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."     

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 ~

Legal Killing of Humans: German Holocaust Compared to Abortion Holocaust

A new 33-minute documentary film titled 180 is changing public opinion on abortion 180 degrees in a matter of minutes, as author and film producer Ray Comfort uses the new film to ask students a question that challenges their abortion views.

Abby Johnson, who resigned her position as the director of a Texas Planned Parenthood abortion business, has also seen the film and said pro-life advocates “must check it out,” saying it is “one of the best things you will ever watch.”

~ Excerpts from here ~

Abortion Stops a Beating Heart: Join Supporters of the Heartbeat Bill!

"Science has already given us a yardstick to determine if someone is alive--a beating heart. We just want to see that measurement applied evenly. This bill calls for an end to discrimination and the protection of every human being with a beating heart--no matter their age!

~ Lynn Wachtmann, Ohio State Representative and New Chair of the House Health Committee ~

"Knowing that I killed my own precious baby, who had a beating heart, has traumatized and devastated me beyond description and has destroyed so much happiness and has lead to chronic migraine pain easily triggered by inconsolable grieving. An unplanned pregnancy would have lead to unplanned joy. I regret this choice with every fiber of my heart and soul... I've thought about and loved this baby intensely every day of my life for almost 30 years. And I never was a mom to another child-due to infertility. This means that in a moment of haste, in my youth, not fully informed, I killed the only child I ever conceived. If I would have seen an ultrasound--would have seen that beating heart-wild horses couldn't have kept me in that clinic. I would have known the truth and my baby would be alive today. That's why I'm here. Please vote yes on this important legislation."

~ Kathryn Bretz, Post-Abortive Woman, Cleveland, Ohio ~

 

~ HeartbeatBill.com ~

Bl. Teresa of Calcutta: "America...Roe vs. Wade has deformed a great nation."

"America needs no words from me to see how your decision in Roe vs. Wade has deformed a great nation. The so-called right to abortion has pitted mothers against their children and women against men. It has sown violence and discord at the heart of the most intimate human relationships. It has aggravated the derogation of the father's role in an increasingly fatherless society. It has portrayed the greatest of gifts--a child--as a competitor, an intrusion and an inconvenience. It has nominally accorded mothers unfettered dominion over the dependent lives of their physically dependent sons and daughters. And, in granting this unconscionable power, it has exposed many women to unjust and selfish demands from their husbands or other sexual partners."

 

"Human rights are not a privilege conferred by government. They are every human being's entitlement by virtue of his humanity. The right to life does not depend, and must not be contingent, on the pleasure of anyone else, not even a parent or sovereign. The Constitutional Court of the Federal Republic of Germany recently ruled: 'The unborn child is entitled to its right to life independently of its acceptance by its mother; this is an elementary and inalienable right which emanates from the dignity of the human being.'"

~ Blessed Teresa of Calcutta ~

Archbishop Timothy Dolan & Dr. Alveda King: Abortion in New York City

Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan of New York and Dr. Alveda C. King, Director of the African American Outreach for Priests for Life, sat down recently with CNA and commented about abortion and pro-life issues facing New York City.

~ To see the New York billboard,
 "The Most Dangerous Place for an African Americam is in the Womb",  go here. ~

Saint Faustina Suffered in Reparation for Souls Murdered in the Womb

September 16, 1937. I wanted very much to make a Holy Hour before the Blessed Sacrament today, but God's will was otherwise. At eight o'clock I was seized with such violent pains that I had to go to bed at once. I was convulsed with pain for three hours; that is, until eleven o'clock at night. No medicine had any effect on me, and whatever I swallowed I threw up. At times, the pains caused me to lose consciousness. Jesus had me realize that in this way I took part in His Agony in the Garden, and that He himself allowed these sufferings in order to offer reparation to God for the souls murdered in the wombs of wicked mothers. I have gone through these sufferings three times now. They always start at eight o'clock in the evening and last until eleven. No medicine can lessen these sufferings. When eleven o'clock comes, they cease by themselves, and I fall asleep at that moment. The following day, I feel very weak.

