WASHINGTON – At a Jan. 21 Mass for leaders in the pro-life movement, Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston praised the presence of young people in pro-life activities.
“A new generation is rising that will usher in a culture of life,” he said in his homily during the Mass, celebrated at a Franciscan monastery in the District of Columbia.
“We should not underestimate the role of young Catholics,” said Cardinal DiNardo, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities. “What a tremendous gift to have young people! What a wonderful energy they bring!”
The cardinal said young people know in their heart what is right and what is wrong when it comes to life. “They do not make some of the tortured distinctions that some of we elders have made,” he added.
Cardinal DiNardo also lauded the work of leaders in the pro-life movement. About 200 of them were at the Mass, one of several events marking the 37th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion.
He included those working with youths, families and persons with disabilities, saying near the close of the Mass that pro-lifers work in “a wide variety of fields.”
Cardinal DiNardo urged them to share “the outrageous joy of Jesus Christ’s kingdom.”
“Our country needs the pro-life movement more than ever,” he said. “Our church needs pro-life people to work in a spirit of unity now more than ever. … I hope that, in charity, we all will work together.”
Referring to Jesus’ miracle of the loaves and fishes, he said, “When Jesus Christ asks you to do something, we have to – you and I have to – stop whining.” In doing so, Cardinal DiNardo added, “we’re not going to feed 5,000, we’re going to feed millions.”
The cardinal also referred to the First Letter to the Corinthians by St. Paul. “What word’s missing in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians?” he asked. “Love,” he said, answering his own question. “You’ve got to wait 12 chapters to read it.”
But then, in the 13th chapter, the mentions of love “come across like a 95-mile-an-hour fastball,” Cardinal DiNardo said.
“You are in the work, you are in the labor,” he told the pro-life leaders, “and that requires Catholic joy and love. With love you can hit the ball out of the park.”