When St. Paul got to the Areopagus, he found the monument to the unknown God, with which the Athenians were familiar, and began preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ by referencing that monument. This week, at the annual Respect Life Mass in Spokane, Washington, Bishop Blase Cupich did something similar, linking the vivid, painful and recent memories of the killings in Newtown, Connecticut with the Church's concern for the unborn. Some will worry that +Cupich's sermon potentially risks bringing back the "seamless garment" argument, but I say "Bring it Back." Getting people to think of life issues more broadly does not dilute our commitment to the unborn, indeed it holds out the possibility that we can get people who do not understand our concern for the unborn to see that concern in a different light. If you are conversing with a state legislator or a congressperson who is pro-choice, and yet they advocate a living wage, why not point out that we, too, support a living wage and also support the life that makes the wage possible! Why should our horror at the murder of innocent children in a school not extend to the destruction of innocent children in the womb? +Cupich's sermon is wonderful and our friends at America magazine have the text posted here.
