Today is the feast day of St. Teresa of Calcutta!
Before I share more about Mother Teresa and her connection to Priests for Life, I want to briefly tell you about the Religious Liberty Commission. I’ve been invited once again to attend their hearing in Washington, D.C., on Monday, September 8. This will be the second hearing, and I was honored to be present at the first as well.
“The commission will discuss religious liberty issues in public education from the perspectives of parents and students. The hearing will include panels with testimony from parents as well as elementary, secondary, undergraduate, and graduate students. The hearing will also include testimony from individuals with expertise in the areas of religious liberty and public education. The hearing’s objective will be to understand the historic landscape of religious liberty in the public education setting, recognize present threats to religious liberty in public education, and identify opportunities to secure religious liberty in this context for the future.
The Religious Liberty Commission was established by President Trump under Executive Order 14291 and is tasked with producing a comprehensive report on the foundations of religious liberty in America, increasing awareness of and celebrating America’s peaceful religious pluralism, highlighting current threats to religious liberty, and developing strategies to preserve and enhance protections for future generations.”
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When Mother Teresa was canonized, Priests for Life was there!
Mother Teresa touched many of our lives here at Priests for Life. In 1994, just a year after taking over as national director of Priests for Life, she invited me to speak to sisters and priests in India about our work. Mother Teresa and I had many discussions about the pro-life movement. When I told her about some of the legal persecution that pro-life people face, she looked at me and said, “Father, if we had laws like that here in India, I would have been thrown in jail many times!” Watch video of my visit to Calcutta at this link and see photos of that visit and further reflections I wrote on Mother Teresa at this link.
Of course we also discussed her Feb. 3, 1994 speech at the National Prayer Breakfast, in which she told our government leaders that the greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion, and then asked this question: If we say the mother can kill her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill each other? Her assertions about abortion were greeted with thunderous applause – with the exception of then-President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton, and Al and Tipper Gore!
I told Mother Teresa what an impact the speech made on the pro-life community. “What about the rest of the American people?,” she wanted to know. She then gave me and Priests for Life a homework assignment: To spread the speech far and wide, which Priests for Life has been doing ever since. The text of her speech as well as the audio and video can be found at this link. The text of her speech can also be found in print and digital format at our online store.
Mother Teresa also wrote a letter encouraging Priests and Deacons to join Priests for Life and in it she wrote, “I hope many Priests and Deacons will join the Priests for Life.” You can see that letter here and at the end of this email.
All of these resources about Mother Teresa and more can be found on our special webpage: www.PriestsForLife.org/Mother-
Mother Teresa also holds a special place in the heart of Priests for Life pastoral associate Dr. Theresa Burke, who is the founder of Rachel’s Vineyard, the world’s largest ministry of healing after abortion.
“My spiritual relationship with Mother Teresa goes way back to high school,” said Dr. Burke. She explained that Mother’s order ran a soup kitchen in Norristown, PA, and Teresa worked there in her youth. When Theresa later ran a youth group, she brought the kids to work there.” Read more from Dr. Burke here.
Priests for Life invites you to share with us the impact Mother Teresa has had on your life and spirituality. Let us know at www.PriestsForLife.org/
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LifeNews.com Note: Frank Pavone is the national director for Priests for Life.
