odd ones who believe in life, that abortion is the way to go, but that’s not true,” Bishop Brennan said. “We’ve made much progress over the years in the transformation of culture, but most people don’t believe that.
“The prevailing political and media-driven image is that no, no, no, you and I are wrong for believing in the sanctity and the dignity of human life.
“One of the great things about democracy is that here we are, gathered in one place, and it’s a very joy-filled occasion as we celebrate faith and celebrate life and see that many people have our convictions. It’s a real privilege to see this.”
Near the end of the homily, the protesters began to shout and walked up the cathedral’s center aisle before being escorted out of the building. After they left, Bishop Brennan said, “first of all, we pray for them,” then apologized for the disturbance. He repeated the apology at the end of the homily, concluding it by saying, “We didn’t gather here for this. I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.”
While protesters also went to great lengths to disrupt the Statehouse event with chanting and portable loudspeakers, all attended were inspired by the speakers’ messages of life, love, and hope. Bishop Malesic told those attending the rally that they “are a great witness to the Lord, to love, to peace, to joy, to happiness. You’re a great inspiration to me.”
“The fundamental right to be alive is what allows us to love everyone,” he said during his unscripted remarks. “There is no hatred on this side of the fence. We won’t win this argument (against those favoring abortion) by yelling. We will win this argument by the strength of it.
“I often say you can’t attract people by fishing with bricks. You can’t put a brick in a pond and expect the fish to come to it. This will not attract them. We need to attract people by our beauty. We attract people by our peace. We attract people by loving them.”
Bishop Malesic referred to this when he said, “There are two sides here, and it’s very odd. Let me tell you, if I was an outside observer, I know exactly which side I would choose. There’s beauty and there’s ugliness. There’s peace and there’s violence. There’s love and there’s hatred. There’s life and there’s death.
“The Lord sets before us many choices. He asks us to take sides. May we side with life. May we side with beauty and peace and love and non-violence, including non-verbal violence. May we listen to each other and accompany each other so that in the end, we will find ourselves where the Lord came to bring us, and that’s to a kingdom of peace and justice.”
Peggy Hartshorn, president of Columbus-based Heartbeat International, a pro-life internet call center with an international outreach, said during her remarks that medication abortions are becoming increasingly common, accounting for half the abortions in the nation and most central Ohio abortions.
Such abortions involve the taking of two drugs. The first of the two, mifepristone, blocks the release of progesterone, which is needed for a healthy pregnancy. The second, misoprostol, is taken a day or two later and results in expulsion of a fetus from the womb, aborting the child. If a woman takes progesterone after taking the first of the two drugs, but before taking the second, it may prevent the abortion from occurring. Ohio Right to Life says studies have shown this treatment is successful in permitting a pregnancy to continue 64 to 68 percent of the time.
The Abortion Pill Reversal Network, sponsored by Heartbeat International, provides information about the procedure, which was introduced by Dr. George Delgado of San Diego in 2012. The network has 32 providers in Ohio.
Hartshorn quoted from a letter by a nurse at one of the Columbus Pregnancy Decision Health Centers who works with abortion pill reversal clients. The nurse wrote of a woman who saw in an ultrasound that taking progesterone had kept her baby alive. “They told me the baby would be dead by the time I took those other pills to force the baby out, but my baby is not dead. I cannot believe this,” the woman told the nurse on the day she would have taken the second pill. The child, a boy, is now seven months old.
Beth Vanderkooi, executive director of the rally’s sponsor, Greater Columbus Right to Life, said that although pro-life forces have made much progress, particularly in Ohio, they still face many challenges because the new administration in Washington has indicated that it supports abortion.
The invocation for the rally was delivered by Doug Dunsmoor of the pastoral staff of Faith Community Church in Dublin. It closed with a benediction from Bishop Malesic and what has become the traditional singing of the Marian hymn Salve Regina (Hail, Holy Queen) by Dominican novices from St. Gertrude Priory in Cincinnati directed by Father Michael Mary Dosch, OP, novice master for the Dominicans’ St. Joseph Province and former pastor of Columbus St. Patrick Church.
Catholic Times photos by Ken Snow
TOP: Approximately 200 people gathered for the annual Respect Life Mass sponsored by the diocese’s Office for Social Concerns at St. Joseph Cathedral on Friday, Jan. 22, the 48th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade abortion decision.
BOTTOM LEFT: Diocese of Columbus Bishop Robert Brennan celebrates the Respect Life Mass at St. Joseph Cathedral Jan. 22.
BOTTOM RIGHT: Women and children brave wind and chilly temperatures to witness to the sanctity of life nearby at the Ohio Statehouse, also on Jan. 22.
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