How Many Abortions are Enough for Governor Cuomo?

January 12th, 2013

111,212

77,327

41%

Those are, in order: the number of abortions that took place in 2010 in New York State, abortions specifically in New York City, and the percentage of pregnancies in the City that end in abortion.  Stated in such bald terms, they are appalling, and each one of them represents a tragedy to mothers, fathers, and the unborn children.

We want the number to be zero, of course, but you would think that even for a “pro-choice” politician with any sense of balance and sanity, those numbers would be too high.

Apparently not for for our ideologically committed and politically ambitious Governor Andrew Cuomo.    He appears to be fine with even more abortions.

In his State of the State speech last week, the Governor literally shouted his support for a woman’s “right to choose”, and called for the passage of a bill named the “Reproductive Health Act”.  The better name for the bill is the “Unlimited Abortion Act”, because it would remove any limitations on abortion, and prevent any further limitations.

This bill has nothing whatsoever to do with reproductive health.  It is an extremist bill that would:

  • Establish the destruction of unborn human beings as a “fundamental right”;
  • Make it impossible to pass common-sense regulations, like parental notification laws;
  • Permit non-doctors to perform abortions;
  • Undermine or eliminate the conscience protections in law that protect religious liberties, under the guise of eliminating “discrimination” against the newly-recognized “fundamental right”;
  • Require Church-owned hospitals, social service agencies, and schools to promote, perform, or refer for abortions;
  • Force our schools to help pregnant girls to get an abortion, or risk being sued for “discrimination”;
  • Endanger the licenses of doctors, nurses, and other professionals if they don’t promote, perform or refer for abortions.

    • People need to let their elected officials know that we don’t want any more abortions in New York.  There are too many already.  An easy way to contact your representatives is through the New York State Catholic Conference’s Catholic Action Network.

    Pro-abortion politicians used to posture that they wanted abortion to be “safe, legal, and rare”.  But our Governor doesn’t even pretend to care any longer about how rare abortion should be.  He doesn’t seem to want any limits on it — even laws that have been proven in other states to reduce the number of abortions and that are supported by wide majorities.

    How many abortions are enough for our extremist pro-abortion Governor?   To even have to ask such a question is the essence of the modern tragedy of the Culture of Death.

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    Posted in Abortion, Governor, Legislation | Comments Off

    The Holy Father Gets to the Heart of the Matter

    January 4th, 2013

    In the comments box of one of my recent posts about the redefinition of marriage, I had an interesting discussion with a homosexual gentleman about the nature of sexuality.

    In that discussion, our essential disagreement came down to a fundamental point about what it is to be human.  As I framed the question (I’ve cut and pasted from separate comments to boil this down to its clearest expression),

    The whole idea of “gender” reflected in your posts is that it’s just a bundle of attributes that are largely socially determined, and that can be revised according to the subjective desires of the individual… Our position rests on the notion that sexual difference can’t be assumed away. The complementary (i.e., different, equal, and necessarily interdependent) nature of male and female sexuality is a constitutive element of what it is to be a human being.

    The Holy Father has now addressed this point directly and powerfully, in his annual address to the Curia — what you might call his “State of the Church and the World Address”.  His comments, which come in the context of a discussion of the threats to the family, are worth quoting at length (my emphasis is added in bold):

    [T]he question of the family is not just about a particular social construct, but about man himself – about what he is and what it takes to be authentically human…

    The Chief Rabbi of France, Gilles Bernheim, has shown in a very detailed and profoundly moving study that the attack we are currently experiencing on the true structure of the family, made up of father, mother, and child, goes much deeper. While up to now we regarded a false understanding of the nature of human freedom as one cause of the crisis of the family, it is now becoming clear that the very notion of being – of what being human really means – is being called into question. He quotes the famous saying of Simone de Beauvoir: “one is not born a woman, one becomes so” (on ne naît pas femme, on le devient). These words lay the foundation for what is put forward today under the term “gender” as a new philosophy of sexuality. According to this philosophy, sex is no longer a given element of nature, that man has to accept and personally make sense of: it is a social role that we choose for ourselves, while in the past it was chosen for us by society.

