Priest says God calls Christians to give a voice to those who have no choice

Augustinian Father Denis Wilde, associate director of Priests for Life, based in Staten Island, N.Y., preaches the homily during Mass on Jan. 23 at Our Lady of the Greenwood Church in Greenwood. (Photo by Mary Ann Wyand)

By Mary Ann Wyand

GREENWOOD—Every 23 seconds an unborn baby dies in an abortion, Augustinian Father Denis Wilde told Our Lady of the Greenwood parishioners on Jan. 23 during his homily for weekend Masses at the Greenwood church.

Abortion is the cause of the largest number of deaths in the U.S., he said. Statistics indicate that legal abortions have killed more than 54 million unborn babies in America since 1973.

“They are one of us,” Father Wilde emphasized. “They are our brothers and sisters.”

God calls Christians to work to end the killing of defenseless unborn babies, the associate director of Priests for Life, based in Staten Island, N.Y., emphasized in his homily.

He said Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion in the U.S. for any reason during all nine months of pregnancy, is an aberration of American laws, which should protect people and their right to life.

Legalized abortion is “a curse that came upon our country,” Father Wilde said, and “the worst decision the United States Supreme Court ever made in its entire history.”

The Book of Genesis tells us that God made man and woman in his image and likeness, he said. “We have a will, we have a mind and we have a body that is extremely complex … with a spiritual dimension.”

Father Wilde joined an estimated 300,000 pro-life supporters at the 37th annual March for Life on Jan. 22 in Washington, D.C., to peacefully and prayerfully protest abortion the day before he traveled to Indianapolis to preach at Masses and present a piano concert of classical and popular music.

Recent surveys and statistics indicate that the majority of Americans are

pro-life, he said, in spite of what the abortion industry wants people to believe about the freedom to legally choose death for unborn babies.

“To be sure, the woman may not know or understand or really come to grips with the facts of the matter when she goes to have an abortion,” Father Wilde said. “But she is carrying a child in her womb. Fear oftentimes gets in the way. … It is not for me or you to condemn or to judge, but it is for all of us to recognize what an abortion is—and that is, of course, the taking of an innocent human life.”

In every abortion, there are two casualties, he said, the baby who dies and the mother who has to live with what she did for the rest of her life.

Women who have experienced abortion cannot forgive themselves, Father Wilde said, so they separate themselves from the healing power of God’s love, grace and mercy.

“We know that many people suffer from [the effects of having an] abortion,” he said. “We need to let them know that the Church’s doors are open for them. … And we need to persuade others [to protect] life. As the [U.S.] bishops have said over and over, we have to get abortion out of health care reform.”

President Abraham Lincoln once said that, “ ‘We have no right to do what is wrong,’ ” Father Wilde said. “So we need to pray, and we need to persuade others [to protect life]. … Let us show one another that we’re made in the image and likeness of the Creator God, who is Love. Let us implore the Blessed Virgin Mary to strengthen and convert even as she converted a whole nation to Christ some 500 years ago in Mexico.

“And let us give voice to those who have no choice,” he said. “The only decent choice is to return the people’s right to live—born and unborn. We must pray, think, act and vote pro-life. We cannot do any less for our future and in decent homage to the demands of our loving God.” †