(Author’s note: What I said previously concerning the death penalty also applies to abortion, with the added understanding that because abortion always involves the intentional killing of an innocent human being, there is no room for disagreement among faithful Catholics concerning its moral acceptability. Abortion is not so much a political issue as it is a national emergency, one that claims the lives of thousands of innocents every day. It is incumbent upon every Catholic to pray and work for the end of abortion immediately, and, in the words of Pope John Paul II, to pray that we succeed. The Sentinel was the Catholic newspaper for my diocese of Portland, Oregon. I sent them this letter; for whatever reason, it was never published.)
To the Sentinel:
I’m partly to blame for the deaths of 44 million people.
I helped support abortion in this country, if not deliberately, then through ignorance. I voted for the pro-choice presidential candidate in three elections. I failed to recognize the humanity of unborn children. I failed to act when I first heard about this atrocity. Only gradually has it dawned on me what we have been doing in this country since 1973.
Forty-four million people are dead. This is worse than Hitler, than Stalin, than Cambodia, than Rwanda. And it has happened right here in the United States, under our very noses. Put in perspective, legalized abortion in Christian nations, including our own, may well be the worst sin the human race has ever committed.
Sooner or later, we are going to wake up to what we have done. I believe the Church needs to wake up, too, and begin to call this nation to repentance. We need to beg God for forgiveness, remembering that God is merciful — but also remembering that conversion and repentance are followed by Purgatory. The consequences of sin always come back to haunt the sinner. When Jesus comes to ask what we’ve been doing, what are we going to say?
