Vicar general says charity can overcome culture of death
Gabriel Project of Indiana director Eileen Hartman of St. Bartholomew Parish in Columbus presents a Catholic Life Network Pro Vita Award to Robert Rust of Greensburg, who is a member of St. John the Evangelist Parish in Enochsburg, during the fourth annual Catholic Pro-Life Dinner on March 8 in Indianapolis. Five other pro-life volunteers also were honored during the program. (Photo by Mary Ann Wyand)
By Mary Ann Wyand
Faith, hope and charity are the foundations of the pro-life movement, Msgr. Joseph F. Schaedel, vicar general, explained in his keynote address during the fourth annual Catholic Pro-Life Dinner on March 8 in downtown Indianapolis.
To combat the culture of death in a troubled world, he said, pro-life supporters must act lovingly and charitably, offer hope and help to those who need it, and pray for God’s intervention in the eternal battle of good against evil.
The dinner was sponsored by the Catholic Life Network and Catholics United for the Faith to raise funds for the archdiocesan Office for Pro-Life Ministry and Gabriel Project of Indiana. (Listen to Msgr. Schaedel's address; 12 MB, mp3 format)
Catholic Life Network Pro Vita Awards for distinguished service were presented to St. Anthony parishioner Kathleen Naghdi of Indianapolis, a longtime Birthline volunteer; Our Lady of the Greenwood parishioner Pam Leffler of Greenwood, a Rachel’s Vineyard Retreats volunteer; and SS. Francis and Clare of Assisi parishioner Kim Stecher of Greenwood, a volunteer pro-life youth event coordinator.
Also honored with Pro Vita Awards for distinguished volunteer service to the Gabriel Project were St. Therese of the Infant Jesus (Little Flower) parishioner Anita Moody of Indianapolis; Robert Rust of Greensburg, who is a member of St. John the Evangelist Parish in Enochsburg; and St. Elizabeth Ann Seton parishioner Jane Blanchard of Carmel, Ind., in the Lafayette Diocese.
“Pope Benedict XVI’s first encyclical is about charity,” Msgr. Schaedel told the gathering. “In ‘Deus Caritas Est’—‘God Is Love’—the Holy Father points out that there are various kinds of love. He also points out in that very same encyclical that our society has many problems that need to be remedied.”
To do that, the vicar general said, “we have to look at some of the challenges in our society to suggest remedies. We have to know what we are up against, and we have to do it in charity for the sake of others.”
Last December, he said, Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick was sentenced to 23 months in prison for organizing and promoting the cruel and illegal practice of dog-fighting.
Yet in 1973, Msgr. Schaedel said, the U.S. Supreme Court justices legalized abortion during all nine months of pregnancy in their Roe v. Wade decision, which has resulted in the deaths of more than 51 million unborn babies.
“One of four babies dies by choice,” he said. “It’s legal to obtain an abortion during all nine months of pregnancy for elective reasons in all 50 states in this country.”
Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion provider in the U.S., recently completed a $7 million fundraising campaign in Indianapolis, Msgr. Schaedel said, to upgrade their existing centers and pay for a new abortion facility constructed at West 86th Street and Georgetown Road.
“Some very fine civic leaders in our [Indianapolis] community have given to Planned Parenthood,” he said. “They’ve made significant gifts to that campaign.
“Planned Parenthood is not interested in either planning or parenthood,” the vicar general said. “Human life has become cheap. It’s disposable.”
Planned Parenthood also aggressively promotes the use of artificial birth control methods to young people, Msgr. Schaedel noted, while encouraging them to become sexually active.
“Planned Parenthood isn’t interested in births,” he said, “and they’re not interested in control either.”
The abortion provider is using the guise of health education about human sexuality to market their abortion services, he said, despite the serious moral and medical problems associated with sexual promiscuity.
“We know that in our culture, the role of parents, the family, is undermined in very subtle ways,” Msgr. Schaedel said. “Recently, the Alaska Supreme Court ruled that underage girls can seek abortions without their parents’ consent. … But if one of those same girls is injured at school on the playground, the school nurse or even the hospital cannot treat her without her parents’ consent. … School officials in Portland, Maine, have decided to allow children as young as 11 years old to obtain contraceptives without their parents’ knowledge.”
Children are seen as consumers, he said, and companies spend millions of dollars a year for advertising targeted at influencing young people.
As Christians, he said, “we have to know what we are up against because charity always seeks solutions to problems and we have plenty [of problems] in the U.S. In all honesty and charity, we have to say—with our Lord on the cross—‘Father, forgive them, for they know not what they are doing.’ ”
Fortunately, he said, there are signs of hope in American culture.
“The number of abortions and abortion providers in the United States and in the state of Indiana has been decreasing for about the last 20 years,” the vicar general said. “The Alan Guttmacher Institute reports statistics for Planned Parenthood. Their report from last January says that the abortion rate for women ages 15 to 44 is the lowest it’s been since … the [U.S.] Supreme Court made abortion on demand legal in all 50 states. Then they report, with a tear in their eye, that 86 counties out of 92 in Indiana have no abortion providers. … That’s a sign of hope.”
Another sign of hope is the archdiocesan “A Promise to Keep: God’s Gift of Human Sexuality” peer mentor abstinence program, he said, which honored 350 teenage volunteers on March 6 and featured a speech by Lt. Gov. Becky Skillman, who emphasized the value of waiting for marriage. (See related story)
The National March for Life held each January in the nation’s capital is yet another sign of hope, he said. “This is the 35th year for that march. Tens of thousands of young people from all over the country marched in Washington, D.C., to protest the Roe v. Wade decision by the Supreme Court.”
The Catholic Church “has been right all along” regarding respect for the sanctity of life, Msgr. Schaedel said. “ ‘Humanae Vitae’ in 1968 reaffirmed the Church’s teaching that artificial contraception is wrong. … Pope Paul VI made four general prophecies or predictions about what would happen if the Church’s teachings on contraception were ignored.”
Pope Paul warned that artificial birth control would result in increases in immoral behavior, conjugal infidelity, divorce, out-of-wedlock pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, the vicar general said. The pope also warned that men would lose respect for women, people would treat each other as objects for pleasure, artificial contraception would become a dangerous weapon in the hands of public authorities and people would think they have unlimited dominion over their bodies.
“Forty years ago this year, Paul VI was right,” Msgr. Schaedel said. “The Church’s moral teaching is right. … In all charity, we realize that the world is a mess when it comes to respect for life issues. … There are a lot of people that need our prayers because in terms of the natural law—and that’s God’s law—they’re wrong.”
Pro-Life Action League founder and national director Joseph Scheidler of Chicago, who attended the fundraiser, said he appreciated Msgr. Schaedel’s remarks.
“The crisis of our time is that we as a society have lost respect for life,” Scheidler said. “… To take life so lightly that you can kill children, you can practice euthanasia, you can treat people like things, like sick animals, is just appalling. … But we are seeing a rebirth of respect for life. … There’s great hope in the pro-life movement. I see it everywhere among the young people. We have the truth. … Prayer is the most powerful tool we have.” †
