The following are the remarks of C. J. Doyle, Executive Director of the Catholic Action League of Massachusetts, given Sunday, October 7, 2007 at the Massachusetts Citizens For Life Respect Life Walk & Rally on Boston Common:

 

IT IS A GREAT PRIVILEGE TO ADDRESS THE ANNUAL RESPECT LIFE WALK OF MASSACHUSETTS CITIZENS FOR LIFE, FOR THIS IS A GATHERING OF THE NOBLEST, MOST UNSELFISH, AND MOST IMPORTANT MOVEMENT IN AMERICA TODAY: THE MOVEMENT TO DEFEND THE SANCTITY AND DIGNITY OF INNOCENT HUMAN LIFE FROM CONCEPTION TO NATURAL DEATH. THE PRO-LIFE MOVEMENT IS UNLIKE ANY OTHER MOVEMENT IN AMERICA. NO ONE HERE HAS ANYTHING TO GAIN EXCEPT MERIT IN HEAVEN, THE REWARD OF A GOOD CONSCIENCE, AND THE PROSPECT THAT THEIR CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN MAY LIVE IN A TRULY CIVILIZED SOCIETY WHICH PROTECTS THE WEAKEST AND THE MOST VULNERABLE AMONG US.

 

ALTHOUGH WE MUST CONTINUE TO BATTLE THE SCOURGE OF ABORTION, WE NOW FACE A NEW ADVERSARY IN THE FORM OF A POWERFUL AND AVARICIOUS CORPORATE INTEREST - THE BIOTECHNOLOGY INDUSTRY - WHICH SPURNS ETHICS TO PURSUE PROFITS, AND WHICH EXPLOITS SCIENCE TO MASK GREED. THE FRANKENSTEIN-IAN AGENDA OF THIS MALIGN SPECIAL INTEREST, ABETTED BY ITS CORRUPT HANDMAIDENS IN ELECTIVE OFFICE, MUST BE RESISTED BY ALL LAWFUL MEANS.

 

WE MAY NOT ALWAYS PREVAIL IN POLITICS, PUBLIC POLICY, OR LEGISLATION, BUT THERE IS ONE AREA WHERE WE CAN PREVAIL, WHERE WE OUGHT TO PREVAIL, AND WHERE WE MUST PREVAIL. THAT IS IN ENSURING THE PRO-LIFE IDENTITY AND FIDELITY OF OUR OWN OSTENSIBLY PRO-LIFE INSTITUTIONS.

 

BY NOW, MOST OF YOU HAVE HEARD THE APPALLING NEWS THAT ON OCTOBER 24TH, THE COLLEGE OF THE HOLY CROSS, AN INSTITUTION FOUNDED AND ADMINISTERED BY THE SOCIETY OF JESUS, WILL HOST A CONFERENCE BY THE MASSACHUSETTS ALLIANCE ON TEEN PREGNANCY, IN WHICH ABORTIFACIENT CONTRACEPTION WILL BE DISCUSSED AND PROMOTED, AND WHERE ALMOST CERTAINLY, ABORTION WILL BE EITHER EXPLICITLY OR IMPLICITLY ENDORSED. THREE WORKSHOPS AT THIS CONFERENCE WILL BE CONDUCTED BY PLANNED PARENTHOOD, WHICH IS BOTH THE MAJOR PROPAGANDIST AND THE PRINCIPAL PERPETRATOR OF ABORTION IN THIS COUNTRY. ANOTHER WORKSHOP WILL BE CONDUCTED BY NARAL PRO-CHOICE MASSACHUSETTS, WHOSE PARENT ORGANIZATION HAS A HISTORY OF DEMONIZING THE CATHOLIC HIERARCHY AND APPEALING TO LATENT ANTI-CATHOLIC PREJUDICE IN AMERICAN SOCIETY. UNFATHOMABLY, CATHOLIC CHARITIES WILL ALSO BE A PARTICIPANT IN THIS CONFERENCE.

 

LET THERE BE NO MISTAKE ABOUT THIS: THE DECISION BY HOLY CROSS TO ALLOW THIS TRAVESTY IS A BETRAYAL OF THE PRO-LIFE CAUSE, AND AN INSULT TO THE PRO-LIFE MOVEMENT, AND A GRAVE SCANDAL AGAINST WHICH WE MUST PROTEST.

 

TRAGICALLY, HOLY CROSS IS NOT AN EXCEPTION. OUR CATHOLIC COLLEGES, UNIVERSITIES, AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS, WHICH OUGHT TO BE EDUCATING THE NEXT GENERATION OF PRO-LIFE LEADERS, ARE INSTEAD COMPROMISING THEMSELVES, UNDERCUTTING YOU, AND SACRIFICING THE UNBORN TO PROVIDE PLATFORMS AND HONORS TO PUBLIC OFFICIALS WHO SUPPORT ABORTION, CONTRACEPTION, AND EMBRYONIC STEM CELL RESEARCH. IN 2007 ALONE, ANOTHER JESUIT INSTITUTION, BOSTON COLLEGE LAW SCHOOL, FEATURED CONGRESSMAN EDWARD J. MARKEY AS THEIR COMMENCEMENT SPEAKER. REGIS COLLEGE, FOUNDED BY THE SISTERS OF SAINT JOSEPH, WELCOMED ATTORNEY GENERAL MARTHA COAKLEY, AND MARIAN COURT COLLEGE, FOUNDED BY THE SISTERS OF MERCY, HOSTED CONGRESSMAN JOHN F. TIERNEY, WHILE JUST A FEW WEEKS AGO, CATHOLIC MEMORIAL HIGH SCHOOL, ADMINISTERED BY THE CONGREGATION OF THE CHRISTIAN BROTHERS, SHOWCASED AT ITS FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY BANQUET BOSTON MAYOR THOMAS M. MENINO. THIS PRACTICE IS A BETRAYAL OF THE PRO-LIFE MOVEMENT, AND IS A SCANDAL WHICH WE CAN AND MUST END.

 

INCREDIBLY, SOME OF THESE SAME INSTITUTIONS ACTUALLY INVITE POLITICAL FIGURES WHO REJECT THE RIGHT TO LIFE TO SERVE ON THEIR GOVERNING BOARDS, SUCH AS BOSTON COLLEGE, WHOSE TRUSTEES INCLUDE FORMER LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR THOMAS P. O’NEILL, REGIS COLLEGE, WHOSE TRUSTEES INCLUDE FORMER LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR EVELYN F. MURPHY, AND EMMANUEL COLLEGE, FOUNDED BY THE SISTERS OF NOTRE DAME, WHOSE TRUSTEES INCLUDE FORMER CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE AND DEMOCRATIC STATE COMMITTEE COUNSEL JAMES ROOSEVELT, JR.. THIS PRACTICE IS A BETRAYAL OF THE PRO-LIFE MOVEMENT, AND IS A SCANDAL WHICH WE CAN AND MUST END.

 

EVEN OUR CHURCH AFFILIATED CHARITABLE AND MEDICAL INSTITUTIONS, WHICH OUGHT TO KNOW BETTER, AND WHICH OUGHT TO VALUE LIFE AT ALL ITS STAGES, EMBRACE FOR LOBBYING AND FUND-RAISING PURPOSES PRO-ABORTION PUBLIC FIGURES, SUCH AS MAYOR MENINO, WHO SERVES ON THE CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE OF THE LABOURE CENTER, AND FORMER ATTORNEY GENERAL THOMAS F. REILLY, WHO WAS RECENTLY HIRED BY CARITAS CHRISTI. THIS PRACTICE IS A BETRAYAL OF THE PRO-LIFE MOVEMENT, AND IS A SCANDAL WHICH WE CAN AND MUST END.

 

WE HAVE EVEN WITNESSED THE ASTONISHING SPECTACLE OF RELIGIOUS EDUCATION TEACHERS, ENTRUSTED WITH THE ALL-IMPORTANT TASK OF IMPARTING CHRISTIAN MORAL BELIEFS AND PRO-LIFE PRINCIPLES TO OUR YOUNG ACTUALLY RUNNING FOR PUBLIC OFFICE ON PRO-ABORTION PLATFORMS.

