Donald DeMarco:

Fr. Paul Marx founded Human Life International.

Rev. Paul Marx, was the 15th of 17 children born to devoutly religious parents, George and Elizabeth, on a dairy farm in St. Michael, Minnesota on May 8, 1920. Coincidentally, and perhaps in some way providentially, Benjamin Franklin was also the 15th of 17 children. It may also be of interest to note that Paul Marx’s baptismal first name was Benno.

He was dubbed the “Apostle of Life,” although his parents may have been be equally deserving of such an illustrious encomium. Being a priest, he did not have any children of his own, but the number of children he saved from abortion is uncountable. Like St. Paul, he fought the good fight, traveling more than three million miles, visiting all 50 states and 91 countries proclaiming the sanctity of life. This earned him the dubious honour of being, Planned Parenthood’s “Public enemy #1.” On the other hand, he received a personal letter from Ronald Reagan in which the President of the United States told him that “You can be proud of all you’ve done to summon this Nation and others to reflection and positive action on issues affecting the sanctity of human life. God bless you.” Fr. Marx was caught in the cross fires of the world. He understood this only too well as a disciple of Christ.

This writer and Fr. Marx were together once at a pro-life conference.  I noticed something that he hadn’t, that the person who created his name tag had mistakenly identified him as Karl Marx. Far from being Marx brothers, these two human beings could not have been further apart from each other in their respective attitudes toward life. As a consequence of Karl’s iniquitous communist philosophy, millions of human beings were put to death. Paul circled the world announcing the importance of each and every life. The mistake was amusing, but quickly corrected.

Fr. Marx was unswerving in his commitment to life for more than five decades. He was not, unsurprisingly, appreciated by the secular world. He was branded “anti-abortion,” a most unfortunate and undeserving label. The difference between being pro-life and anti-abortion is considerable. Being pro-life is a response to the beauty and value of life. It is natural and original. It is a positive impulse that comes from the heart. It comes first. Being anti-abortion is a secondary response to those who promote abortion. Assuredly, if a person values life, he will be against its destruction. A man will say to his sweetheart, in proposing marriage, “I love you.” But he will certainly not say, “I am against your being killed.” His forthcoming marriage will be based on love, not on an opposition to his wife being put to death, although he surely would not favour that. Fr. Marx was pro-life and it is a terrible disservice to him to overlook his primary outlook and cast him in a negative spotlight.

To be pro-life is to have a broad view of life and sensitive to the many ways in which life can be degraded and assaulted. Thus, Fr. Marx joined his many supporters in being opposed not only to abortion but to child abuse, poverty, domestic violence, suicide, and euthanasia. He was especially critical of contraception since he was convinced it was the gateway to abortion. Being pro-life is far more extensive than being anti-abortion. The secular depiction of him was severely truncated.

On Nov. 17, 1979, Fr. Marx had an audience with Pope St. John Paul II. He recalls, after describing his international work to the Holy Father, how he looked at him for “an uncomfortably long time as if in prayer, and then finally said, ‘You have lots of experience. You must bring this pro-life, pro-family movement all over the earth; and if you do that, you will be doing the most important work on earth.’”  These words from John Paul II remained close to Fr. Marx’s heart and were a continually source of inspiration for him.

In 1981, Fr. Marx founded Human Life International in Washington, D.C., and served as its leader until 1999. He became, deservedly, the “Apostle for Life” within the pro-life movement. He also founded the Population Research Institute (1989). He authored a dozen books, and numerous pamphlets, and articles. His book titles included: The Death Peddlers: War on the Unborn (1971), Confessions of a Pro-Life Missionary (1988), Fighting for Life (1989), The Flying Monk: Still Fighting for Life (1990), Apostle of Life (1991), The Warehouse Priest (1993), and an autobiography, Faithful for Life (1997). When Steven Mosher, president of the Population Research Institute, presented Fr. Marx with a “Founder’s Award” he told the audience that, “What Shakespeare is to poetry, what Mozart is to music, what Babe Ruth is to baseball, Fr. Paul Marx is to the pro-life movement.”  And in saying this, Mosher was not indulging in hyperbole.

Just before his death early on Saturday morning, on March 20, 2010, according to eyewitness accounts, Fr. Marx raised his hands in the air and said, as death drew near, “Take me home.” May this faithful Apostle rest in peace in a realm where everyone is pro-life. He passed away just shy of 90 years of age.