    The profound falsehood of this theory and of the anthropological revolution contained within it is obvious. People dispute the idea that they have a nature, given by their bodily identity, that serves as a defining element of the human being. They deny their nature and decide that it is not something previously given to them, but that they make it for themselves. According to the biblical creation account, being created by God as male and female pertains to the essence of the human creature. This duality is an essential aspect of what being human is all about, as ordained by God. This very duality as something previously given is what is now disputed. The words of the creation account: “male and female he created them” (Gen 1:27) no longer apply. No, what applies now is this: it was not God who created them male and female – hitherto society did this, now we decide for ourselves.

    Man and woman as created realities, as the nature of the human being, no longer exist. Man calls his nature into question. From now on he is merely spirit and will. The manipulation of nature, which we deplore today where our environment is concerned, now becomes man’s fundamental choice where he himself is concerned. From now on there is only the abstract human being, who chooses for himself what his nature is to be. Man and woman in their created state as complementary versions of what it means to be human are disputed.

    But if there is no pre-ordained duality of man and woman in creation, then neither is the family any longer a reality established by creation. Likewise, the child has lost the place he had occupied hitherto and the dignity pertaining to him. Bernheim shows that now, perforce, from being a subject of rights, the child has become an object to which people have a right and which they have a right to obtain. When the freedom to be creative becomes the freedom to create oneself, then necessarily the Maker himself is denied and ultimately man too is stripped of his dignity as a creature of God, as the image of God at the core of his being. The defence of the family is about man himself. And it becomes clear that when God is denied, human dignity also disappears. Whoever defends God is defending man.

    The Holy Father thus gets to the precise center of the question — the debate about marriage and family is, at its heart, about the nature of the human person.  It is in the end a question about “who created me”.  The modernist approach is to create myself in my own image and likeness, making myself into my own little god, answerable to no objective or higher truth.  We’ve already seen how that false and destructive approach works (see Genesis 3, and the entire history of the Twentieth Century).

    The Holy Father has pointed to us the way out of this problem — to embrace the truth of our nature and the truth of our origin, and to defend the social expressions of those truths in marriage and the family.

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    Posted in Catholic Teaching, Marriage, Same-Sex "Marriage" | 13 Comments »

    When Words Fail

    December 19th, 2012

    It is difficult to contemplate, much less comment on, the terrible tragedy of Newtown, Connecticut.  At times like these, it is best to offer up our hearts and minds to God in prayer, even when we can’t find adequate words.

    May I suggest that people join with my colleagues in the Young Adult Outreach program of the Archdiocese in offering a Spiritual Bouquet for the victims, their families, and loved ones?

    Spiritual Bouquet for Newtown, CT

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    The Advent of our King and the Culture of Life

    December 13th, 2012

    (Last night, I was given the “Our Lady of Guadalupe Family Life Award” at the annual dinner for the support of the Montfort Academy, the wonderful high school dedicated to classical Catholic education, in full fidelity to the Church.  I’d like to share with you the text of my remarks at the award dinner.)

    I would like to thank you for inviting me here to this great event, and for giving me such a splendid award.  It is especially gratifying to receive an award like this from an institution that is doing so much to build and sustain a Culture of Life.  I often think that awards like this reflect more the generosity of the giver, than the merits of the recipient.  But I’m very grateful to you, and I’m also most grateful to God for the many opportunities he has given to me, to give witness to the Gospel of Life.  All glory to God!

    I think it is particularly appropriate that we’re speaking of the Gospel of Life, and our efforts to create a Culture of Life, here in the season of Advent, on this great feast day.  We are preparing ourselves for the coming of the Kingdom of God, and the coming of our King — revolutionary events that have changed the world.  We are living in anticipation of our salvation, which comes to us through hope (Rom. 8:24) and fills us with great joy.

    Of course, when we look around our world, many people are wondering if there is any evidence for that hope, or indeed any hope at all for our world.  There is reason for that concern — our society is in the grips of a culture of death, and is very deeply wounded.

