Being pro life means recognizing and respecting the sacred dignity of every human person.

Being "pro life" means defending the lives of

the unborn 

and 

the sick 

the poor

the homeless

the aged

the mentally challenged

the inmate

the refugee

and the person or people you hate.

Being pro life means reverencing  

all human life.

Because it's all from God.

(James Martin, SJ)

The unborn are especially vulnerable and defenseless, so our duty to defend them is paramount. But this does not diminish our responsibility to defend all life. On the contrary, to be genuinely pro life is to be conscious of the interconnectedness of all life (and all of God’s creation, both visible and invisible).

Thomas Merton’s simple but powerful statement says it perfectly:

To say that I am made in the image of God is to say that Love is the reason for my existence, for God is love.

Every human person is an image of God. It’s true that we are all incomplete, often distorted, images of the Love who created us, but that does not take away from our dignity as God’s children. We are all created in God’s image and we are all destined to be one with God in a sacred communion of Love. Each of us has a part to play in the drama of our lives. We can refuse God’s love. We can insist on isolating ourselves from God and from humanity. But we remain worthy of respect and dignity—no matter who we are, where we came from or what we have done—simply because of who we are as members of God’s family.

Nothing is more important than this. Peace and justice, love and goodness, beauty and truth all flow from this magnificent source: God’s inexhaustible, unconditional love.

I will give you a new heart

and place a new spirit within you,

taking from your bodies your stony hearts

and giving you natural hearts. (Canticle of Ezekiel 36:24-28)

What would it be like to have a “new heart”? Not a new organ (a heart transplant) but a new attitude toward everything—myself, my family and friends, my work, the world I live in? What if my cynicism were replaced with humble gratitude? What if my selfishness gave way to charity and justice toward all? What if my words were perfectly aligned with my thoughts and actions? What if I were not a hypocrite but an honest and true man?

I am currently re-reading Charles Dickens’ novel Our Mutual Friend. It’s a complex, masterful set of interlocking stories which contrast honesty and simplicity with many different varieties of arrogance, falsehood and vanity. Some of Dickens’ characters are irredeemable—destined to come to a bad, and often bitter, end. But others experience forms of conversion and have their “stony hearts” replaced by new “natural hearts.” As always, the process of transformation is fascinating—never happening overnight, but always gradually with many obstacles to be overcome before the new hearts are firmly planted and take root. 

If I examine my conscience honestly, I have to admit that my own heart is partly stone and partly natural. I can be compassionate, but I can also be cruel. Depending on the issues (or persons) concerned, I can be fully engaged or totally disinterested. 

I ask the Lord to give me “a clean heart” and “a steadfast spirit” so that my stone-like heart will be replaced by one that is more consistently natural. I should be careful what I ask for. 

I’m so tired of all the negativity. We have bad news 24/7. And as if there wasn’t enough real bad news to talk about we have fake bad news and trumped up bad news all the time.

Can we please talk about our joys? I have a great wife and family, lots of really good friends, a great job. Why would I talk about my problems? I have them, of course, but they’re really not worth talking about.

I believe there are serious issues that reasonable people who are good citizens need to discuss. But these do not require name calling, character assassination or belitting those who thiink differently. This is now “ordinary” talk for media types, politicians and even folks like you and me who really should know better.

Let’s stop the screaming, the blaming and the outrage (whether actual or feigned). As my mother used to say, “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.” Were we all to follow this very good advice, the silence would be overwhelming!

Helen Callaghan Conway, my mother, was born on January 16, 1925. She was the second daughter and third child of Anna May Bernet Callaghan and William D. Callaghan. She passed away on October 2, 1998, following more than 50 years of marriage to my father, John L (Jack) Conway. 

As I get older, numbers of years become overwhelming. Mom would be 95 today. She will be dead 20 years later this year. How is it possible? Where does the time go? More importantly, where is it taking us?

One of Mom’s favorite sayings was “Hope springs eternal.” She believed that the mystery of time is intimately connected to the virtue of hope. Although we cannot predict the future—or escape our past or control what happens to us in the present—there is reason to be confident in Love’s ability to overcome all obstacles and set us free. 

Mom was a poet, not a philosopher or theologian, but she had a keen understanding of the truth of things—visible and invisible. She could spot a phony a mile away, and she did not suffer fools gladly. She loved her husband, her children, her grandchildren and her many extended family members and friends. She loved to write, to teach and to engage in stimulating conversation. 

Happy Birthday, Mom. We miss you. 

Archbishop Charles Thompson on racism and violence using the thought of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 

From “Christ the Cornerstone” Friday, January 12, 2018:

Dr. King’s vision, which inspired millions of people in our racially divided nation and throughout the world, was that every human being is created in the image and likeness of God. All of us, regardless of our differences, share equally in the rights and responsibilities given to us by a loving and merciful Father. This makes us all brothers and sisters called to love each other without exception and to cherish and defend the human and civil rights of all. 

“I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality,” Dr. King said. “I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.”

In addition to his absolute conviction that racism is evil and must be overcome by “the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood,” Dr. King was determined that the revolution he advocated must be a nonviolent one. The temptation to respond to evil with force is great. Especially when a people has been oppressed, abused and denied basic human rights for generations, the pent-up anger and resentment must be enormous. It would be only natural to want to lash out with overwhelming force against those who have perpetrated (or tolerated) such unspeakable evil. 

But Dr. King knew that violence is not the way to universal peace and brotherhood. “Darkness cannot out drive out darkness; only light can do that,” he said. “Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

Only love can overcome the power of sin and death. Only love can unite people who are deeply divided by hatred, prejudice and a history of injustice. Only love can heal the festering wounds of racism and the physical, emotional and spiritual destruction caused by violence. 

