Pro-Life Prayer Service
St. Mary’s Parish, Annapolis
March 9, 2023
Good evening to all of you who have joined in tonight’s prayer service. We come together now to lift up our prayers to the Lord during this very challenging legislative session. We earnestly pray for the light and healing love of God to fill the hearts of all our fellow citizens, especially those most vulnerable and in need. We pray that our Lord and Savior’s spirit of counsel and fortitude reaches the lawmakers of the State of Maryland and roots their actions in righteousness and mercy.
Just blocks from where we stand, the Maryland General Assembly is prepared to vote on laws that have the power to cast dark shadows of death over God’s gift of life. In my many years of ministry, I have witnessed no legislative session as challenging to the values and morals of Catholic social teachings as the one before us in this moment.
Threats to human dignity are all around us: from war and destruction in Ukraine and the relentless pace of murder in Baltimore City, to the chronically homeless spending cold winter nights sleeping on streets and the impact of the sin of racism on the lives of children and families of color. You and I are united together in our deeply held belief that it is up to all of us to ensure the promise of dignity for all human life. And yet, our lawmakers find themselves at a decision point on the monumental issues of abortion and physician-assisted suicide.
Instead of making it easier for an innocent and helpless life to be extinguished, we should work together on solutions for women facing difficult or unexpected pregnancies. What we need in actuality are services that leave no woman – and no child – behind. We need to create a society where no woman has to choose between her livelihood and the life of her child. We need to love and respect both mother and child. Inserting an abortion amendment in the State Constitution is not the way to do this.
We also need commitments and accountability from our state leaders that we will leave no vulnerable person behind. Physician-assisted suicide would be devastating to older men and women and Marylanders with disabilities.
We rightfully focus on young people and the alarming rise in suicides, while, in fact, elderly in our state die by suicide at a higher rate than any other age group. Even so, the physician-assisted suicide bill before the General Assembly shockingly does not require any mental health evaluation to screen for depression. How could the solution for our vulnerable neighbors be to expedite the end of their life through suicide? Maryland has excellent, modern palliative care programs designed to alleviate suffering. Hospice care is paid for by public and private insurance. The solution should be in pain management and quality care – not suicide drugs.
We can look to Oregon where data show us that people turn to state-sanctioned suicide not for pain, but because they feel as though they’ve lost their dignity. Too many feel as though they are a burden. God calls us to provide life-affirming conditions. We know that everyone deserves loving, supportive care. No one should look to death as an escape from feeling as if they are a burden. Every life has value, and it is up to us to seek to preserve life. Not one should be left to succumb to pain and depression.
Laws that allow physician-assisted suicide and abortion pave the way for the light of human life to be stamped out. As a society, and as the State of Maryland, why not look to invest resources to allow people to age in place with dignity? Why not ensure access to specialized care facilities where they feel valued and comfortable?
Likewise, we must be ready to fulfill the needs of expectant mothers so their children come into a world where all of their needs are met. Together, we repay God for the gift of our lives and the gift of our salvation by providing for the emotional, physical, material and spiritual care of one another. This is what it means to place the highest value possible on the gift of life. Every life – from the aged men and women in failing bodies to the women who are scared when they find out a child is growing within them. In fact, they are not alone. We are here with them. I know many of you gathered in this church tonight are investing your time, talent, and treasure to support people in crisis. Your efforts bolster the work of the Church being carried out in our hospitals, schools, parishes and social service programs. Imagine if the state shifted to a singular focus to care for all life. As people of faith and followers of Christ this is what we yearn for.
The faithful throughout the State of Maryland pray on Sunday and every day for God to open the minds and hearts of our elected officials. Let us pray now, too, that they might find the courage and strength to stand up for human life and to choose life over death – every time, for every person.
And may God bless us and keep us always in his love!