What I Would Have Added

The Cathedral of St. Paul was packed today (January 22^nd) as Catholics from our Archdiocese and two other Dioceses gathered to beg God’s forgiveness and seek His mercy for our nation’s embrace of abortion.  The Auxiliary Bishop for the Archdiocese presided and gave a beautiful, heartfelt homily during which he recognized that nearly half of those present were in their teens.  Calling them to stand before the congregation, the Bishop called them the new “Pro-Life Generation,” to which those of us whose teen years are a faint memory readily assented with our applause.

While this successor to the Apostles spoke the words each of us needed to hear on this sad commemoration of the Roe v. Wade decision, because I suffer from chronic presumption I wished I’d had the opportunity to add the following:

Young ladies, please be seated.  Young men, remain standing and be advised what I have to say to you will not be gentle nor will it be easy to hear.

You are primarily responsible for protecting innocent life.  You have partly taken that responsibility by being here this morning, yet this is but a start so allow me to be blunt.

Your first obligation in protecting innocent babies from abortion is to ensure you yourselves never put a woman to whom you are not married at risk of becoming pregnant.  That means having the guts to commit yourselves to chastity in the midst of a culture that will criticize you, laugh at you, and even curse you for how you carry yourselves.  It means you must become men in the finest sense of the word, men who have the courage to build character, develop self-control, and seek the wisdom that will keep you out of temptation’s grasp.  Above all, it will require you to humbly bow before your God and beg His grace that you might live as righteous men even as others around you settle for far less.

Young men, look at the young ladies are seated among you.  I charge you to remind yourselves that each and every one of them is a beloved creature of God, made in His image and likeness, and created to become saints.  Vow to yourselves here and now that you will never do anything in any manner to interfere with their divine destiny.

I now ask that the young men be seated and for the young ladies to rise.

You have heard the charge given to the young men and I’m now asking you to help them out.  As I have called them to chastity and self-control, I now call you to chastity and modesty.  Always be aware that how you dress, how you carry yourselves, and how you behave in the presence of young men can affect their behavior toward you for better or for worse.  If you dress and carry yourself with dignity and self-respect chances are good that young men will treat you accordingly.  Dress like a slutty rock star, set no boundaries on your language and behavior, and you can expect to be treated as something to be used and tossed away – tossed away like so many innocent babies who had the misfortune to be conceived where dignity and self-respect were lacking.

As you take your seats, know that our prayers are with you young men and young women.  Know how much your being here encourages those of us who have lived through the decades of unrestrained lust that resulted in the deaths of millions of innocent babies.  We hope and pray you will do far, far better than we did and your own generation will blossom forth with both hope and new life.

Amen.

Yes, I admit I’m way out of line here and this is probably more evidence of why I was never called to be a preacher.  Still, I’m just sayin’…