On January 22, the 17th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision, the pro-life people of Arizona – like tens of thousands of others across the U.S. – marched to the state Capitol.
On that Sunday, the priest at a large R.C. church in Scottsdale spoke clearly about the sin of abortion. He encouraged all present to fight the evil, to attend the march, or, if unable to do so, to pray at the time of the rally.
At this point in his sermon he did something unusual. He asked all who knew about Roe v. Wade to raise their hands, and looking around at the large congregation, he said: “I think it’s about 50 percent.” Fifty per cent! After 17 years of hard work by pro-life groups, after all the pro-life marches on the anniversaries of Roe v. Wade, after all the discussion in the media about the Supreme Court decision in 1989 – only 50 per cent knew about Roe v. Wade.
It is important to note the composition of this particular congregation. Many, perhaps most of the people present were winter visitors from the northern U.S. and from Canada. Many others are senior citizens who have moved permanently to Arizona. Almost everyone in the church belonged to the most affluent and best educated section of the people of the United States. But, after 17 years only half knew the evil of Roe v. Wade. Over one and a half million abortions take place in the U.S. every year, and good people are seemingly unaware of how this slaughter began.
But what is clear, is that on one Sunday morning, in one Sunday morning, in one church, some hundreds of people were informed, not only about the evils of abortion but also about their duty to do something about it.
If only this could happen in every church-then victory would be assured.
