We stand at a cultural crossroads, the intersection of the Culture of Life and the Culture of Death. At this critical juncture, the choices we make matter, now and forever. Therefore, the members of Life is Worth Living, a lay apostolate, have chosen to promote the Culture of Life.
Our mission is to strive to affirm -- in thought, word, and deed -- the infinite preciousness of human life; to encourage service to others rather than radical self-interest; and to promote a climate of public opinion that recognizes the right of all human beings to life, respect, compassionate care, appropriate medical treatment, and equality under the law.
E-Letter #109, November 16, 2008
posted by Julie Grimstad
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Dear Members and Friends,
We lost some big ones this election. From abortion to assisted suicide, the news is very bad. However, even while we are still licking our wounds, we must pick ourselves up and strive more diligently than ever to build a culture of life. The culture of death may hold the high ground for a time with Barack Obama and the pro-abortion party in control of our government, but ultimately the adversaries of life--or, more precisely, the proponents of the right to kill defenseless human beings--will lose the war. The final victory belongs to our all-powerful God.
History attests to the fact that followers of Christ never despair. We respect and protect the powerless and oppressed in season and out of season. The bleakest period in recent history--the rise of Hitler and National Socialism--was also a shining hour for the Church. Under the merciless Nazi regime, man's inhumanity to man was simply too horrible to contemplate, and so many turned a blind eye and a deaf ear to the Holocaust. The Church did not.
The Catholic Church, led by the heroic Vicar of Christ, saved hundreds of thousands of Jews from certain death. When Pope Pius XII died fifty years ago, Jewish leaders from around the world paid tribute to him. Pinchas Lapide, an Israeli official who researched the Yad Vashem archives, suggested that 860,000 trees be planted in the hills of Judea to honor the pope--one for every Jewish person he saved.
In 1940, Albert Einstein declared: "Only the Church stood squarely across the path of Hitler's campaign for suppressing the truth." In 1941, a New York Times editorial paid tribute to this pope: "The voice of Pius XII is a lonely voice in the silence and darkness of Europe this Christmas." In 1944, the chief rabbi of Jerusalem stated: "The people of Israel will never forget what His Holiness and his illustrious delegates...are doing for our unfortunate brothers and sisters in the most tragic hour of our history, which is living proof of Divine Providence in the world."
My friends, Divine Providence has not deserted the world in this dark hour. The Church and all its members are God's Providence for the world. We may not be able to save every life endangered by the culture of death, but we can spend ourselves trying to protect them all and promoting equal justice for all--from conception until natural death--until God secures His victory.
In the Sacred Heart,
Julie Grimstad
Executive Director
Source of information about Pope Pius XII: Catholic League advertisement in the New York Times, October 9, 2008, the 50th anniversary of the death of Pius XII.