This happened to me for the first time when I was at the sanatorium. The doctors couldn't get to the bottom of it, and no injection or medicine helped me at all nor did I myself have any idea of what the sufferings were about. I told the doctor that never before in my life had I experienced such sufferings, and he declared he did not know what sort of pains they are. But now I understand the nature of these pains, because the Lord himself has made this known to me.... Yet when I think that I may perhaps suffer in this way again, I tremble. But I don't know whether I'll ever again suffer in this way; I leave that to God. What it pleases God to send, I will accept with submission and love. If only I could save even one soul from murder by means of these sufferings!

~ St. Faustina; excerpt 1276 from  The Diary of St. Maria Faustina Kowalska ~

40 Days for Life, Lies of Planned Parenthood, Pro-life Witness at Abortion Centers

"Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching its people to love,

but to use violence to get what they want.

That is why the greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion"

~ Blessed Teresa of Calcutta ~

Fr. Barron Comments on Abortion: Shocking Numbers Out of New York!

Eduardo Verastegui: Dura Realidad--Hard Truth About Abortion

"We need to put an end to abortion."

~ Eduardo Verastegui ~

~ To see Eduardo's video  Dura Realidad--Hard Truth, click here.

Watch video in Spanish or English

Eduardo's recommended links:

Hispanics for Life and Human Rights

Vida Humana Internacional

ProLife.com

Blessed Teresa of Calcutta: Answering to God for Ending the Lives of His Children

"I find it a great, great poverty that a child must die

because we are afraid to feed one more child,

to educate one more child.

The fear of feeding one more old person in the family

means that that person must be put away,

and yet one day we too have to meet the Master.

What will we answer to Him about that child,

that old father and mother, because they are His creation,

they are children of God."

~ Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta ~

Pope John Paul II and Fr. John Corapi: A Nation That Kills Its Own Children

"A nation that kills it's own children is a nation without hope."

~ Pope John Paul II ~

Death Wish! The Impending Suicide of a Once Great Nation

An excerpt from Father Corapi's book, Letters.

A large number of endangered, unwanted, and unborn children held a town hall meeting on the 4th of July - alarmed at the brutal and untimely killing of millions of their brothers and sisters in recent years. That the murderous war waged on them had the full force and respectability of the law made their plight all the more terrifying.

Their complaint was humble and it was simple. They were not distressed by rising gas prices, or the deteriorating economy in general. They were not even frightened by the exponential increase of natural disasters. The threat of global warming or global terrorism did not greatly disturb them.

They had become an endangered species, and little had been done to answer their terrified and silent screams from the womb. They decided that the barbaric treatment that they and their fellow unwanted unborn human beings have had to endure for perilous decades was unconscionable and unbearable. They cried out to their Creator for inspiration and protection, and then unanimously they put forth a declaration. It began as follows:

"When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of nature and the Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. 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...

THAT AMONG THESE IS LIFE; THAT AMONG THESE IS LIFE; THAT AMONG THESE IS LIFE!"

The first and pre-eminent right is the right to life. This truth the Founding Fathers were sure of, and anyone with any common sense at all is equally sure of it. 232 years after the Declaration of Independence was signed the amount of common sense that seems to be operative in many spheres of influence - most notably the courts and the political arena - can easily be poured into a very small thimble. The United States of America seems to have a death wish, and we have traveled far down the road to having that wish realized. When law divorces itself from common sense and spawns the illegitimate offspring of distortions of law, resulting in illegal laws - based neither on the natural law nor divine law - this undermines law itself, generating disdain for the law. Erosion of trust in the courts, or the system in general, is inevitable.

The genesis of the death wish is rooted in the fall of man that we see in the Book of Genesis. The substance of the fall is wrapped up in Lucifer's pride, transferred to Adam and Eve - "You can be like gods, knowing good and evil." The unholy, yet inevitable, consequence of that price is disobedience - eating the forbidden fruit. The ultimate end is death, as God said it would be. That's the way it was in the beginning. That's the way it is now. That's the way it will be until time breathes forth it's last moment.

The prototypical sin is pride, the pride that seeks to exalt the creature above the Creator:

"I can be like God." Then, subjectively and arbitrarily, man tries to assert himself, imagining that he knows what's good and evil for himself without reference to God and God's law. This was the fall of the angels and the fall of man. The attempt by creatures to usurp what is only the province of God. Only God knows what is good for His creation.

