Archbishop Samuel J. Aquila's Life-changing Personal Experience of Abortion

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

 

I went to college in 1968 with the idea of becoming a doctor, like my father. College campuses in the late ‘60’s and throughout the 70’s were places of turmoil. I didn’t practice my faith much in the first three years of college and I certainly never imagined that the Lord would one day make me a bishop.

 

I spent my first three years of college working as a hospital orderly and assisting in the emergency room, at a university student health center and in a hospital in California during summer break. 

 

When I began the job, I hadn’t thought much about human suffering, or about human dignity.

But during my employment in hospitals, something changed. At that time, some states had approved abortion laws that I wasn’t even aware of. Because of those laws, when I was in college I witnessed the results of two abortions.

 

The first was in a surgical unit. I walked into an outer room and in the sink, unattended, was the body of small unborn child who had been aborted. I remember being stunned. I remember thinking that I had to baptize that child.

 

The second abortion was more shocking. A young woman came into the emergency room screaming. She explained that she had had an abortion already. When the doctor sent her home, he told her she would pass the remains naturally. She was bleeding as the doctor, her boyfriend, the nurse and I placed her on a table.

 

I held a basin as the doctor retrieved a tiny arm, a tiny leg and then the rest of the broken body of a tiny unborn child. I was shocked. I was saddened for the mother and child, for the doctor and the nurse. None of us would have participated in such a thing were it not an emergency. I witnessed a tiny human being destroyed by violence.

 

The memory haunts me. I will never forget that I stood witness to acts of unspeakable brutality. In the abortions I witnessed, powerful people made decisions that ended the lives of small, powerless, children. Through lies and manipulation, children were seen as objects. Women and families were convinced that ending a life would be painless, and forgettable. Experts made seemingly convincing arguments that the unborn were not people at all, that they could not feel pain, and were better off dead.

 

I witnessed the death of two small people who never had the chance to take a breath. I can never forget that. And I have never been the same. My faith was weak at the time. But I knew by reason, and by what I saw, that a human life was destroyed. My conscience awakened to the truth of the dignity of the human being from the moment of conception. I became pro-life and eventually returned to my faith.

 

I learned what human dignity was when I saw it callously disregarded. I know, without a doubt, that abortion is a violent act of murder and exploitation. And I know that our responsibility is to work and pray without ceasing for its end...

 

Finally, dear brothers and sisters, I wish to remind you of the power of prayer. Our prayer and sacrifice for an end to abortion, united with Christ on the cross, will transform hearts and renew minds. In prayer we entrust our nation to Jesus Christ. In doing so, we can be assured of his victory.

 

Today I ask you to join me in a new resolve to build a culture which sees with the eyes of God—which sees the dignity of the unborn, of women and men, of the poor, the elderly, the mentally ill and the disabled.

 

Our forefathers saw with the eyes of God when they recognized in the Declaration of Independence that “we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

 

I ask you, dear brothers and sisters, to join me in building a culture of life which ends the brutal killing of the unborn—the smallest and least among us. There is no greater task we can undertake. I pray that the words of Scripture may burn within our hearts, “You formed my inmost being; you knit me in my mother’s womb. I praise you, because I am wonderfully made; wonderful are your works!”[16]

 

Sincerely yours in Christ,

Most Reverend Samuel J. Aquila, STL

Archbishop of Denver

(Excerpt from here.)

USA Faces God's Justice For Allowing the Killing of His Unborn Children

Criminals convicted in our nation of the most heinous crimes have never been treated with the barbaric cruelty that over fifty million   unborn babies have suffered during induced abortion from their mothers’ wombs. Tiny, innocent babies are trapped in an enclosed space and killed mercilessly, totally unable to defend themselves. They are poisoned, burned, dismembered, skulls crushed, brains sucked out.  

Responsibility for the protection of these most innocent human beings belongs to all USA citizens who are old enough to vote. Voting for politicians who legislate in favor of abortion is being an enabler of that grievous offense against God, the Creator of all life.

 

When we bemoan the shortage of workers to fund Social Security, think of the unborn who could have been part of the work force. When we cry because there is no cure for serious diseases, think of the aborted unborn who might have discovered those cures. When we worry about the economy, energy needs, health care, etc., think of the more than fifty million unborn babies  that were never given a chance to use their God-given talents to contribute to our society.

 

We are all God’s children. Will He bless a nation that continues to insult Him by allowing the destruction of His unborn sons and daughters? When we turn away from God and His law of love, might He allow us to wallow in our own misery until we learn the hard lessons needed to humbly return to the most loving and wisest of Fathers?

 

Consider the words of Thomas Jefferson, "I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that His justice cannot sleep forever."     

President Obama: We Will Be Judged by How We Care for Our Nation's Children

 

"This is our first task -- caring for our children. It’s our first job. If we don’t get that right, we don’t get anything right. That’s how, as a society, we will be judged.

"And by that measure, can we truly say, as a nation, that we are meeting our obligations? Can we honestly say that we’re doing enough to keep our children -- all of them -- safe from harm? ...Can we say that we’re truly doing enough to give all the children of this country the chance they deserve to live out their lives in happiness and with purpose?"

 

"...If there is even one step we can take to save another child,...-- then surely we have an obligation to try."

"There’s only one thing we can be sure of, and that is the love that we have -- for our children, for our families, for each other. The warmth of a small child’s embrace -- that is true. The memories we have of them, the joy that they bring, the wonder we see through their eyes, that fierce and boundless love we feel for them, a love that takes us out of ourselves, and binds us to something larger -- we know that’s what matters. We know we’re always doing right when we’re taking care of them, when we’re teaching them well, when we’re showing acts of kindness. We don’t go wrong when we do that." (Source)

~ President Barack Obama ~
 

 

(Video Source)

Abortionist Admits Being an Executioner of Unborn Baby

“You have to become a bit schizophrenic. In one room, you encourage the patient that the slight irregularity in the fetal heart is not important, that she is going to have a fine, healthy baby. Then, in the next room you assure another woman, on whom you just did a saline abortion, that it is a good thing that the heartbeat is already irregular… she has nothing to worry about, she will NOT have a live baby… All of a sudden one noticed that at the time of the saline infusion there was a lot of activity in the uterus. That’s not fluid currents. That’s obviously the fetus being distressed by swallowing the concentrated salt solution and kicking violently and that’s to all intents and purposes, the death trauma… somebody has to do it, and unfortunately we are the executioners in this instance[.]” - Dr. John Szenes, abortionist (Source)

Archbishop Charles Chaput: Putting God Before Politics

“We’re Catholics before we’re Democrats. We’re Catholics before we’re Republicans. We’re even Catholics before we’re Americans because we know that God has a demand on us prior to any government demand on us.  And this has been the story of the martyrs through the centuries.”

 

“[Abortion] is a very serious issue that requires absolute adherence on the part of Catholics, and if we don’t stand united on this issue we’re bound to failure—not only in the area of protecting unborn human life but in maintaining our religious freedom.”

~ Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, excerpt from here ~

 

 

     

Fr. Marcel Guarnizo: Abortion Corrupts Everything

"The root of abortion is contraception...

the mantra of the contraceptive mentality is 'I wish you would not exist'. "

~ Fr. Marcel Guarnizo ~

Bella Santorum: God's Gift of Life and Love

"We just thank God every day we have her.  I would say Bella makes us better.  Some people describe people like Bella as disabled children; and I look at her and I look at the joy and I look at the simplicity and the love that she emits and it's clear to me that we're the disabled ones, not her.  She's got it right.  She's got a...great beautiful spirit--one that emits unconditional love--and we can learn a lot from that."

~ Rick Santorum ~