Pro-life prayer service scheduled on anniversary of abortion ruling
SALT LAKE CITY - As of Dec. 9, 2009, 87 Masses have been scheduled From Jan. 13 through Jan. 21 throughout the United States to be offered as part of the effort known as "10,000 Masses for the unborn babies."
In Salt Lake City there will be a bilingual English and Spanish pro-life prayer service Jan. 24 at the Monument for the Unborn in Mount Calvary Cemetery.
The Saint Michael the Archangel Organization is the driving force behind the movement.
"The 10,000 Masses for unborn babies is being done to provide protection for innocent unborn babies," said Patrick Benedict, president of the Saint Michael the Archangel Organization and a parishioner at Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church in the Diocese of Memphis in Tennessee. "Obviously, these babies can not have Masses offered for themselves. But, people like myself can have Masses offered, and I am hoping many will choose to do exactly that."
The Utah Department of Health reported that the state's abortion ratio in 2006 was 5.9 percent, or 3,444 abortions. Of those, unmarried women accounted for 2,187 abortions.
To address the issue of pro-life, Catholic bishops nationwide have voiced support for the Nelson-Hatch-Casey Amendment to the proposed Senate health reform bill and have asked voters to back it.
The bishops took the position in a Dec. 7 letter to all U.S. senators after three senators, including Orrin Hatch of Utah, proposed an amendment to prevent the health reform bill from using federal funds to pay for health plans including elective abortions.
"We urgently ask you to support an essential amendment to be offered by Senators Ben Nelson (D-NE), Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Robert Casey (D-PA) to keep in place the long-standing and widely supported federal policy against government funding of health coverage that includes elective abortions," the letter states.
The letter was signed by Bishop William Murphy of Rockville Centre, New York, chair of the bishops' Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development; Daniel Cardinal DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, chair of the bishops' Committee on Pro-Life Activities, and Bishop John Wester of Salt Lake City, chair of the bishops' Committee on Migration.
"This amendment will have the same effect as the Stupak-Smith-Ellsworth-Kaptur-Dahlkemper-Pitts Amendment already accepted in the House by an overwhelming bipartisan majority," the letter stated.
"Like that amendment, it does not change the current situation in our country: Abortion is legal and available, but no federal dollars can be used to pay for elective abortions or plans that include elective abortions. This amendment does not restrict abortion, or prevent people from buying insurance covering abortion with their own funds. It simply ensures that where federal funds are involved, people are not required to pay for other people's abortions."
The letter states that the current bill "allows the HHS Secretary to mandate abortion coverage throughout the government-run ‘community health insurance option.' It also provides funding for other plans that cover unlimited abortions, and creates an unprecedented mandatory ‘abortion surcharge' in such plans that will require pro-life purchasers to pay directly and explicitly for other people's abortions."
The letter continues, "The bill does not maintain essential nondiscrimination protections for providers who decline involvement in abortion. The Nelson-Hatch-Casey amendment simply corrects these grave departures from current federal policy."
"We urge the Senate to support the Nelson-Hatch-Casey amendment keeping the health care bill abortion-neutral. As other amendments are offered to the bill that address our priorities on affordability and fair treatment of immigrants, we will continue to communicate our positions on these issues to the Senate," the bishops said.
Utah's Catholics have a visible tribute to the unborn in a spot with historical roots. On Sept. 17,1897, as the Salt Lake Valley was beginning to cool from the hot summer months, the growing Catholic presence in Utah was recognized in a significant way. Mayor James Glendinning signed a document that donated 19.5 acres to the Diocese of Salt Lake City for Mount Calvary Catholic Cemetery.
Just below the Mount Calvary mausoleum is a garden in which a monument to the innocent victims of abortion was dedicated in October 1992. Since then, a vigil has been conducted each year on the anniversary of the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court's Roe vs. Wade decision, which made abortion legal. The vigil serves to reaffirm the sanctity of life.
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