Priest: 'Sea turtles' protected more than unborn

Augustinian Father Denis G. Wilde spent a week in the Archdiocese of New Orleans speaking to school and church groups. During his visit Causeway Medical Suite in Metairie, the largest abortion provider in the state of Louisiana, closed its doors for one week, before reopening under a new name.

Father Wilde said the irony was not lost on him that some abortion proponents had placed flowers outside the closed clinic to mourn its passing, right next to flowers for the abortion victims. One sign read: "When I was 17, you saved my life."

"That's the twist of fate that we are in today - putting flowers at this killing center," he said. "I contend that the truth of abortion is not known in this country. It is denied. One of the greatest casualties is the abortion of truth."

FATHER WILDE said the Declaration of Independence, which asserted the rights of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness," was based on the moral law that "God is the author of life." The "holocaust" represented by the millions of abortions since 1973 have come from "the violation of the law of God"

Father Wilde decried the legal language used in the Supreme Court's decision in Casey vs. Planned Parenthood in which Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote that at the heart of liberty is the right "to define one's own concept of existence, of meaning, of universe and of the mystery of human life."

That means, Father Wilde said, "that we have moved beyond God. The individual is an autonomous agent who determines what is right and wrong."

To those who would argue they would never want to have an abortion but they did not have the right to stop anyone from, having one Father Wilde said that logic is faulty .

It is like saying "I would never think about arsoning your home, but I'm not going to prevent someone from doing it," he said. "The morality of an action has nothing to do with the person doing it or with the person who wants it but with the act itself. There is objective truth."

The still-hidden nature of abortion is the thing that allows it to continue, Father Wilde said.

"We don't see the unborn" he said. "The unborn are trapped in the most dangerous place to live today, and that's the womb"

Father Wilde cited a recent dismissive statement by cable TV giant Ted Turner that the Ten Commandments were outmoded as an example of human rationalization at its worst.

"He implies that the Ten Commandments are somehow an encumbrance to our future," Father Wilde said. "Is there anything that we agree on, that we can die for?"

THERE ARE "sea turtles and eggs on the beaches of Florida" that have more protection than the unborn child. And yet, he said, "while the head of a baby is coming out the birth canal, we can crush the baby's head. A law to prevent this could not be enacted in Congress (to withstand a presidential veto)."

The culture of death has continued unbated, he said. "It is said the Baby Boomers gave us abortion, Generation X has answered them with euthanasia," Father Wilde said; "The Bible says we must choose life so that we and our descendants may live. The corollary is, if you choose death, you will die as well as your descendants."

Father Wilde said he was shocked when someone he met in a McDonald's recently commented that abortion was something " you don't hear about that much any more."

"I thought she was saying that people don't talk much about abortion anymore, but her perception was that abortion was not happening." Father Wilde said. "It was total denial. There are 4,000 lives snuffed out every day. It is not a simple, cosmetic issue. To call it a 'holocaust' I don't think should offend anyone."

The good signs, however, are the reluctance of doctors to perform abortions. Pointing to the conversion of St. Paul, who had persecuted Christians, Father Wilde said there is hope that God will convert the world to recognize this sin.

"So many things are, written small," he said. "The Gospels are written big. God's the answer. He's the one with the answers.