November 3, 2008
St. Martin de Porres
How shall we serve the poor? How shall we balance off attention to our own interests, as well as the interests of others? How shall we give a feast and invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind–in short, the marginalized and powerless who have not enough resources for human life and human dignity? This question is particularly urgent today, because tomorrow many of us will stand before ballots that have on them the clearest choice in modern history. I’ve never told you how to vote, and won’t start today, but as we consider our sacred duty to act in support of those who have no power, it behooves us to remember the years 1960 and 1964 and their sequellae.
Then, the nominally Catholic president and his successor were bringing change to the country. On the surface, the change was all good. All Americans of age should have the right to vote, and now they do–whatever their race or religion. All Americans of any age should have their basic civil rights, to life, liberty and property. Those changes were good, and have done much good.
But behind the scenes, men of wealth and power were manipulating the government to take away what the superficial changes were putting into place. In the Supreme Court, the Griswold decision legalized contraception, and then Congress, under the deceptive guise of caring for minorities, began forcing contraceptives on poor black women. At the same time, overhauls in welfare began to destroy the African-American family. Fifty years later, over half of all African American babies are born outside wedlock. For poor whites and Hispanics, the number is over a third. Men of wealth and power thought we could solve the problem of poverty by eliminating the poor. Shortly after that, Roe v Wade and Doe v Bolton gave us unrestricted abortion at any time from conception to birth, and now over a million and a half children are murdered each year before they take their first breath–and sometimes after–as sacrifices to the pagan god Choice. You need to live under a rock not to realize that there is a clear choice between presidential candidates on the issue of protecting the most innocent, most helpless, and least powerful among us–the unborn. I submit to you that it is gravely immoral to vote for someone who would at the first opportunity take my taxes and yours and use it for infanticide. Let’s pray together that protecting life be THE issue on which our nation can unite. St Martin of the Poor, pray for us.
