Canadian pro-lifers reflected
on the importance of their efforts Dec. 27-28 in masses, prayer services
and public demonstrations marking the Feast of the Holy Innocents.
For the past several years,
the Feast of the Holy Innocents has become the inspiration for masses dedicated
to the thousands of unborn children lost to abortion. This year's Holy
Innocents feast coincided with the Feast of the Holy Family, a time when
Roman Catholics and other Christians look to the example of Jesus, Mary
and Joseph as a model for their own family life.
‘Most in danger'
During a Dec. 28 mass at
St. Michael's Cathedral in Toronto, Archbishop Aloysius Ambrozic described
unborn children as "the human lives most in danger in our society." Several
members of pro-life, pro-family organizations, including a number of students
from Ontario Students for Life, attended the celebration.
In his homily, Father Robert
Nusca, a professor of New Testament scripture at St. Augustine's Seminary,
urged pro-life workers and their supporters to persevere in the struggle
despite continuing setbacks and bleak prospects of success.
"The future of all the world
depends on many hands raised in prayer," Father Nusca said. "We should
never lose sight of the importance of prayer, not only for those active
in the pro-life movement, but also for the conversion of people who promote
abortion, mercy-killing and other anti-life practices."
Father Nusca warned against
the "institutional anti-life ethic" which gains strength as society loses
its sense of sin and error.
Other cities throughout the
country organized similar celebrations to remember pro-life work.
In Vancouver, Archbishop
Adam Exner celebrated the fifth annual Mass for Life Dec. 27 at Holy Rosary
Cathedral.
He called for a new emphasis
on freedom grounded in moral truth as a means of overcoming the burgeoning
culture of death in society.
"To counteract the death
culture, we have to restore the concept and the idea that every human being
has rights regardless of his or her condition," Archbishop Exner said.
"It is not only the strong that have rights, the weak have rights as well."
Prayer services were not
the only activities marking the feast of the Holy Innocents. A small group
of Vancouver pro-life supporters used the occasion to stage a public demonstration
outside Every Woman's abortion clinic.
The group, members of the
Seamless Garment Network of Canada, attempted to set up a mock daycare
centre outside the clinic. Their aim was to encourage more government funding
for life-affirming daycare centres, rather than abortion clinics. Two of
the protestors were arrested Dec. 28 for violating the province's "bubble-zone"
law against pro-life demonstrations.
In Kingston, Ont., more than
40 pro-lifers staged a Dec. 28 candlelight vigil outside Kingston General
Hospital, the scene of thousands of abortions since 1971. Participants
prayed and sang hymns on a hill across from the hospital before taking
part in the one-hour vigil.
‘Little saints'
Organizers of the Kingston
activity said the Feast of the Holy Innocents is an ideal time to remember
the unborn. The feast commemorates the newborn children who were ordered
killed by King Herod at the time of Christ's birth. "We pray to these little
saints for help in ending the slaughter of the innocents of our time
-- the preborn," said event
organizers.
Other dioceses contacted
by The Interim did not celebrate special pro-life masses to mark the Holy
Innocents feast. The Halifax archdiocese, for example, has scheduled a
pro-life mass in May. Other dioceses are awaiting word on a common date
for a nationwide pro-life mass remembering children lost to abortion.
