Author’s bio bull
Since I offer ideas based on experience, perhaps I should
try to explain a smidgin about who I am, without barfing.
First pro-life initiative: a pilgrimage to Guadalupe,
December 1972, praying for unborn children and their mothers.
Seeded: 40 days near Christ in the Desert Monastery in
Abiquiu, NM. No plan, no project, just living with the invitation to call God
“Father. But I wrote one letter, revised ~100X, responding to a friend who had
had an abortion.
Studies: three years reading Thomas Merton, ML King, Mahatma
Gandhi
1976: Ellen McCormack (Dem, MA) presidential campaign.
Conclusion from pilgrimage, desert, and studies: the heart
of pro-life movement must be a campaign of disciplined nonviolent action.
1977, started pro-life nonviolent action in CT. In the first
group of activists jailed for a sit-in at an abortion clinic. Co-founder,
Prolife Nonviolent Action Project (PNAP), which sparked sit-ins at abortion
clinics in 50 states.
1981: PNAP resurgent. Second wave included the “We Will
Stand Up” campaign, the most successful campaign of the rescue movement.
First decade of pro-life nonviolence: extensive cooperation
with activists from other movements. Worked with Prolifers for Survival (PS),
pro-life / pro-peace initiative of Juli Loesch, later taken up the American
bishops. Careful to challenge both sides to be consistent.
Sit-ins require alternatives. Co-founder, Shady Grove
Pregnancy Center (MD).
Helped start Rescue Outreach: Joan Andrews and my sister
Kathie O’Keefe and others, overseas – teaching, leading, and rescuing in Latin
America and Europe.
Nonviolence cannot succeed if we demonize our opponents.
Worked with the common ground movement in Washington, encouraging respectful
pro-life / pro-choice dialogue. Wrote (one article) for the Women’s Studies
Encyclopedia.
Worked at National Right to Life Committee during the 1980
election sweep followed by the 1981 legislative debacle.
Worked with Fr. Paul Marx at Human Life International for
seven years, as director of publications and as executive director. Promoted
nonviolent action in over 80 nations. I helped to plan and launch a new
research body, the Population Research Institute. Worked with Elizabeth Sobo, disseminating
information about global population control through the Information Project for
Africa (IPFA).
I worked with American Life League for three years. First
executive director of the American Bioethics Advisory Commission (ABAC), a
grassroots response to President Clinton’s bioethics commission. Edited Ban
Human Cloning.
Key writing: My thinking about nonviolence is found in
Emmanuel, Solidarity: God’s Act, Our Response. Following the thinking of my
sister Kathie O’Keefe, I started writing about eugenics in 1986. See especially
The Roots of Abortion and Racism: An Introduction to Eugenics. Watched eugenics
movement launch successful effort to coopt pro-life movement. See The Sign of
the Crossing. (These books are available on Amazon or Kindle.)
Currently: writing a pair of books about the unity of the
Catholic Church, from left to right. One book on marriage (completed), with a
companion book on immigration (in progress). To be published together.
My wife and I have six kids (six homegrown, plus two
cooperative projects – two proud young folks we adopted non-formally), and 11+
grandchildren. After 500 words, finally
something worth bragging about.
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