    We’re all aware of the threats at the beginning of life. Abortion on demand is the law of our land, we’ve seen the re-election of a president who is fully committed to an anti-life agenda, a Supreme Court decision upholding a health care law that institutionalizes abortion, and the spread of the contraceptive mentality that views children not as a gift, but as a threat to be suppressed.

    At the end of life, we see continued threats, hidden behind jargon like “quality of life” and “medical futility” or a utilitarian calculation of the allocation of scarce resources.

    The family and marriage, are under attack in our courts and legislatures, and we will once again be at the mercy of a Supreme Court decision on such a fundamental issue.

    And, we are also aware of those among us who have been wounded — including millions of women and men who suffer in the aftermath of an abortion, as well as the victims of family breakdown.

    Our society needs healing from these deep wounds.  We are seeking some relief, but it’s very hard to find because we are all too often blinded by our wounds.  I am reminded of the poignant World War One painting by John Singer Sargent, called “Gassed”, which shows a line of injured soldiers, blinded by a poison gas attack, stumbling ahead to find a medical station.

    From all appearances, the state of our wounded world seems very bleak. And yet, and yet…

    We know something that the world does not.  We know a truth that the world does not recognize, or has forgotten — a truth about the human person, about human society, and about our relationship with God.  We know that every human being is created in the image and likeness of God, and that every human person — and human society as a whole — has been sanctified and redeemed by Jesus.  This vision is attractive and compelling to people — because it is true.

    We understand also that there is a law higher than any human law, a law that demands our obedience because it was written by God into our very nature.  This natural law offers us a vision of the common good and justice, that recognizes and defends human dignity, and allows for authentic human development.

    In fact, we know that there’s a revolution going on.  It’s a revolution of life and love. We know that there is a King whose reign is on the rise.  We have a hope that the world can never thwart.  And we know that this revolution — and this King — will bring peace and healing to our world.

    If we were to rely only on the media, we would be hard pressed to see this.  But we can see it, because of our unique perspective.  As the Letter to the Hebrews puts it, we are “strangers and exiles” (Heb 11:16), “for here we have no lasting city” (Heb 13:14).  Saint Augustine explained that we are citizens of the City of God, but we are still deeply engaged in the City of Man.  We may feel that we are in a kind of Babylonian captivity, but we heed the words of God through the Prophet Jeremiah, “seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare” (Jer 29:7).

    From this perspective, we can see the revolution of love in so many places:

  • At the March for Life, with thousands of young people who are unashamed to announce that they are pro-life and proud.
  • In the movement to embrace and promote chastity, where happy, joyful young people openly live lives of purity and beauty.
  • In the opinion polls, which show a genuine shift towards pro-life positions.
  • In legislatures around the nation, passing pro-life laws to protect women and children.
  • In the explosion of pro-life apostolic work, particularly the assistance given to women in crisis pregnancies, those with adverse pre-natal diagnosis, and those suffering in the aftermath of abortion.
  • In the growing numbers of  pro-life lawyers, doctors, and other professionals, who are making their profession a vocation.
  • In the dedication to prayer as the heart and soul of all of our efforts.
  • In the new, openly pro-life religious communities (like the Sisters of Life), which are booming.
  • In the revitalization of our Church, particularly in the renewal of traditional liturgy and devotions, and a new commitment to the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
  • And, of course, in the enterprise that you are all engaged in — the revival of authentic Catholic education, in all the richness of tradition, which answers the hunger for truth and fosters a love of fidelity.

    • In all these areas, and in many more, the Culture of Life is being built.  We argue, we convince, we give witness, we serve, we share, we suffer with, and we pray.  We work for the welfare of this great nation.  And we point out to our world the path to the healing it so desperately needs.  Of course, this is not easy — it is a struggle, it’s hard work.

