Catholic Fire

The Catholic bishops of the United States have designated January 22 as a special day of prayer and penance in reparation for the massive killing that has resulted from the Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court decision (handed down January 22, 1973) which permitted abortion throughout pregnancy. Priests for Life invite you to prepare spiritually for that day by joining a Novena that starts on Wednesday, January 14 and concludes on the 22nd. Sign the commitment to pray the novena here. Prayer of Reparation God and Father of Life, You have created every human person, And have opened the way for each to have eternal life. We live in the shadow of death. Tens of millions of your children have been killed Thanks to the Roe vs. Wade decision legalizing abortion. Father, have mercy on us, Heal our land And accept our offering of prayer and penance. In your love for us, Turn back the scourge of abortion. May each of us exult in hearts full of hope And hands full of mercy And work together to build a ...

Be inspired as you catch the vision of Priests for Life to end abortion and build the Culture of Life through the Church. ~ Via Fr. Frank Pavone.

Please join in the daily Novena Prayer for our Nation as we Prepare to Elect our Leaders at Priests for Life which begins on Monday, September 1 and lasts for nine weeks, until election day, Tuesday, November 4 . The prayer is available in both English and Spanish.

We were recently treated to the remark by Barack Obama that the question of when a baby receives human rights was beyond his pay grade. At the public forum at Saddleback Church, he said: “… whether you’re looking at it from a theological perspective or a scientific perspective, answering that question with specificity … is above my pay grade.” That, of course, is exactly what the Supreme Court said in Roe vs. Wade, the decision that legalized abortion in American throughout all nine months of pregnancy. Faced with a question it found too uncomfortable, the majority said the following: “We need not resolve the difficult question of when life begins. When those trained in the respective disciplines of medicine, philosophy, and theology are unable to arrive at any consensus, the judiciary, at this point in the development of man's knowledge, is not in a position to speculate as to the answer” [410 U.S. 113, 159]. So what are we to think of those who speak this way? Is it vice or virtu...

By Fr. Frank Pavone, M.E.V. National Director, Priests for Life To say that only Christ in and through His Church can ultimately conquer abortion is not a pious platitude, nor is it a fancy way of saying, "Jesus, help us fight abortion." Nor is it an elitist way of excluding from the cause of life those who have different religious affiliations. Rather, it is to say something about the very nature of Christ and the Church, and about the reasons why abortion and contraception, which are fruits of the same tree, continue as they do. There are many ways to express the purpose of Christ’s mission in the world. St. John in his first letter sums it up by saying, "The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil" (I John 3:8). What "works of the devil" does Christ destroy? Christ Himself tells us that the devil "was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he spe...

Abortion will end. The premise of Priests for Life is that abortion will end through the Church, because Christ has conquered death, and it is He who works through each of us to bring this victory to every segment of our society. By the “Church,” I mean the entire Body of Christ. Pope John Paul II, in The Gospel of Life, told us, “No single person or group has a monopoly on the defense and promotion of life. These are everyone’s task and responsibility” (EV 91). He says this after asserting that the effort must be ecumenical and, in fact, must include the involvement of all people of good will. The United States Catholic Bishops have provided marvelous guidance on how the pro-life effort of the Catholic Church should be undertaken, and at the conclusion of their national Pastoral Plan for Pro-life Activities, they echo what John Paul II said in the quote above. They write, “We hold in high esteem all who proclaim and serve the Gospel of life. Through their peaceful activism, education,...

Today the Supreme Court upheld the ban on partial-birth abortion that was enacted by Congress and signed into law by President Bush in 2003. This is a day of historic progress for the pro-life cause, whose ultimate goal is to restore protection to every unborn child, at every stage of development. Today, for the first time since Roe vs. Wade, the United States of America has actually banned an abortion procedure, rather than just regulated it. The pro-abortion forces attempted to strike down the ban because it does not have a health exception. The Court, however, said that the ban’s opponents failed to demonstrate that the need for a health exception was extensive enough to render the law unconstitutional. The Court also rejected the arguments that the ban is too broad or too vague. The wording of the ban is clear enough for abortionists to know when they are and are not violating the law. The decision in this case is refreshing to read, because it emphasizes that the state has a legit...