Roe v. Wade Overturned

Today the 1973 decision of Roe v. Wade which established unlimited abortion as the rule in the United States – was overturned. It is the remarkable fruit of decades of selfless action by people of all faiths. Is it not remarkable that the decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization was released on the Feast of the Sacred Heart? Msgr. Ignacio Barreiro gave the following sermon in 2015 on this Feast:

 In 1674, Jesus appeared to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque and He promised to her:

“In the excess of the mercy of my Heart, I promise you that my all powerful love will grant to all those who will receive Communion on the First Fridays, for nine consecutive months, the grace of final repentance: they will not die in my displeasure, nor without receiving the sacraments; and my Heart will be their secure refuge in that last hour.”

Our Lord also promised to give priests the power to touch the most hardened hearts. But this promise when can say that also applies to all you who work faithfully in the apostolate of the Church, in particular in many apostolates that certainly are close to His Heart like the pro-life apostolate, or in the educational apostolate and last but not least, in the Liturgical Apostolate to make the Liturgy of the Church worthy of the Lord to whom were are offering our adoration. The worship of the Sacred Heart will help us speak the truth with love to sinners who feel far from God, and from his Church and will help us to gently lead them back to the Good Shepherd, who is meek and humble of heart. (Matthew 11, 29)

In his own life, Msgr. Barreiro exemplified the initmate connection of pro-life winess with traditional Catholic devotion: he served for many years in leadership roles in Human Life International while exercising the duties of a tradionalist priest. Indeed he ended his life as curate of a Connecticut parish (St. Mary’s, Norwalk) that celebrated the traditionalist Mass. Reviewing our archives, I encountered again so many others who in the past were committed to both the pro-life cause and Catholic Traditionalism. This union of liturgy, faith and action demonstrates why the Catholic traditionalist movement can never be a merely aesthetic, “High Church” sect.

The pro-life cause contiuned on its path for years on an entirely voluntary basis. It involved organizations, marches, campus groups, publications and even new religious orders. This is a further parallel with the decentralized, spontaneous culture of the traditionalist movement.

It goes without saying that the secular “power elite” – the universities, the corporations, the law firms, the professional organizations, etc. – have utter disdain and hatred for the pro-life movement. You can see this today in the one-sided hysterical reactions to the Dobbs decision being propagated by our media.

More distressing and tragic, however, is the abuse to which pro-lifers have been subjected even by their supposed allies. One thinks of the great pro-life crusader Joe Sobran, who was vilified by “conservatives” and made a “non-person” even by the very pro-life organization he had put on the map. One recalls the disdain displayed towards American pro-lifers by Pope Francis and his entourage, such as the Jesuit Fr. Spadaro’s characterization of the (mainly pro-life) collaboration of Catholics and evangelical Christians as an “unholy alliance.” One remembers the “seamless garment” ideology and the never-ending search of establishment Catholics for a mythical pro-life Democratic Party.

This leads to a further point of reflection. The pro-life movement is above all a triumph of the political. The movement demonstrated that it was capable of acting politically: inspiring spontaneous individual action, forging alliances, making decisions, confronting enemies, and concentrating efforts on one great goal. These characteristics form the greatest possible contrast with the culture of the institutional Catholic Church. And in this regard let us remember that Dobbs is the fruit of the efforts over the years of the Republican Party and above all of President Donald Trump.

Dobbs is not the end of the pro-life journey – it is hardly the beginning. Yet just from what I am reading today it is a great inspiration to the pro-life movement throughout the world. And it should always serve as a model and guide for all those struggling for justice yet discouraged in the face of seemingly insurmountable official opposition.