Against The Grain

Sunday, January 25, 2004

Today, our parish included a prayer "for the closing of an abortion mill" in the intercessory prayers of the faithful. Browsing the website of Priests For Life this afternoon, I discovered an innovative and wonderful project: matching local Catholic parishes with free-standing abortion mills within their boundaries and promoting the "spiritual adoption" thereof:

Obviously, all of us throughout the nation are responsible for praying and working for an end to abortion throughout the nation, and the closing of every mill in the nation. With this project, however, the very big effort of "the Church" ending "abortion" gets translated into a particular gathering of the Church, a parish, ending the killing at a particular abortion millclose by. This effort increases the focus by which the energy of people in the parish can be channeled. It also provides simple ways that everyone in the parish -- whether young or old, healthy or sick, mobile or homebound -- can direct their prayers for an end to abortion. . . .

Intercessory prayer is a powerful (and underappreciated) spiritual weapon in the struggle to end the evil of abortion. There is no telling of the hearts and minds that can be changed. ("For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." Matthew 18:20).

Imagine if every Catholic parish in America were to unite together in participation in this project? -- Imagine if this were to be extended ecumenically to other Christian denominations?

Labels: politics