    This struggle is nothing new.  Our revolution began in an ancient society immersed in death and sin, which was yearning for redemption and healing.  It started in a small family home in Nazareth, where a young woman said “yes” to that strange and fearful message from an angel.  It followed our great King as he healed and preached the truth, as he made his way to Calvary.  It burst forth from the empty tomb and caught fire in the upper room.  It spread through homes and families across the world, inspiring ordinary people who have struggled with all the difficulties and trials of their own times.  It strode bravely into the arena where it shed blood and inspired poetry.

    Our revolution has always been opposed by the forces of the world.  But through it all, it has brought healing and peace to the suffering of every nation and has boldly held aloft the standard of our King.

    That standard has now been passed to us. We may be strangers and exiles in this land, but the battle has been joined — in our families, in our marriages, in our parishes, in our schools, in our communities, in our voting booths, in our legislatures, in our courts.  In our hearts.

    Advent is here.  Our King is at hand.  Where else would we rather be, except in this struggle, in this time, at the side of our King, at the side of our Queen?

    All glory and honor to our King Jesus Christ, now and forever.  Amen.

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    Posted in Pro-Life, Religion in Public Life | 4 Comments »

    The View from Under the Bus

    December 3rd, 2012

    After the election, we have seen much discussion about why the Republican Party lost the Presidential election and failed to pick up some initially-promising Senate seats.  One of the proposals that we hear often is that the GOP should jettison “social conservatives”, or at least declare a “truce” on “social issues” like abortion and the re-definition of marriage.

    Far be it from me to give advice to the sage experts who have piloted the GOP to such electoral triumphs.  Nor is it my business to get involved in political strategy for a party that I am not even a member of.

    The reason I am interested in this question is that we are starting to hear a similar idea from pro-lifers — a sense that the political mission of our movement has either failed, or reached a final impasse, and that we need to re-direct our energies away from the political and public policy arenas, and focus instead on a more cultural approach to defending and promoting life.

    I think this is a fundamental mis-diagnosis of the current state of things in our nation, and it falsely sets up an unnecessary either/or, zero-sum choice.

    The current state of the pro-life movement’s political and public policy status depends on where you are standing.  Obviously, things may seem quite bleak in a place like New York City, which is essentially a one-party state dominated by a Democratic party that is almost completely dedicated to hard-line pro-abortion policies.  But that view can be deceptive.  In other areas of New York State, there is a functioning GOP that is at least theoretically supportive of pro-life policies, and there are still some staunch pro-life Democrats around.  The picture here in New York is quite daunting, there’s no doubt about it — but it’s certainly not time to throw in the towel.

    Of course, New York is not all of America (it’s not even part of the real world, but that’s another issue).  If you were standing in Oklahoma, Texas, North Dakota, Florida, South Carolina, or many other states, the picture would be much more encouraging.  Many public officials and candidates in those states proudly proclaim their pro-life views, and they have passed common-sense pro-life laws, like parental notification, informed consent, and abortion clinic regulations.  In fact, the public policy and political successes of our movement on the state level have proven to be a consternation to the pro-abortion forces, who continually complain about how many laws we have been able to pass.

    At a time when our movement is making progress on the state and local level, it’s no time to declare defeat — or a “truce”.

    But it’s more than a mere question of how many bills are passed, or how many candidates are willing to say they’re “pro-life”.  We’re engaged in a battle over our culture, which means that we’re striving to convert the hearts and minds of our brothers and sisters.  Our goal is not just to make abortion illegal, but to make it unthinkable.

    In this kind of struggle, it would be folly to abandon an entire field of the contest. The real question isn’t “politics or culture”, as if we can only work on one thing at a time.  Our challenge is to get better at transforming both.

    We absolutely need to ramp up our efforts to provide assistance to expectant mothers and fathers in crisis — that’s ground zero in the struggle to eliminate abortion.  We definitely need to offer more resources for those who are suffering the aftermath of abortion.  We have to reverse the anti-life, anti-chastity messages of our media, which create a climate of sexual adventurism and a contraceptive mentality.  All these are legitimate areas for the pro-life movement to improve and enhance our work.

