2 results from taking the pro-life message to the street (for us the sidewalk) – according to Priests for Life:
1. The street enables us to take our message directly to the public, bypassing the government, the media, educational facilities, and all those in the institutions who seek to silence the pro-life message. People driving or walking are not there because they want to hear us, but because they are going about their daily duties. The entire cross-section of the public is reached. We meet people where they are, and make it impossible for them to ignore us. This counteracts the efforts of those who would privatize the Gospel, and confine the pro-life and Christian message merely to our homes and Churches. The message of life is true not only in our homes and Churches, but everywhere, including streets and public places.
2. There is a double tragedy to abortion. The first tragedy is that it occurs. The second tragedy is that while it occurs, life for so many goes on “business as usual.” Abortion becomes part of the landscape; it recedes into the scenery and is considered a normal part of the orderly functioning of society. Things are at peace, the streets are quiet, and from the looks of things, “Everything’s OK.”
But everything is not OK if babies are being killed. The apparent peace and order of society are superficial and illusory. That peace and order are being destroyed behind closed doors by abortion. A false peace and order covers over this injustice.
By coming out onto the streets, we declare that everything’s not OK, that life cannot go on “business as usual” while 4000 babies are killed daily. Those who support the killing tell us, “Leave us alone in peace!” To do so, however, is to support a false peace. “‘Peace, peace!’ they say, though there is no peace” (Jer. 6:14). This is the kind of false peace our Lord condemned when He said, “Do not think I have come to establish peace on earth. I assure you, the opposite is true. I have come for division” (Luke 12:51). Our presence on the streets shows that we are not at peace with abortion. It calls for a division of good people from this evil. It refuses to yield to an unjust tranquility.
OPEN HOURS
Amen.
