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A National Prayer for Life

by Brian Caulfield 

It is time for pro-life advocates to get down on their knees. This is the message of the newly launched National Prayer for Life Campaign, which was inaugurated on May 3, the 10th anniversary of the death of Cardinal John O’Connor.

As you may know, and remember, Cardinal O’Connor was a strong and consistent voice for life during his 16 years as archbishop of New York – the recognized leader of the U.S. bishops on the issues of abortion, euthanasia, and all forms of destructive human embryo research. Although the bishops have kept up their strong witness to life, and the United States is turning more toward a pro-life position, it is fair to say that we have not heard a voice like Cardinal O’Connor’s in a decade.

The national prayer campaign, therefore, is a much-needed initiative that takes Cardinal O’Connor as its model and the words of Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life) as its mandate. In that encyclical, Pope John Paul II wrote:

... a great prayer for life is urgently needed, a prayer which will rise up throughout the world. Through special initiatives and in daily prayer, may an impassioned plea rise to God, the Creator and lover of life, from every Christian community, from every group and association, from every family and from the heart of every believer. Jesus himself has shown us by his own example that prayer and fasting are the first and most effective weapons against the forces of evil (cf. Mt 4:1-11). As he taught his disciples, some demons cannot be driven out except in this way (cf. Mk 9:29).

These are serious words about a serious subject that require from us a serious response. What better response than the National Prayer for Life Campaign, in which every Catholic can take part? Although we may be comforted by polls that show increasing pro-life sentiment among Americans, the fact is that the challenges to life remain very steep. The recently passed health insurance bill that provides federal funds for abortion is the most obvious of these challenges.

Thus far the campaign is little more than a hope and a prayer, but with your participation and God’s grace it could turn into a national and international movement that will change hearts and minds on the life issues. The campaign is cosponsored by the Knights of Columbus and the Sisters of Life, the religious community founded by Cardinal O’Connor in 1991. It was launched during a memorial Mass for Cardinal O’Connor held May 3 in St. Patrick’s Cathedral by the present Archbishop of New York, Timothy Dolan.

The tone of the campaign is set by the simple four-panel prayer card, which carries on the front the words “On Our Knees: Transforming the Culture Through Prayer.” The emphasis is not on political advocacy or direct social action, as important as these are to the pro-life cause. The focus is quite squarely on prayer, self-sacrifice, petition, intercession and purification of our own hearts and minds.

The pro-life movement has never lacked for prayer – who could count all the rosaries that have been faithfully offered by thousands of hardy souls outside of abortion clinics over the past 30 years or during the more recent and very successful 40 Days for Life events? The National Prayer for Life Campaign simply underscores the foundational necessity for prayer in the work against abortion and other evils.

Standing in the pulpit that Cardinal O’Connor made famous for his homilies on the life issues, Archbishop Dolan recalled that the cardinal saw prayer as the first and most efficacious activity in an effort to build a culture of life. That is why he founded the Sisters of Life, who spend hours each day in contemplative and community prayer, and take a vow to defend and protect human life in all stages of development, said Archbishop Dolan. He pointed out that Cardinal O’Connor cited often the Gospel passage, which was also cited in Evangelium Vitae, in which the Apostles asked why they could not cast out a certain demon. “This one is cast out only by prayer and fasting,” Jesus replies. Cardinal O’Connor said that the persistent demon of our own day was abortion, and it would only be driven out by equally persistent prayer and fasting by everyone in the pro-life movement.

Like the Apostles in the Gospel account, we can get caught up in our good works for life – the marches, the rallies, the voter guides, the lobbying and politicking, the letter writing and a host of other good and necessary works. Yet amid all this, we can neglect to get on our knees as often as we should. And when is the last time that you fasted? Catholics used to fast about 50 days a year (40 days of Lent and certain “ember days”) and now our flesh and spirit rebel at the thought of a one-day fast for the cause we imagine we would die for – the lives of the unborn.

Go to the National Prayer for Life Campaign website, hosted by the Knights of Columbus, and print out many copies of the prayer card to distribute to others. Let us pray the prayer with our family tonight. Then do it again tomorrow night. On our knees.

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(The views expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of Headline Bistro or the Knights of Columbus.)