    But law and politics are part of culture too.  They affect public opinion and shape private actions.  There is a growing body of opinion, especially among young people, that our nation has gone too far on abortion — that it’s a disgrace that 41% of New York City pregnancies end in abortion (the numbers are even worse in the African-American community), that horrifically unsafe abortion clinics are allowed to maim and kill women with impunity, that parents are excluded from their children’s key decisions about abortion and contraception, that handicapped children are routinely aborted, and that women are not being presented with all the choices available to them.

    Fewer and fewer people are satisfied with our country having the most liberal abortion laws in the world, and with a political, media and cultural “elite” who are so degraded that they think this is a good thing.

    There is a quiet cultural and political revolution on the way.  Our young brethren will lead it.  This is no time to end the struggle over abortion in the public square.

    It’s time to stand firm.

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    Posted in Abortion, Elections, Pro-Life | 6 Comments »

    The Eclipse of Reason About Marriage

    November 21st, 2012

    For quite some time, I have been discussing and debating the question of same-sex “marriage”.  I regularly defend the authentic conjugal definition of marriage that has been enshrined in our social and legal tradition — a life-long, exclusive union of one man and one women dedicated to their good and for the procreation and upbringing of children.

    This debate has been going on for years now.  What continues to astonish me is how vapid are the arguments offered by those who would re-define marriage to leave gender and children out.  Examples of this weak attempt to overturn the immemorial definition of marriage can be found in this op-ed, or this one.

    The arguments typically do not embody reasoned attempts to persuade through logic.  Instead, they are are emotionally-driven appeals to rectify hard cases, calls for “equality” without understanding that different things should be treated differently, demands for a laundry list of legal rights typical of special interest pleading, and, frequently, naked attempts to exclude religious people from the public debate.  They don’t engage questions of the effect of redefining marriage on the common good or future generations.  They ignore the incongruity of redefining marriage for everyone, to satisfy the interests of a statistically tiny number of people who want same-sex unions.  When all else fails, polling data is trotted out, as if a transitory snapshot of public opinion is infallible in its wisdom.  When even that fails, defenders of marriage are simply called “mean” (as I was, recently, in a college classroom).

    In contrast, the arguments we offer in the defense of real marriage are multiple and philosophically sophisticated.  This argument relies on the nature of the human person and the truth and meaning of human sexuality.  It also relies on the lessons of common sense, experience, and social science about the best outcomes for adults and children.  The concern expressed consistently is the effect of redefining marriage on the public messages that the law sends to men and women, particularly about the importance of marriage for children and for society as a whole.  We can offer ready logical answers to the common objections to the conjugal definition of marriage, such as the false comparison to interracial marriage.

    Our approach is to appeal to the obligation to make public policy for the common good, to pay attention to all consequences of law-making (especially the long-term and secondary effects), and not to make law based on the particular desires of small interest groups.

    A perfect example of this argument can be found in this op-ed by Robert George, Ryan Anderson and Sherif Gergis, or Michael Hannon’s on-line essay.

    In so many ways, this debate is coming to resemble the debate about abortion.  Science and logic (not to mention tradition) all establish the humanity of the unborn, but these don’t seem to matter to our courts and legislatures.  Likewise, in the ongoing debate about marriage, reason and the common good of adults and children — and future generations — continues to be brushed aside by emotion and special interest politics.

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    Posted in Same-Sex "Marriage" | 11 Comments »

    Be Thankful for a Growing Culture of Life

    November 21st, 2012

    (I was asked by to contribute my thoughts to a forum on National Review Online, about what we have to be thankful for in the current political and cultural climate.  Here is what I submitted.)

    In the aftermath of the elections, many of us who are engaged in the struggle to promote a Culture of Life are having a hard time seeing any cause for thanksgiving.  A committed anti-life Administration was brought back into office, the defense of authentic marriage suffered a setback, and many commentators are suggesting that the Republican Party jettison its pro-life, pro-marriage positions.  On the world stage, peace seems more elusive than ever. In such an environment, can we see anything to be thankful for?

