Most Reverend Jerome E. Listecki
Archbishop of Milwaukee
 

Tomorrow, March 29, we will celebrate Pray, Reconcile & Rejoice: Twelve Hours of Reconciliation. Confessions will be available to the faithful in designated parishes in all the deaneries in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. I encourage everyone to seek the convenient parish in their area and participate for the sake of their souls and the sake of our community.

This reconciliation opportunity was initiated a few years ago and has been remarkably successful. This year, thousands of faithful Catholics will once again take advantage of a number of confessors available to hear confessions in English and Spanish. Many confessors are edified that individuals who have not been to confession for some 20 or 30 years will embrace the sacrament on this day. For others, this will be the fulfillment of their Lenten journey. Many who approach the sacrament with some regularity realize that the sacrament is grace giving, which strengthens our ability to face the problems of the world with a sense of virtue.  

There is a statement in one of the acts of contrition, “In what I have done, and in what I have failed to do.” We are responsible for our actions and also for our inactions in the face of evil and sin. Many who oppose the Church’s teachings will characterize their positions as something other than what they truly are. They mask the horror of the act that they are supporting. Current positions on abortion state that it’s a woman’s health issue or that it is a “right.”

Imagine if those supporting slavery claimed that it was a right of ownership – not the denial of a person’s dignity, but an economic right. Slavery supports the economy. Would there be anyone, knowing the dignity of the human person, who would support that justification?

There is only one problem with the pro-abortion argument – it is not “pro-choice.” It is pro-death, and the reality is that a life is taken. Imagine this gruesome sight: a fully developed infant, nine months in the womb, and then this preborn is sliced up. Now, imagine a year-old infant, sliced up. Underneath the picture of the nine-month, fully developed preborn is the statement: “This action is protected by the law,” and underneath the one-year-old is the statement: “This is an act of murder.”

The killing of the innocent has never been supported by Catholic Church Teachings. As citizens, we have an obligation to support the laws that protect the innocent. We must take our responsibility, as citizens before God’s judgment, for the times we have supported the destruction of the innocent. We must also take responsibility for the lack of support for the protection of the innocent when we vote for candidates and laws that liberalize abortion laws.

There is nothing enlightened about an individual who fails to realize that the denial of the right to life for the most vulnerable among us is an attack on the dignity and personal value of every citizen. I could not and would not support a candidate whose position on life is contrary to the teachings of the Church – a position contrary to the teachings and love of Jesus. A personally imposed blindness to this most fundamental of all rights for human beings would have us support the agenda of the evil one embracing the darkness over the light. Did I do “something” to protect the innocent?

As we make our way to the sacrament of reconciliation, let us also remember not only what we have done, but what we have failed to do. How could we not embrace the innocent when we are called to LOVE ONE ANOTHER?     

Note: This blog originally appeared as the March 28, 2023 "Love One Another" email sent to Catholics throughout the Archdiocese of Milwaukee by Archbishop Jerome E. Listecki. If you are interested in signing up for these email messages, please click here.