In recent years it took the form of a self-inflicted heart wound when some dissident Catholics rejected the teaching of the Church, a teaching that clearly held that artificial contraception is intrinsically evil. Then, as Pope Paul VI had warned, it metastasized into abortion. From abortion it degenerated even further into partial-birth abortion. It was then a short and easy step to infanticide.

It's hard to believe that we have degenerated to the point that we'll murder a helpless baby should it escape the violence of an abortion and be born alive. Can a Catholic vote for such persons? [who support abortion] We are told, "yes" for a "proportionate reason." What, I might ask, is the proportionate reason so weighty as to excuse supporting those responsible for what is tantamount to genocide?

The judges and politicians that support such barbaric practices are truly guilty of genocide: genocide - the deliberate and systematic destruction of an ethnic, racial, religious, national, or social group. "What is the group so targeted?", you might ask. The group is unwanted, unborn children - tens of millions of them. The Supreme Court justices that gave us Roe v. Wade will have to plead temporary insanity in the court of history. There will be no defense in the highest Court that is the judgment seat of almighty God if they do not repent of the incalculable evil they have wrought.

Yet, despite the life and death importance of this travesty of authentic law, there will be no serious discussion among political candidates, or anyone else. It is as if society has been bewitched, blind to the splendor of truth, deaf to the cries of the most innocent, most vulnerable, and most utterly helpless.

From artificial contraception to abortion to partial-birth abortion, then on to infanticide we march toward the abyss of oblivion, a society marked for death...

Fr. John Corapi, SOLT, STD

Rick Santorem: The Denial of Civil Rights to Slaves and Unborn Human Beings

"For decades certain human beings were wrongly treated as property and denied liberty in America because they were not considered persons under the constitution. Today other human beings, the unborn of all races, are also wrongly treated as property and denied the right to life for the same reason; because they are not considered persons under the constitution. I am disappointed that President Obama, who rightfully fights for civil rights, refuses to recognize the civil rights of the unborn in this country."

~ Former Senator Rick Santorem ~

The Presence is Real: The Holy Eucharist and Catholics Who Support Abortion

From the moment of consecration, Christ is truly present in the Holy Eucharist. We do not see Him as we see other people, but He is there, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity. Even though we cannot see Him, He is always with us in the Blessed Sacrament.

From the moment of creation, a person is truly present. We can't see him or her as we see other people, but the whole person is there. Unique DNA can be detected, which will determine his or her physical and mental characteristics.

There is a striking similarity between the number of Catholics who support abortion (40-47 percent) and those who do not believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist (43 percent). Thus, we must pray and fast for intellectual, spiritual, and psychological healing for baptized Catholics who have strayed from the truth.  ( from American Life League)

Pope John Paul II: Jesus Christ Will Judge Everyone on Love of God and Neighbor

Our faith tells us that Jesus Christ, who "is seated at the right hand of the Father", will come to judge the living and the dead. On the other hand, the Gospel of John assures us that Christ was sent "into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him" (Jn 3:17). In what then does judgment consist? Christ himself gives the answer: "And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world... But he who does what is true comes into the light, that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been wrought by God" (Jn 3:19, 21). Recently, the Encyclical Veritatis Splendor also reminded us of this. Is Christ then a judge? Your own actions will judge you in the light of the truth which you know. Fathers and mothers, sons and daughters, will be judged by their actions. Each one of us will be judged according to the Commandments, including those we have discussed in this Letter: the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Ninth Commandments. But ultimately everyone will be judged on love, which is the deepest meaning and the summing-up of the Commandments. As Saint John of the Cross wrote: "In the evening of life we shall be judged on love". Christ, the Redeemer and Bridegroom of mankind, "was born for this and came into the world for this, to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of truth hears his voice" (cf. Jn 18:37). Christ will be the judge, but in the way that he himself indicated in speaking of the Last Judgment (cf. Mt 25:31-46). His will be a judgment on love, a judgment which will definitively confirm the truth that the Bridegroom was with us, without perhaps our having been aware of it.

