Skip to main content


Quo Vadis: He Is Out of His Mind! The March for Life and Being Christian in a Neo-Pagan Age

There is a growing chorus of voices expressing the unthinkable to me, that the killing of these children is just a part of the culture now and there is little we can do

This was the largest March I have ever seen. Its sheer magnitude astounded and reignited my aging passion for the work. However, even more than the size, what inspired me the most was the age of the participants. I could not believe how young all of these people were as I looked around and passed by them. Oh, I know I am getting older, but I am not that old! This great human rights movement is now clearly a Youth movement.

Quo Vadis

Quo Vadis

CHESAPEAKE, VA. (Catholic Online) - I spent the last few days in events which were historic, yet go unreported or seriously underreported in the main stream media. I spoke, prayed, wept and walked - I participated in the events collectively referred to as the March for Life in Washington, D.C. This year marked the 40th since the insidious, incomprehensible, legally indefensible and socially reprehensible decisions of Roe v Wade and Doe v Bolton were issued by the Supreme Court of the United States of America.

Medical science has confirmed what our consciences long ago knew - even if we hid the fact from ourselves. Those little boys and girls in the womb are all members of our human family. No-one with even a scintilla of credibility can fail to see the absolute contradiction which is revealed when we allow them to be killed at will for any reason and what we now routinely witness in every 3D or 4D ultrasound. C'mon, we send them around to our family and friends and even use them in our media advertising campaigns. These are children being killed by procured abortion.

We all know that Doctors are using this wonderful technology to reach into the first home of the whole human race and operate on these first neighbors, placing them back in their first home so they can develop, grow and join us at birth. We all know they are members of our human family.  Every procured abortion violates our first duty of solidarity. We truly are our brother and sister's keeper.

Yet, those same technologies are the means by which some Doctors target the unwanted little boy or little girl for dismemberment, or suction, or chemical burn - all of which lead to his or her death. We do not want to see those photos. They reveal the first and worst example of an unjustifiable war on the womb, a first preemptive strike of sorts. Yet this perceived aggressor, a child, has done nothing to cause us to fear or ever justify this war.

We are all aware that when a mother is killed in the commission of a crime, or as a result of negligence in the civil law, and that same act kills the child in the womb, we recognize that there are two people who are victims. We prosecute accordingly; as we should.

The only verbal refuge left in the attempt to hide the infamy of abortion on demand is the profane reference to a freedom to take the lives of these little children which is surrounded with macabre terms such as "reproductive rights". Killing a child and wounding a mother are certainly not reproductive. Or the continued crazy use of the word choice when we all know that some choices are always wrong. Taking the innocent life of a neighbor is an example. These children are our first neighbors.

So, I joined the massive crowd this week at the March for Life in Washington, DC, as I have for many years. However, my experience was different this year. After participating in the profound preliminary events, including the National Memorial Prayer Service for the Preborn and their mothers and fathers, where I was brought to tears by the testimony of mothers and fathers who lost their children due to the Abortion lie, I could not stop weeping.

When the March began, I marched right up front this year, at the invitation of one of the great heroes of this Fundamental Human Rights movement of our age, Fr. Frank Pavone, the founder of Priests for Life. I felt like an old war horse next to the Secretariat of the movement. As we marched past the hundreds of thousands of men, women and children who reached out to express their appreciation for his steady and stalwart defense of the children, their mothers and fathers and the common good, their understandable admiration for this champion brought me to tears at several moments.

When the history of this great movement is written, after the evil of legal abortion goes the way of the other evil, which stems from the same rotted root, the slavery and racism directed against African Americans in our past, Fr Frank will be one of many whose heroism is recalled and passed on to our children.

Another will be the founder of the March for Life, Nellie Gray, who went home to the Lord of Life last August. The tributes to her throughout the March events were inspiring. However, the greatest tribute, and the mark of a true leader, was the very leadership which stepped in to fill her shoes to continue the work. Jeanne Monahan and Patrick Kelly, and all who assisted them, did an extraordinary job.

