(Archbishop Burke with Seminarians at the 2008 March for Life)
St. Louis' Archbishop Burke seems to be getting some press again [AP News] for some of his pastoral work in the Archdiocese. He has consistently been correcting public personalities (celebrities, politicians, and now Catholic university representatives) on their stances as Catholics 'in favor of choice' (i.e. pro-abortion). The media should not be surprised when our Archbishop takes a stand for life and for the Church, because his actions (as leader of the Church in St. Louis) are the same as the kind of actions any CEO would take when one of the CEO's employees contradicts his employee contract. In the Archbishop's case, he is more merciful than a CEO, because he calls the individual to repentance, and even prays for his or her reconciliation. Show me a corporate CEO who does that for rebellious employees, and I'll give you a dollar.
So many people today are bringing scandal upon the Catholic Church, and many don't even know they are doing it. Archbishop Burke is doing a wonderful thing, trying to help certain individual Catholics (consider the case of Sr. Louise Lears at St. Cronan parish [St. Louis Catholic]) become better Catholics and return to God by showing them how to avoid scandal. A Catholic celebrity, using his or her public position to promote a pro-abortion belief (or even to let it be known that he or she is pro-abortion), needs to know that his or her soul is in grave danger.
For an alternative view of certain Bishops' heroic actions, please read Anita Crane's article about Judge Andrew Napolitano's support of bishops who stand for what the Catholic Church teaches [Celebrate Life Magazine].
As I'm sitting on a charter bus on the way back to St. Louis, I can't help but think that our nation is heading in a direction of finally eradicating the evil of abortion. Whether this will take ten of fifty years, I don't know, but I noticed so many people on the march, and most of them youth, that I don't know how our society could still tolerate this sad reality. A priest on the trip mentioned that the 'pro-choice' mentality is self-defeating; if you abort your children, you're cutting off possible future support for your cause. On the other hand, if you're pro-life, and helping our nation maintain its replacement birth rate, you're supporting your cause doubly!
The march was packed, and I'm sure the media will report there having been 'tens of thousands' (if that) of people at the march, when in reality the number is likely over a hundred thousand:
At the end of the march (during which the Archbishop marched with us and led a Rosary), the Seminarians gathered at the Supreme Court and we had our picture taken with Archbishop Burke:
As much as I love the March, I'll be glad to not have to go again at some point in the future. Perhaps one of these years, we'll have a celebratory march, after the illegalization of abortion. Even at that point, though, we'll have more battles to fight over human life (such as the morality of euthanasia, infanticide, etc.), but abortion, in my mind, is the centerpiece of life issues today. You can see more of my pictures on the pictures section of this site (pictures on the March, and pictures from D.C. in general)
I am sitting in the Catholic Information Center a few feet away from a tempting table full of Dunkin' Donuts, after having finally met Dawn Eden at a 'blogger party.' I've never heard of the CIC before a few weeks ago, but I have to say it's one of the finest Catholic bookstores I've ever visited—and, as an added bonus, it has a chapel inside, with daily Mass and adoration! Here's a quick picture of myself and Dawn at the party:
The march was well-attended (of course, the mainstream media won't tell you so), and I hope to post a few more pictures later today or tomorrow. See you then!
Tomorrow's the big day, and I'm now getting ready for it by taking a nice, long rest. Most of the day was spent walking around downtown D.C., and going to Macy's twice, since I needed a sweater in the morning (forgot to bring one), then lost a glove during the day (and needed another pair). Luckily, they had an awesome half off sale, in addition to a 'foreigner' sale for those of us not living in the District of Columbia, so it wasn't too damaging to my wallet.
I shot this picture of the Capitol building about half an hour before sunset:
Then a seminarian and I walked all the way down the national mall and shot a few pictures of the Washington Monument (it was a gorgeous sunset on a clear day - the little speck you see next to the monument is an airplane in the distance):
Finally, I visited the National Gallery with a few other seminarians, and we noticed a peculiar picture just outside the presidents' portrait gallery:
Apparently, Stephen Colbert had the gumption to ask if his portrait could be hung in one of the Smithsonian galleries in Washington, D.C... Maybe I could get my portrait added there, too, if I carried it in on my back [DCist.com].
Perhaps I'll be able to get a post in tomorrow; if not, you'll see a summary of my thoughts on the March (as well as some photos) by the weekend—stay tuned!
