Bishop Barry Knestout’s Reflection During Holy Hour at the National Prayer Vigil for Life
January 24, 2025
Brother bishops, priests, deacons, women and men in consecrated life, seminarians, those in formation, dear brothers and sisters,
We are all familiar with the recent hurricane affecting Appalachia, Southwest Virginia (within the diocese of Richmond), Tennessee, and North Carolina. That storm brought with it heavy rains and flooding that affected miles of territory, towns, villages, and many people’s homes and lives. We pray for those who were affected by the hurricane even as we offer tangible help to them.Flooding can cover vast territories and cause suffering for many people.
In recent weeks, we have seen wildfires in California. They tend to spread fast with the Santa Ana winds, whipped up at this time of year with the dry weather. The embers of one fire are carried by the winds to other locations. Many wildfires start in various places, affecting lives and homes, causing suffering for many people. We keep those affected by the fires in our prayers, as we offer them tangible help as well.
When a disaster strikes, we look at all the causes, some natural, some human, and we vow to never let such a tragedy happen again. We propose remedies and commit resources to the effort. We weigh the costs/benefits of preparing for a disaster which might only occasionally occur, and the inconvenience that careful preparation sometimes requires. There are many causes contributing to such a crisis. Some of it is just the random dangers of the environment or history, which always exist. But there is also a lack of urgency in preparation. We grow complacent when things are predictable or routine.
In our American and the wider western culture,over many decades, we have experienced a crisis of attacks on human life. There has been a tsunami of secularism, relativism, materialism, a culture of deathwhich has washed over our nation. This is most evident in the abortion industry. Since the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, this culture of death, although still impacting our land, has now shifted to a fight over Constitutional amendments in the States. Instead of a flood washing everywhere, the constitutional amendments are like wildfires, popping up in states throughout the country. Their goal is to enshrine abortion on demand at every stage of pregnancy.
This is the case in the Commonwealth of Virginia withthe house and senate both voting by slim partisan margins to seek a constitutional amendment to allow abortion without limits. We all know this is a slippery slope that soon expands to threaten life at every stage, beginning to end, from womb to tomb. Years before the Dobbs decision, it was clear that the attacks on human life were moving to the state level. With encouragement from the National March for Life Virginia introduced its annual March of Life in 2019. The Church along with many other pro-life groups have marched and advocated for human life in a legislative environment that continues to attack it.
The effort to enshrine the right to abortion as part of the Virginia constitution as in many other placesis alarming. Those words – a constitutional right to abortion – should awaken us from any complacency about the plight of the unborn.It should inspire in us a whole-hearted renewal in our advocacy for the unborn.
Last week, I attended the funeral of Geline Williams. Some may not be familiar with her. In the program this evening, there is printed a brief history of the National March for Life. In the last paragraph of that history is a recognition of the visionaries, who founded the National March for Life. Geline Williams was one of those visionaries. She reached 101 years when she passed on January 12th.
When I think of the many people who were founders of the Pro-Life movement, I think of Geline. She was one of its earliest advocates for human life. In 1967, several years before Roe was decided, she, with her husband Alex, foundedthe Virginia Society for Human Life. She was among the early organizers of the National March for Life, and chair of this march for three decades. I am confident that if she were here tonight, she’d encourage everyoneto renew their vigor given the threats to life at the state level.
In the Commonwealth of Virginia, the Virginia Catholic Conference advocates on behalf of our Diocese of Richmond and the Diocese of Arlington for public policy that aligns with Church teaching — policy that advances respect for life and human dignity from conception to natural death.
The Virginia Catholic Conference, along with the Virginia Society for Human Life, is sponsoring the fourth annual Virginia Pro-Life Day at the capitol on Wednesday, January 29th. During the Virginia Pro-Life Day, the primary focus is on abortion. Participants meet with their legislators and express their opposition to legislation that expands abortion. But we also know that the dignity of human life is attacked at other points as with proposed legislation to legalize assisted suicide.So, our efforts shift from fighting a tsunami of a culture of death to fighting many state brush fires damaging life. We guard against complacency which tends to dry out of the growth of the movement so that it is easily consumed by a spark of passion by opponents of the dignity of human life.
How do we deal with these many challenges in states, as seen in the Commonwealth of Virginia, and throughout the country? We need to fight fire with fire, and water with water (so to speak). We fight the tsunami of the culture of death with thesoothing waters ofthe day-to-day efforts tocare for women and infants in crisis pregnancy centers, and to give assistance to mothers in crisis, bringing comfort and supportthrough local parishes and diocesan catholic charities.
We fight the wildfires of constitutional amendments,with the renewed passion of our voices and actions in advocacy. This includes efforts to support thisNational March for Lifeas well asthe many state marches, as will take place in April in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Our passion must meet and exceed the passion of those who oppose life. In both cases,the Holy Spirit guides us with the teaching of the Church and the grace to persevere in a political environment that can be hostile or indifferent. We also must allow the Spirit to bring waters of soothing comfort through pastoral care, but also to burn off all the residue of sinfulness in us, with its attitudes of complacency or indifference to the protection of the unborn. It is too easy to assume that our work has been completed, and that it is not our concern what happens at the local level, after placing so much effort and emphasis on national pro-life efforts.
In adoration tonight, we place ourselves before God. We are reminded of his refreshing presence and teaching, especially in the Eucharist. The Holy Spirit assists us along the pro-life path, giving us charity that helps soothe those who are in crisis,and giving us passion to help us to advocate for life. We are confident that in our prayer tonight before the Blessed Sacrament,Our Lord accompanies us in all our efforts.He will sustain us with his presence, with the fire of his love, and in the soothing waters of hope,so that we might persevere and advocate even moreto see a culture of life take root and cover our land with the abundance of life and love.
May our time of adoration and praise of God during this Vigil for Life instill in us a renewed fervor, to overcome personal sin, and societal complacency. May this time of grace help us to renew our effort to defend life and seek to have our passion for the unborn and our compassion for their mothers, overflow from this National March, to penetrate everywhere, in our states, in ourdioceses, parishes, and homes.