This was the largest March I have ever seen. Its sheer magnitude astounded and reignited my aging passion for the work. However, even more than the size, what inspired me the most was the age of the participants. I could not believe how young all of these people were as I looked around and passed by them.

Oh, I know I am getting older, but I am not that old! This great human ...


1 | 2  Next Page

Rate This Article

Very Helpful Somewhat Helpful Not Helpful at All

Yes, I am Interested No, I am not Interested

Rate Article

1 - 10 of 14 Comments

  1. DLL
    4 months ago

    It is a matter of confirming life is important at every stage of life. Deny life in any stage of existence and life becomes expendable at anytime during ones existence. The womb is sacred space,the point of the conception of life and the time of development,until the individual becomes a baby at birth. Of coarse they are dependent at these stages. Actually from the time we are all born until the time we die,everyone is dependent on everyone else for every need that we all have. By necessity we are our brothers keeper. Because we are dependent upon each other all of our lives,does that negate the significance of our very existence? I say it can not,as it only serves to enhance the meaning of our existence,as we exist not only for ourselves but for each other. Our gift of life is a spiritual gift to each other and in so serving the needs of one another we serve God,as God is the author of life,love,and sacrifice. In the womb all must be served and mothered into existence. This is the first service we receive from one another as we all need to be born so that we can all live. To deny this stage,it is as if to say that we do not need to breathe to live. Our first breath is essential,as is every breath until the day we die. So every stage of existence is important from conception until physical death. Love was necessary at conception and it is a constant throughout life no matter how the fortunes of life affects us all. We are all fathered and mothered into life. The child is a special gift unique and lovely,to be nurtured. How beautiful this concept is but it is not politically correct? How deaf and dumb are those who would ignore those marching for the right to life. How hard is this deliberately ignorant human heart. This heart has become the heart of government today? The right to choose is the right to be ignorant,to ignore life as significant unless we find it in some primitive or extinctive form,such as on the planet Mars? The press is hard pressed to be a spokesman for our society when it refuses to report on the march for life,particularly when it is evident that so many Americans do care about the right to life from conception to a natural death. No country is safe from the ignorance of abusive governments that would force abortion to be the law of humankind. The so called freedom to abort is slavery,slavery to sin and death. This culture of death will force assisted suicide and euthanasia. Eugenics will also eventually dictate policies of life and death,as it was genecide that was attempted on the Jewish people and the American Indian. The degradation of our nation is dependent on abortion and that is why it is such an important single issue these days. Commonplace abortion will do more to destroy the concept of freedom for all people than any other issue.

  2. Michael Isbell
    4 months ago

    I hadn't been in over ten years and it was an indescribable experience. I came home physically and spiritually re-charged and as ready to go to work on this effort as I was over 30 years ago when i first got involved. One of my greatest blessings is having my ten year old grandson who would probably been aborted had my daughter not grown up in our pro-life family. Please, don't let any of us get discouraged...every life saved counts for eternity. Just because we may not live to see the final victory doesn't mean it won't come in God's own time.

  3. Paul-Emile Leray
    4 months ago

    The truth is often met with violent opposition and ridiculed, until the minority of those who have more of it than others eventually becomes the majority. Cult-ure matters. The major problem I have with democracies is that it is a fact that truth often (perhaps, usually) separates itself from the crowd; therefore, during certain periods the majority is usually wrong; yet, how to reconcile this with the other fact that in a democracy majority rules on many levels? The solution is to have the majority enlightened so that the disciples end up putting the so-called 'guru' out of work because they graduated themselves. Also, shorten the timelines and repeat them to downlines and future downlines so that the same mistakes don't get repeated over and over again. A proper understanding of free will is also necessary. (along with many other realities) It is useless studying his-story unless the lessons to be learned are learned and followed more consistently. Memorizing dates and facts, if disconnected from the deeper layers of truth, risks resulting in a walking dictionary with no heart, spirit, soul, mind, and a body that is essentially a walking living dead-man of sorts. Your articles, Deacon Keith, are inspiring and admirable and don't listen to those who tell you otherwise. Why? You are right about many realities. Our ancestors were so brilliant over the past century, that 2 world wars were created. God didn't do that. Humans did. One of your many talents, Deacon Keith, is being a writer. I hope you never stop until you drop! (but I hope you don't drop for a few more decades, because the world needs people like you)
    Paul-Emile Leray

