An Open Letter to the Priests of Massachusetts: This Is Not the Time for Silence

+JMJ+

Dear Fathers,

I am writing to you with a plea that comes from a place of deep sorrow, but also deep hope.

Massachusetts has just taken a devastating step in the wrong direction for the protection of human life. On August 10, Governor Maura Healey signed legislation making abortion legal up until birth.

Why aren’t we talking loudly about this? Why should something of this magnitude be allowed to pass by with little more than a few mentions?

I am asking you, Fathers, to please talk about this. Write about this. Preach about this. Distribute pamphlets if you have to. Teach your flock what the Church teaches about the dignity of every human life and why that teaching matters, not only in the voting booth, but in the way we understand our neighbors, our mothers, our children, and our society. We cannot afford to be silent.

The Catholic bishops of Massachusetts have called the elimination of legal restraints on late-term abortion “a radical measure which is gravely immoral.” However, their voices cannot be the only voices Catholics hear. Your parishioners need to hear their priests speak clearly and courageously about what has happened in our own Commonwealth.

Catholics need to know how to defend life. They need to understand that the unborn child is not somehow less human because he or she is small, dependent, disabled, unwanted, or still developing. They need to understand why the circumstances surrounding a pregnancy (even circumstances involving tremendous suffering) do not change the fundamental dignity of the human person. They need to know how to respond when someone tells them that abortion is simply a matter of “choice” or “health care.” They need the formation necessary to speak the truth with both courage and charity.

it should go without saying that the right to life is not a uniquely Catholic idea, so this issue does not belong only to Catholics. Even when we disagree profoundly about religion, politics, or other moral questions, surely we should be able to come together around the most basic principle of a free society: that every human being possesses an inherent right to life. Before we can speak about any other freedom, we have to acknowledge the God-given right to life.

A society that decides some human beings may be intentionally killed because of their age, size, location, dependency, disability, diagnosis, or circumstances has crossed a line that should trouble every conscience regardless of whether they are Catholic or not. This is why we cannot allow this legislation to pass as though it were merely another political development, another controversial bill, or another wrinkle in the news cycle.

Human lives are at stake.

Of course, we should speak with compassion. We must have enormous compassion for women facing unexpected pregnancies, frightening diagnoses, poverty, abandonment, abuse, or tremendous uncertainty. We must reach out to mothers with love rather than condemnation. We must make it unmistakably clear that the Church does not abandon women when pregnancy becomes difficult. We should be the people running toward women in crisis and not away from them.

We must also have compassion for those who have experienced abortion and are carrying grief, regret, shame, or wounds that nobody else can see. They need to hear about mercy, forgiveness, healing, and the unfathomable love of God.

Compassion and truth are not enemies. In fact, authentic compassion requires us to tell the truth. We cannot tell a mother that her child has value only if that child is wanted, healthy, viable, convenient, or capable of surviving independently. We cannot tell her that killing her child is the only way through her suffering. We must offer her practical support, friendship, accompaniment, and the assurance that both she and her child are precious.

Fathers, this is an opportunity to stand up. It is an opportunity to remind Catholics why the Church has always defended the vulnerable. It is an opportunity to teach people who have never been taught why human dignity does not depend upon ability, age, intelligence, independence, or wantedness. It is opportunity to reach beyond the walls of our churches and remind our non-Catholic brothers and sisters that the defense of innocent human life is not merely a religious doctrine imposed upon them. It is a question of what kind of society we want to be.

Please do not assume that your parishioners already understand these things. Many do not.

Some Catholics have never heard a homily explaining why abortion is intrinsically wrong. Some have never been taught how to answer the common arguments they encounter every day. Some may sincerely believe that being “personally pro-life” is sufficient while remaining uninformed about the moral responsibility of Christians to defend the vulnerable. Others are simply afraid to speak.

They need their priests to remind them that silence is not neutrality when human dignity is at stake.

The fact that some of the people involved in passing such evil law’s identity as “Catholic” should be eye-opening and reason for concern. Governor Healey herself identifies as Catholic. That makes this moment all the more important, not because Catholics should use someone’s faith as a political weapon, but because it gives us an opportunity to explain clearly what the Catholic faith actually teaches about the dignity of human life.

No political party owns the Catholic faith. No politician gets to redefine Catholic teaching. And no political calculation should prevent us from defending innocent human life.

Fathers, please speak. Please preach. Please write letters to your parishioners. Please address this from the pulpit. Please provide resources for Catholics who want to learn how to defend life. Please encourage your people to contact their legislators and to become active participants in building a culture that protects both mothers and their children.

Please do not be afraid that speaking clearly about abortion could somehow drive people away. People are already confused and hurting. They are already being told that the killing of an unborn child is simply health care and that questioning it is hateful.

They need someone willing to tell them the truth. They need the Church. They need their priests to lead them and guide them, even when doing so is difficult, even when it may come with a cost—fewer donations, fewer people in the pews, criticism, or uncomfortable conversations.

What is the alternative?

If speaking the truth causes even one person to reconsider, change her heart, and choose life for her child, it will have been worth it. If one mother realizes that she is not alone, that her child is not disposable, and that the Church will walk beside her rather than abandon her, it will have been worth it. If one Catholic who has never understood the Church’s teaching learns how to courageously defend the unborn, it will have been worth it.

Ultimately, this is bigger than attendance numbers, donations, political pressure, or whether people find us comfortable.

We will all stand before God one day. When that day comes, I pray we will be able to say that when the most vulnerable among us needed someone to speak for them, we did not remain passively silent.

We cannot always control what our legislators do or what the governor signs into law. What we can control is whether we remain silent.

So I am asking you, Fathers, as a Catholic, as a mother, and as someone who believes profoundly in the dignity of every human person: Please do not let this moment pass quietly.

Please remind Massachusetts that the smallest and most vulnerable among us are still our brothers and sisters. Please remind Catholics that defending life is not optional.

Please remind our neighbors that the right to life is the foundation upon which every other human freedom rests. Above all, please remind us that every human life—mother and child alike—is infinitely precious in the eyes of God.

This is not the time for silence. This is an opportunity to stand up.

Please, Fathers. Stand with us.