    While our modern media tends to concentrate on the big picture, the reality is that a true Culture of Life is the product of a myriad of decisions made on the personal, individual level.  When we look there, we see hope.  We see fewer abortions taking place in America, as more individual women and men choose life over death, and more families support and welcome them.  We see more women and men speaking out about the pain of their abortions, and the healing they’ve experienced through ministries like the Sisters of Life.  We see more young people standing up for purity and virtue, like the Generation Life missionaries in the Archdiocese of New York.  We see young adults at Pre-Cana classes choosing to get married, instead of conforming to the emotional dead end of the hook-up and cohabitation mentality.

    Such small steps are invisible to our media culture, but plain to see for those who look in the right place.  By the grace of God and the cooperation of everyday people, a Culture of Life is being built within the ruins of our age, one heart and one life at a time.  That gives us great cause for thanksgiving.

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    Advice from General Grant

    November 8th, 2012

    There’s no way to sugar-coat it.  The results of the election were very bad for those of us who are committed to pro-life, marriage and religious liberty:

  • The re-election of the President, who made his 100% anti-life agenda a centerpiece of his campaign, and who will now have no incentive to back away from his HSS mandate that violates our religious liberty.
  • Defeats for authentic marriage in four separate state ballot initiatives — with marriage being redefined in Maryland, Maine and Washington, and the defense of marriage defeated in Minnesota.
  • The defeat of two ballot initiatives in Florida — one to deny public funding for abortion and one to repeal a nineteenth century anti-Catholic provision (a so-called Blaine Amendment) in their state constitution.

    • There were, on the other hand, some signs of encouragement:

  • The people defeated (narrowly) an initiative in Massachusetts that would have legalized physician assisted suicide.
  • There remains a pro-life majority in the House of Representatives.

    • But on the whole, it was a bad evening for the causes that we hold most dear.

    Many people are reacting to this event with dismay and discouragement.  Blame is being freely thrown around, and people are even talking about giving up and abandoning the “social issues” in the public square.

    At times like these, I’m reminded of Gen. Ulysses Grant, after the Battle of Spotsylvania in May 1864.  He had recently taken over command of the Union armies, and they had just endured two grueling, bloody battles in northern Virginia.  The battles did not produce the decisive victory that Grant was hoping for, and there was sure to be political pressure on him as a result.  Union casualties were high, and everyone expected him to retreat and regroup.

    Instead, Grant gave the order to advance, and penned his famous line, “I propose to fight it out on this line if it takes all summer”.

    The battle of the Culture of Life against the Culture of Death is a long, twilight struggle that will go on for our entire lives.  It is fundamentally a spiritual battle (see Eph 6:12).  It is a contest for the hearts and souls of individuals, and thus our culture, and our laws.  It is not decided by one election, or one defeat, or even one victory.  There is no room for defeatism or despair.  We need to fight with confidence in the Holy Spirit, and determination to carry on, no matter what.

    Will you join me in taking General Grant’s advice?  Because I certainly propose to continue the fight.

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    Posted in Discipleship, Elections | 5 Comments »

    The Two Most Consequential Things You Can Do

    November 2nd, 2012

    No, this is not another apocalyptic post, talking about how monumental this upcoming election will be, and proclaiming it as the most monumental event in American or human history.

    Yes, the election is important.  Key issues will be decided by whom is elected to a wide variety of offices.

    But your voting decision, however important it may be, is nothing close to being the most consequential thing you can do this week.

    Here in the New York metropolitan area, we have been hit with a natural disaster that we have never experienced before.  The level of human suffering — that is to say, very real suffering by individual human persons — is heart-wrenching.  Even apart from the terrible loss of life and property, we see all around us elderly and sick people who are cold, hungry, scared, and lost.

    So here is the first thing that we can do:  help.

    Perhaps you have a neighbor who’s out of power, and you can offer a hot meal or a loaned flashlight.  Maybe you could go shopping for an elderly person who’s homebound.  The opportunities are endless, if we just look out for them.  The Lord wants us to think that way — just remember Matthew 25.