The judge is the Bridegroom of the Church and of humanity. This is why he says, in passing his sentence: "Come, O blessed of my Father... for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me" (Mt 25:34-36). This list could of course be lengthened, and countless other problems relevant to married and family life could be added. There we might very well find statements like: "I was an unborn child, and you welcomed me by letting me be born"; "I was an abandoned child, and you became my family"; "I was an orphan, and you adopted me and raised me as one of your own children". Or again: "You helped mothers filled with uncertainty and exposed to wrongful pressure to welcome their unborn child and let it be born"; and "You helped large families and families in difficulty to look after and educate the children God gave them". We could continue with a long and detailed list, including all those kinds of true moral and human good in which love is expressed. This is the great harvest which the Redeemer of the world, to whom the Father has entrusted judgment, will come to reap. It is the harvest of grace and of good works, ripened by the breath of the Bridegroom in the Holy Spirit, who is ever at work in the world and in the Church. For all of this, let us give thanks to the Giver of every good gift.

We also know however that according to the Gospel of Matthew the Final Judgment will contain another list, solemn and terrifying: "Depart from me... for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me" (Mt 25:41-43). To this list also we could add other ways of acting, in which Jesus is present in each case as the one who has been rejected. In this way he would identify with the abandoned wife or husband, or with the child conceived and then rejected: "You did not welcome me"! This judgment is also to be found throughout the history of our families; it is to be found throughout the history of our nations and all humanity. Christ's words, "You did not welcome me", also touch social institutions, governments and international organizations.

~ Pope John Paul II:  excerpt from Letter to Families ~

Fr. Thomas Euteneuer: The Demonic "Sacrament" of Abortion

The standard Catholic description of a real Sacrament is that it is an “efficacious sign instituted by Christ to give grace.” The “sign” is whatever the particular Sacrament is meant to convey: Baptism—cleansing from sin, Eucharist—union with Christ, Penance—forgiveness of sins, etc. “Efficacious” means that it actually produces the effect it signifies, and it “gives grace” as sort of a conduit of divine life into our souls. A Catholic Sacrament is holy in itself and does not need a holy person to administer it, and on the basis of the Sacrament’s innate holiness, the children of the Church are sanctified and in turn sanctify the world in which we live.

The demonic “sacrament” of abortion has the same characteristics as a real Sacrament except that it reverses any concept of holiness and perverts its meaning. This is because the devil always mimics God’s plan to communicate His life to us and does everything he can to draw us away from that life. In this case, abortion is a “sign” that points to death; it is “efficacious” in that it brings death through bodily destruction; it “destroys grace” in that each act of abortion is a mortal sin that seduces and corrupts all of those who take part in it.

Furthermore, abortionists, witches and Satanists put their “faith” in the “sacrament” of abortion. Don’t take my word for it. In a 1999 LifeSite interview, retired abortionist Patricia Baird-Windle, self-professed wiccan (witch), actually said, “Abortion is a major blessing, and a sacrament in the hands of women. ... At the very crucible of the sacrament of abortion work is that some women have an abortion out of love for the baby, [some] out of love for the children they already have and are having a hard time feeding.” Rarely am I shocked by what abortion apologists say, but this perverse logic leaves me utterly speechless. It shouldn’t surprise me, though; Ms. Baird-Windle claims responsibility for 65,000 abortions in the three death centers that she owned.

There’s more. An Episcopal “priestess,” Carter Hayward said, “Abortion would be a sacrament if women were in charge. Abortion should be a sacrament even today. I suspect that for many women today, and for their spouses, lovers, families and communities, abortion is celebrated as such, an occasion of deep and serious and sacred meaning.” No comment is really necessary here.

Let us never pretend that abortion is just a social or political phenomenon that has to be voted out of office to be defeated. We must do everything we can to restore legal protection to our most innocent citizens, but our battle against the devil will not be won at the polls. It will be won on our knees before the Lord and on our feet before the centers of death. More than ever we need men and women of tested holiness who are willing to fight the spiritual battle for the lives of God’s precious babies and the souls of their mothers and fathers. Even abortionists like Baird-Windle are caught up in a demonic religion which can be challenged and defeated by those of us who belong to the true Church of Christ, the only spiritual power strong enough to defeat the “sacrament” of abortion.

~ Fr. Thomas Euteneuer ~

Abortion is Demonically Inspired