 

IN 2007, IN A SPECIAL LEGISLATIVE ELECTION TO FILL A VACANCY IN THE OFFICE OF STATE REPRESENTATIVE FOR DEDHAM AND WESTWOOD, A CANDIDATE IN THE DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY, WHO IS A CURRENT DEDHAM SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEMBER, MRS. JOANNE FLATLEY, IDENTIFIED HERSELF ON HER WEBSITE AND IN HER CAMPAIGN LITERATURE AS A SUPPORTER OF LEGAL ABORTION AND AS A CONFRATERNITY OF CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE TEACHER AT SAINT MARY’S PARISH IN DEDHAM. THIS FOLLOWS THE 2003 PRO-ABORTION CANDIDACY FOR BOSTON CITY COUNCIL OF MATT O’MALLEY, WHO IDENTIFIED HIMSELF AS A CCD TEACHER AT HOLY NAME PARISH IN WEST ROXBURY. THESE CANDIDACIES, AND THE TOLERANCE AFFORDED THEM, ARE A BETRAYAL OF THE PRO-LIFE MOVEMENT, AND A SCANDAL WHICH WE CAN AND MUST END.

 

NOR CAN WE OVERLOOK OUR CATHOLIC AND PRO-LIFE FRATERNAL ORDERS SUCH AS THE KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS AND THE ANCIENT ORDER OF HIBERNIANS, WHO SADLY AND INEXPLICABLY CONTINUE TO RETAIN IN THEIR RANKS POLITICIANS WHO OPPOSE THE RIGHT TO LIFE AND PUBLICLY WORK AGAINST THE PROFESSED PRINCIPLES OF THESE SAME ORGANIZATIONS. THIS UNDERMINES THE PRO-LIFE MOVEMENT, AND IS A SCANDAL WHICH WE CAN AND MUST END.

 

SERIOUSNESS OF PURPOSE ENTAILS MORE THAN RHETORIC, MORAL SUPPORT, THE ARTICULATION OF MORAL PRINCIPLES, OR EVEN MATERIAL AID.  SERIOUSNESS OF PURPOSE ALSO ENTAILS THE WILLINGNESS TO CONFRONT AND OVERCOME DISSENSION AND CORRUPTION IN ONE’S OWN RANKS, THE WILLINGNESS TO ENSURE THE INTEGRITY AND LOYALTY OF ONE’S OWN INSTITUTIONS, AND THE WILLINGNESS TO ACCEPT CONTROVERSY, ENDURE CRITICISM, AND MAKE SACRIFICES – INCLUDING THE LOSS OF FINANCIAL SUPPORT AND POLITICAL ACCESS – FOR THE SAKE OF THE TRUTH. IT ALSO ENTAILS A WILLINGNESS TO CALL EVIL BY NAME. HISTORY WILL JUDGE THE SERIOUSNESS OF THE PRO-LIFE MOVEMENT IN MASSACHUSETTS WHEN IT JUDGES THE SERIOUSNESS OF THIS MOVEMENT’S LARGEST CONSTITUENT ELEMENT, THE CATHOLIC COMMUNITY.

 

THE VITAL AND HEROIC WORK OF OUR PRO-LIFE CLERGY, RELIGIOUS AND LAITY HAS BEEN GRIEVOUSLY IMPAIRED BY COLLABORATORS WITH THE CULTURE OF DEATH. IT IS INSUFFICIENT TO SPEAK OF THE GOOD THAT IS DONE BY SOME WHEN SO MUCH EVIL GOES UN-ADMONISHED AND UNCORRECTED.

 

THE PRO-LIFE MOVEMENT SHOULD NOT BE FORCED TO FIGHT A TWO FRONT WAR, AGAINST BOTH THE CULTURE OF DEATH IN SECULAR SOCIETY, AND THE CULTURE OF BETRAYAL IN OUR OWN CHURCH. WE CANNOT BE EXPECTED TO PERSUADE OUR FELLOW CITIZENS OF THE JUSTICE OF OUR CAUSE IF THAT CAUSE IS NOT FIRST UPHELD AND VINDICATED IN OUR OWN INSTITUTIONS WHICH CLAIM TO BE CATHOLIC AND WHICH OUGHT TO BE PRO-LIFE. ACCOMPLISHING THAT VINDICATION IS, IN THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD, THE TASK WHICH IS BEFORE US, THE CHALLENGE WHICH WE MUST TAKE UP, AND THE STRUGGLE THAT WE MUST WAGE. LET US BEGIN THAT STRUGGLE, AND LET US BEGIN TODAY.

 

THANK YOU ALL VERY MUCH.