    Peggy and I are Red Cross volunteers.  We spent 48 hours this week working in a Red Cross shelter during the height of the hurricane, and we’ll be back in another one this weekend.  This isn’t complicated work — it’s providing a dry, warm refuge for people to get their lives and feelings back together, offering a hot cup of coffee or a snack, and letting little kids have a place to play.  There are lots of ways to help — if you can volunteer, please consider doing so (if not for this disaster then in anticipation of the next one), or perhaps a donation may be possible.  Catholic Charities and other agencies will also need help in the long run with recovery efforts.

    The second consequential thing that we can do:  pray.

    One of the hardest parts of recovering from a disaster is the sense of loss, depression, and hopelessness.  Please pray for the grace of strength among those who are struggling, and for those who are helping them.

    May I suggest that you consider a special prayer to Our Blessed Mother, who is always our hope in our difficulties?  Here’s my favorite one:

    We fly to thy patronage,
    O holy Mother of God;
    despise not our petitions in our necessities,
    but deliver us always from every danger,
    O glorious and blessed Virgin.

    You know that Our Lady is looking with compassion on those in need.  Perhaps the best thing I can do is leave you with an image, captured by a photographer who visited the rubble of Breezy Point, Queens.  This picture speaks volumes about Our Mother of Mercy, and how she is looking out for us in times of trouble:

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    A Hero Among Heroes

    October 19th, 2012

    Last night, the media and the political world were all focused on the Al Smith Dinner, where Cardinal Dolan hosted the two presidential candidates and many of the leading public officials and political figures from New York and across the nation.

    I’m sure it was a wonderful event, full of the best professionally-written jokes.  But they were all looking at the wrong dinner.

    I had the good fortune of being at the right one — the annual Great Defender of Life Dinner, hosted by the invaluable Human Life Review.  Every year, this event gathers pro-lifers from New York and around the nation, to offer an evening of fellowship and mutual support.  It gives us a chance to see the real face of the pro-life movement — not the blinkered media stereotype, but the wonderful, dedicated people who are committed to protecting and preserving human life at all stages.  It is a celebration of their love for each other, love for God, and love for the precious gift of life.  So many quiet, ordinary people — so many heroes for life, building a true civilization of love in their everyday lives.

    Every year, there is an award for a Great Defender of Life, and this year there were two recipients.  The first was Advocates for Life, an organization of young pro-life attorneys and law students who are dedicated to resisting the culture of death that is so deeply entrenched in the law and in the legal community.  It is very uplifting to see so many of my fellow attorneys who have enlisted in this great cause.

    The second honoree has a special significance for me — former Senator and federal judge James Buckley.  For those of us who came of political age in the Seventies, Mr. Buckley was a major formative figure.  A man of deep moral fibre, he was a model to us that it was possible to be a man of principle in the world of politics.  On so many of the crucial issues of the day, he gave witness to the importance of high moral standards, and a commitment to the common good of all.

    In his long and distinguished career, one of the highlights was his sponsorship of the Human Life Amendment.  This was the first comprehensive attempt to overturn the infamous Roe v. Wade decision, and Senator Buckley’s 1975 floor speech in support of the amendment is a classic statement of the fundamental pro-life position.  (This speech can be found in the Human Life Review’s volume on “The Debate Since Roe” — a must read for pro-lifers)

    Before the dinner, I had an opportunity to meet Mr. Buckley, and I was able to tell him that he has long been one of my heroes.  In his typically humble, self-effacing manner, he accepted my compliment and managed to turn it into a genial joke, precisely what one would expect from a true Catholic gentleman.

    Last year, the honoree at the dinner was Paul Greenberg, the great journalist and essayist.  During his address, he said something that has stayed with me, and that should haunt all of us: “Whether the issue is civil rights in the middle years of the 20th Century or abortion and euthanasia today, a still small voice keeps asking: Whose side are you on? That of life or of death?”

    To many of us, that still small voice was heard in the soft, erudite tones of our Senator James Buckley, speaking gently but firmly, giving witness consistently and heroically for life, and encouraging us all to join him in that noble cause.

    May we all answer in the same way as did this Great Defender of Life.

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