  4. Paul-Emile Leray
    4 months ago

    The truth is often met with violent opposition and ridiculed, until the minority of those who have more of it than others eventually becomes the majority. Cult-ure matters. The major problem I have with democracies is that it is a fact that truth often (perhaps, usually) separates itself from the crowd; therefore, during certain periods the majority is usually wrong; yet, how to reconcile this with the other fact that in a democracy majority rules on many levels? The solution is to have the majority enlightened so that the disciples end up putting the so-called 'guru' out of work because they graduated themselves. Also, shorten the timelines and repeat them to downlines and future downlines so that the same mistakes don't get repeated over and over again. It is useless studying his-story unless the lessons to be learned are learned and followed more consistently. Memorizing dates and facts, if disconnected from the deeper layers of truth, risks resulting in a walking dictionary with no heart, spirit, soul, mind, and a body that is essentially a walking living dead-man of sorts. Your articles, Deacon Keith, are inspiring and admirable and don't listen to those who tell you otherwise. Why? You are right about many realities. Our ancestors were so brilliant over the past century, that 2 world wars were created. God didn't do that. Humans did. One of your many talents, Deacon Keith, is being a writer. I hope you never stop until you drop! (but I hope you don't drop for a few more decades, because the world needs people like you)
    Paul-Emile Leray

  5. Roseann Graham
    4 months ago

    Thank you for writing this beautiful article. I love the quote of Chesterton's poem. "Domine, quo vadis" goes straight to the heart. There is very little in the news about the march. I don't understand why. There is so much complaining about Obama and the politicians. Let everyone see how "We the People" really think.

  6. Roseann Graham
    4 months ago

    Thank you for writing this beautiful article. I love the quote of Chesterton's poem. "Domine, quo vadis" goes straight to the heart. There is very little in the news about the march. I don't understand why. There is so much complaining about Obama and the politicians. Let everyone see how "We the People" really think.

  7. ann
    4 months ago

    yes, thanks for going and then reporting here - I saw NOTHING of the D>C> events anywhere / you have encouraged me very well w/your post - God continue to bless your year of Faith!

  8. abey
    4 months ago

    It waits to be seen as to how much of this will turn to substance, in terms of life. March a day to see the next day in business as usual, forgetting the day until the next year to see the crime has increased, this has been & is the story

  9. abey
    4 months ago

    It waits to be seen as to how much of this will turn to substance, in terms of life. March a day to see the next day in business as usual, forgetting the day until the next year to see the crime has increased, this has been & is the story

  10. abey
    4 months ago

    It waits to be seen as to how much of this will turn to substance, in terms of life. March a day to see the next day in business as usual, forgetting the day.


Leave a Comment

Comments submitted must be civil, remain on-topic and not violate any laws including copyright. We reserve the right to delete any comments which are abusive, inappropriate or not constructive to the discussion.

Though we invite robust discussion, we reserve the right to not publish any comment which denigrates the human person, undermines marriage and the family, or advocates for positions which openly oppose the teaching of the Catholic Church.

This is a supervised forum and the Editors of Catholic Online retain the right to direct it.

We also reserve the right to block any commenter for repeated violations. Your email address is required to post, but it will not be published on the site.

We ask that you NOT post your comment more than once. Catholic Online is growing and our ability to review all comments sometimes results in a delay in their publication.

Send me important information from Catholic Online and it's partners. See Sample

Post Comment


Newsletter Sign Up

Daily Readings

Reading 1, Second Corinthians 8:1-9
Next, brothers, we will tell you of the grace of God which has ... Read More

Psalm, Psalms 146:2, 5-6, 7, 8-9
I will praise Yahweh all my life, I will make music to my God ... Read More

Gospel, Matthew 5:43-48
'You have heard how it was said, You will love your neighbour ... Read More

Saint of the Day

June 18 Saint of the Day

St. Gregory Barbarigo
June 18: St. Gregory Barbarigo was born in 1625, of a very old and ... Read More