Pro-life supporters must seek Mary’s help to end abortion, priest says

By Mary Ann Wyand

“Practice what you preach.” That motto describes Father Thomas Euteneuer’s pro-life ministry as president of Human Life International in Front Royal, Va.

Shortly after Father Euteneuer arrived in Indianapolis on March 4, he prayed the rosary outside a Planned Parenthood abortion clinic and called on St. Michael the Archangel to help him fight the Church’s spiritual battle against the culture of death.

That night, during his keynote speech on “Mary’s Role in the Pro-Life Movement” at the second annual Catholic Life Network dinner in downtown Indianapolis, Father Euteneuer challenged more priests to join him in this urgent “spiritual warfare” to save souls by praying outside abortion clinics and preaching pro-life homilies during Masses.

He told about 300 pro-life supporters at the fundraising dinner that he has presented pro-life programs in 41 countries during the past five years and logged more than 500,000 miles for Human Life International’s pro-life mission.

The dinner raised funds for the archdiocesan Office for Pro-Life Ministry and the Gabriel Project in Indiana, and also honored five women and a family for dedicated volunteer service to the cause of life.

Catholic Life Network Pro Vita Awards were presented to St. Monica parishioner Jeannette Andrews of Indianapolis for her post-abortion reconciliation work with Project Rachel as well as Birthline volunteers Rosalind Mitchel, a member of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Parish in Indianapolis, and St. Mark the Evangelist parishioner Libby Thomas of Indianapolis.

Pro Vita awards also were presented to Gabriel Project volunteers Gloria Lieb of St. Joseph Parish in Indianapolis; Michele Neely of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish in Carmel, Ind., in the Lafayette Diocese; and Michael and Lourdes Padilla and their children, Mikey, Mariel and Daniel, of Columbus. who worship at St. Bartholomew Parish there and Our Lady of the Greenwood Parish in Greenwood.

In his keynote address, Father Euteneuer warned people about being complacent because the culture of death builds “a fortress of death” when it gains control of a society.

When the culture of life predominates in a country, he said, society’s laws, traditions and customs act like a stronghold to protect the sacred institutions of life, marriage and family.

The first duty of government is to protect the innocent, he said, as well as whatever is fundamentally important for the survival of the society.

During a speaking engagement in Kenya last week, Father Euteneuer said he told university students that, “At one time, in the United States, [artificial] contraception, divorce, pornography, abortion and euthanasia were all illegal or severely restricted by law.”

But now, he told the students, the culture of death has institutionalized the destruction of sacred institutions with massive walls of legal protection.

“Innocent citizens who are supposed to be the object of a good government are rather deprived of legal protection and stand vulnerable to every manner of human wickedness,” Father Euteneuer said. “Roe vs. Wade [the U.S. Supreme Court decision which legalized abortion in 1973] is the perfect example of such a fortress of death, [and abortionists] now have the cover of the law.”

He blames the government, the courts, the media and lobbying organizations for strengthening abortion rights in the U.S. during the past three decades.

“It’s going to be a long battle,” Father Euteneuer said.

“Even overturning Roe vs. Wade will not automatically overturn abortion. … On that day, the warfare will revert to the trenches of each of the 50 states, and the outcome could be quite mixed, with some states allowing abortion and others not. It did not work with the issue of slavery.”

Replacing the fortress of death with pro-life laws and institutions requires God’s help, Father Euteneuer said. “We have to ask God to come to our aid and to turn this all around, and we have to ask this through the intercession of Mary. I believe that this pro-life battle in which we are all engaged in one form or another is where the victory of Mary’s immaculate heart will take place.

“Since the culture of death is so integrated into the very fabric of our society, I believe that only a force of holiness much superior to ourselves can put an end to it,” he said. “God is going to do it through Mary with our help. … Mary will win this battle for us if we cooperate with her and beg her intercession. … The gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church. … The Church, in union with Jesus and Mary, is the only institution that can actually defeat the culture of death. But it’s impossible to win this battle without fidelity to the Church’s magisterium.” †