Sadly, nearly 50 years after the death of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., racism and violence are still dominant forces in the daily lives of Americans and our sisters and brothers throughout the world. In spite of the progress that has been made during the past five decades, we still have a lot to learn from Dr. King’s teaching that hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

Every new year, our Holy Father Pope Francis appeals to world leaders, and all of us, to dedicate ourselves to peace. None of the world’s problems can be solved by war. The peace and brotherhood we seek must be obtained by forgiving past injuries and injustices and by resolving to “repair the world” through mutual respect and dialogue, as well as through the commitment to accept responsibility for one another as members of the human family equal in human rights and dignity. 

In his World Day of Peace message for this year, Pope Francis says, “Offering asylum seekers, refugees, migrants and victims of human trafficking an opportunity to find the peace they seek requires a strategy combining four actions: welcoming, protecting, promoting and integrating.” Surely Dr. King would agree with this approach to peaceful social change!

As the new year begins, Catholics make a special appeal to Mary, Queen of Peace, asking her to unite us with all God’s children in the nonviolent struggle for justice and peace. May her intercession, and the witness of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., inspire us to reject “the starless midnight of racism and war” and dedicate ourselves wholeheartedly to “the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood” that can only come from “unarmed truth and unconditional love”!

Peace, justice, love, all gifts from God

What is peace? It’s the absence of violence, certainly, but it’s also much more. St. Augustine called it “the tranquility of order,” which is certainly an important aspect of peace. When we’re at peace, we’re not filled with anxiety; our homes are not filled with loud arguments and discord; our neighborhoods are safe and well-ordered, not threatening or chaotic; and nations, races and peoples live together in harmony and mutual respect without suffering the horrors of prejudice, enmity or war.  

But true peace is more than just good order or civility. The Second Vatican Council (Gaudium etSpes, #78) teaches that peace is the work of justice and the effect of charity. Peace is much more than the absence of war or the coexistence of nations. Peace is a gift from God, the sum total of many gifts from God that help us live fully with hearts full of justice and love.

What is justice? Giving every human being the reverence and respect due to him or her as a child of God. Justice is structuring human affairs, and the organization of society, in accordance with God’s plan. We are just when we treat others fairly and when we work together to protect the innocent and the vulnerable from violence or evil. We are just when all people (wealthy and poor, strong and weak) live together in mutual respect and solidarity.

What is love? The sharing of self that we learn most perfectly from God, who is Love, and who shows us how to be for others in everything we say and do. Authentic love is not self-serving or self-gratifying. It is the generous sharing of ourselves (all that we have and all that we are) in ways that connect us intimately with God and with our fellow human beings—those who are closest to us (family, friends and neighbors) and those who are far from us (strangers, social outcasts, even enemies).  

True peace, the peace that lasts, happens when we work for justice. It is the product of the hard work of civilization, the rule of law and the right-ordering of social structures. Peace requires fairness, respect for human dignity and the refusal to take advantage of another’s weakness. If we want peace, we must work for justice—here at home and around the world.

Lasting peace—the kind that is more than a temporary ceasefire or a periodic break between hostile actions—is the effect of charity. There is no real peace without forgiveness or without the willingness to sacrifice our individual or collective self-interest for the sake of genuine harmony. If we want peace, we must let go of our desire for revenge, and we must be willing to let old wounds heal through the saving grace of God’s love.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (#2305) teaches that “earthly peace is the image and the fruit of the peace of Christ, the messianic Prince of Peace.” Peace has been made possible for us because, by the blood of his Cross, Christ has reconciled us with God and with each other. We have been forgiven so that we may forgive others. We have been shown mercy so that we might let go of our desire for vengeance against those who do us harm to a higher form of justice that is informed by love. “But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father in heaven” (Mt 5:44-45).

In his Message for the 51st World Day of Peace, January 1, Pope Francis points to war, conflict, genocide, ethnic cleansing, poverty, lack of opportunity, and environmental degradation as reasons that families and individuals become refugees and migrants. 

Peace will happen when we learn to welcome others, especially the vulnerable. When that day comes, nations will unite in a world order that respects the fundamental human rights and authentic cultural diversity of nations and peoples. Neighbors will help and respect one another. Families will live together joyfully. And each woman and man on earth will be calm, untroubled and at peace.

When that day comes, Christ will come again, and his peace will be established throughout all of creation. In the meantime, as we begin this new year, let’s continue our search for peace by recommitting ourselves to the work of justice and by loving God and our neighbor unselfishly as Christ loves us.  

Archbishop Daniel M. Buechlein, OSB, is seriously ill. He has been in the monastery infirmary at Saint Meinrad for several years since a bad stroke forced him to retire early as Archbishop of Indianapolis in 2011. I have visited him there many times—especially when I helped him write his memoirs, Surprised by Grace. He’s been declining for some time now, but today’s visit confirmed for me that he is not far from death.

As I stood by his bed, praying for him, I couldn’t help but think of his earliest days as a monk, bishop and archbishop. He was bright, vigorous and very much “in charge.” Working for him (as I did for many years) was a privilege. I always knew where he stood (with the Church) and what he wanted me to do (help him advance the Church’s mission).

Archbishop Daniel is a man of prayer—first and foremost—but his legacy includes the building up of the Church in West Tennessee and in central and southern Indiana by means of skilled administration and an extraordinary gift for developing the human and financial resources needed to make ministry possible. He always told me that “money follows mission, not the other way around,” and although he was very successful at raising money, he was determined to never let “the fundraising tail wag the ministry dog.”

God bless you, Archbishop. May your final days be peaceful and your journey home be swift and smooth.