A couple of days ago, I wrote a blog post about Fr. Casey's video on Christians and Abortion. In it, he seems to say that pro-life Christians tend to be obsessed with abortion and in many other ways act in an unchristian way. To be fair, he criticizes anyone who focuses on a particular issue and is not very "Christian" in other ways on both the left and right, but he seems to focus on the right.
The implication that comes from the video is that many pro-life Christians do not act Christian in many ways. He criticizes them for accepting "conservative" economics, and says they make overturning Roe v. Wade their "god". He said they accept "affronts" to the human family in other ways in order to oppose abortion.
I address all of this in a blog post I did on his video. I believe he is presenting a false dichotomy.
I came across another video just after watching the one by Fr. Casey by another priest, a very orthodox priest named Fr. Mark Goring from Canada. He talks about the issue of anti-abortion Christians as well, but has a completely different point of view on it.
Instead of criticizing pro-life Christians and saying they accept all kinds of bad things in order to achieve their goal, Fr. Mark explains all the good characteristics of pro-life Christians. In his video, published on Saturday, January 30, 2021, he says the following:
"My experience working with pro-lifers is to me I feel I'm with the holiest people on the face of the Earth because they are not just talking the talk, they're walking the walk. They're fools for Christ. If you've ever been to a Life Chain or 40 Days for Life, it's kind of embarrassing. Here you are standing with your little sign and people sometimes are hurling insults and giving you the one-finger salute and things like that and sometimes you even feel a little afraid. You don't know is someone going to give me a hard time, and when I'm with these pro-lifers, I'm just in awe and how they don't care about what the world thinks about them. They just want to stand up for the most innocent. And I've always found that at these rallies, or prayer services or vigils or whatever, the pro-lifers are always so meek and humble. You know, they're not whatever, hurling mean insults, or things like that. It's extremely rare in my experience to meet a pro-lifers who isn't living the beatitudes in an exceptional way. Now, I know in every group, you're going to get a nutcase. There's a nutcase in every group. I know that. But overall, I think the pro-life people, they need to be affirmed, they need to be encouraged because what they do isn't easy. In the beatitudes, Our Lord says blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. Blessed are you when they insult you and curse you and utter every kind of evil against you falsely because of me, rejoice and be glad for your reward will be great in Heaven. Thus, they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Viva Christo Rey!"
Wow, what an uplifting and inspiring message by Fr. Mark Goring. Almost the opposite of Fr. Casey's. While Fr. Casey seems to say that pro-life Catholics are very unChristian, Fr. Goring, having spent time with these individuals, believes they are not only good Christians, but very fully living the beatitudes. He says they are meek and humble and do not care about insults being hurled at them. He calls them "the holiest people on the face of the Earth".
Fr. Goring's message is the opposite of Fr. Casey's impression of this group. Instead of scolding or cautioning those in the pro-life movement like Fr. Casey, Fr. Goring praises them and says we should offer our support to these brave people.
I must say I fully agree with Fr. Goring. I have been with people who hold signs near abortion clinics and participate in pro-life prayer walks. They are kind, respectful, loving, Christian people. They do not forsake other aspects of their faith to be pro-life but rather their pro-life activity helps strengthen their Catholic faith and they grow deeper in their connection with God.
I think Fr. Casey should offer a far more balanced view on pro-life Christians and not condemn them. You'll notice Fr. Goring did point out that there are "nutcases" in the pro-life movement just as there are in any movement, but we should not condemn or offer admonitions against an entire group because of certain "nutcases".
Let's all pray for an end to abortion and never stop working towards making it unthinkable. We don't need to be less pro-life, but much more. Apathy is a far greater problem in my opinion.
Here is Fr. Goring's video:
