I have been going back and forth between the social justice advocates and pro-lifers since 2012, intending to press for increased cooperation, mutual respect, unity. Four days amongst social ministry folks at major annual event: what a great group!
Day one, initial impressions. Music is rich, international, vibrant, engaging. Msgr East from DC was the most visible musician: from 200 yards away, you can see and feel and hear that he means every word of praise and love that erupts from his long bony hands and his brilliant smiles and his wonderful voice. He was most visible, but not the best: great joyful music all over the place!
And there are pro-lifers all over the place. The event is sponsored by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, and the USCCB does not suffer from left-right polarization. There are arguments over emphasis, but not cosmic chasms between the left and right.
Just one talk. Fr. Daniel Groody from Notre spoke about “A God of Life, a Civilization of Love.” What was on his mind, principally, was the vast and growing gap in wealth, between the 1% at the top and the 20% or 50% with less. Funny, engaging, wide perspective, extensive personal experience: great talk! But I was listening from a pro-life perspective, specifically – to someone who is aware of death by abortion and euthanasia, but was focusing on poverty. When he tried to get at the scope of the problem using a village analogy to get a grasp on stats – 16% are malnourished, 40% have cell phones, etc – he didn't include that 35% of this generation of the villagers are already in the cemetery (or trash), dead and discarded, victims of abortion. I have the impression that he does understand that abortion is a problem, really does – but has no idea what the scope of the problem is.