I love exciting week-ends and I certainly enjoyed one recently. It was at the Saskatchewan Pro-Life Convention, held in North Battleford from Friday October 18, to Sunday October 20.
Doctor Jim McLane, president of the Battleford Pro-Life Association had invited me to give two talks. One was during the day and I spoke on the family. The other was as guest speaker at the banquet and my theme was, “Winners Don’t Quit and Quitters don’t Win.” Some two hundred pro-lifers attended the convention and banquet.
Doctor Jim met me at the plane in Saskatoon and drove me the eighty or so miles to Battleford.
The roads are dead straight and the surrounding country like a billiard table. With a less interesting companions than Jim it could have a boring drive – but it wasn’t.
The convention opened officially on Friday evening with a powerful talk given by Blaise Morand, the Bishop of Prince Albert Diocese. Among many other impressive statements, the bishop challenged us with this one: “Our response as pro-lifers must be to bear witness to life. When life is being destroyed or threatened or diminished, we must stand up and say, ‘That is wrong.’ We must support and maintain life from the womb to the tomb.”
It was a stirring start to a very successful week-end.
Meeting the people
While I usually find the talks interesting and informative, I have to admit that, for me at least, the most thrilling part of a convention is meeting other people of very different backgrounds, nationalities, ages and faiths, who are so totally united on one issue – ‘human life is sacred.’ The pro-life movement is the best ecumenical experience I have ever encountered. I have made some wonderful friends with people whose beliefs are very different from mine on many points of theology. But we are so united on the right to life of pre-born babies and all other human beings that we can momentarily overlook our other differences.
Ti give just two examples from the convention – I met a really delightful young couple named Dan and Bev Reutherford. Dan is a pastor ministering to an Anglican community in Winnipeg. Bev is a medical doctor who devotes herself and her skill to helping poor women and girls. My companion at the banquet was a Salvation Army officer named Dwight Strain. As I had very much admired the excellent charitable work of the members of the Army in Kenya, we had plenty to chat about. And yet people persist in saying that the pro-life is a ‘Catholic issue.’
While in Battleford I had the pleasure of staying at St. Joseph Rectory and enjoying the hospitality of Father Jean-Guy Lang. I preached at the two Masses on Sunday morning and sold more than $1,200 worth of my book, Yes, I’d Do It Again. When added to those sold at the convention itself, we were able to give Campaign Life Coalition a cheque for more than $2,000; they need every cent of it!
But Jim McLane was determined to keep me fully occupied during my few days in Battleford.
On Monday morning I had a TV interview at a cable station. Jim was the interviewer so he ‘teed-ed up the ball’ with every question and all I had to do was hit it.
And that was not all!
Jim had arranged with Paul Hudek, the grade seven teacher at Holy Family school for me to have a session with the class. The kids were simply great. They listened with attention and their manners were impeccable. I began by telling them of my African experiences and led on to the fact that, in almost thirty years working in the bush, I had never heard of an abortion. I knew there were abortions in Nairobi and Mombasa, where the white man had come with his brand of paganism. But not among the people who – while knowing nothing of the teaching of the Church – are fully aware of the value of a child.
Plebiscite
While I was in Battleford, the provincial election took place. As everybody now knows, the NDP won by a landslide. Most people to whom I spoke seemed to expect this. But, from a pro-life point of view, the plebiscite had more significance. The following question was put to the voters: “Abortions are legally performed in some Saskatchewan hospitals. Should the government pay for abortion procedures?”
OF those who voted, 37 per cent said ‘No’ and 3 per cent said ‘Yes.’ This was a heartening victory for pro-lifers.
Some of the pro-abortionists had stated before the election that very few people would bother voting on this issue. As a matter of fact, 80 per cent of those who voted in the election did bother to express their wishes. But, without the faith, courage and generosity of the pro-life people, it could easily have gone the other way.
Will the NDP government honour the will of the people? They are not legally bound to in this case. But, if they have any principles, they certainly should.
Possibly the most encouraging aspect of the plebiscite was the appearance in the Saskatoon Star Pheonix of a list of 138 Saskatchewan doctors under the large heading, “Abortion is not the answer.”
Among other outstanding statements the doctors say, “We call on our medical and nursing colleagues who are involved in abortion to reconsider abortion and join us in working together toward life-giving solutions. We ask you, the citizens of Saskatchewan to vote ‘No’ to public funding of abortion.” This is, indeed, a powerful testimony.
One of the most inspiring episodes of my visit to Battleford was the blessing of a beautiful memorial erected a few months ago in the public cemetery. The stone, reading, “In memory of all pre-born babies killed by abortion,” is the first of its kind in Canada. Texts from Holy Scripture and statements by such people as Pope John Paul II and Mother Theresa are also inscribed on the six-foot high monument, which cost nearly $5,000. It was donated by the Battleford Right to Life and Knights of Columbus.
My return journey was not at all as easy as my going out. On Sunday night the heavens opened and the snow fell in bucketfuls. I was to be driven to the airport by Father James Hermann but it was decided that the bus was a safer bet as the 80 miles of road looked forbidding.
Bernadette Mysko, President of the Saskatchewan Pro-Life Association, was alerted by phone in Saskatoon. She met me at the bus depot – with twenty minutes to catch the plane – and we made it to the airport on time. The plane was obligingly late owing to the weather. And so, I returned to a beautiful Toronto evening.
Yes, I was tired, but I was also inspired. The Saskatchewan Pro-Life Movement is alive and well and thriving in the capable hands of Bernadette Mysko, Jim McLane and a host of others who will never lay down their arms as long as even one pre-born baby is in danger.
