St. Louis bishop: ‘Privilege to die’ to end abortion
November 24, 2008
In an interview published Friday, Bishop Robert Hermann, administrator of the Archdiocese of St. Louis, said that it would be a ‘privilege to die tomorrow to bring about an end to abortion.’
At the November 10-12 meeting of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Bishop Hermann had said, ‘We have lost 50 times as many children in the last 35 years as we have lost soldiers in all the wars since the Revolution. I think any bishop here would consider it a privilege to die tomorrow to bring about an end to abortion. If we are willing to die tomorrow, then we should be willing to, until the end of our lives, to take all kinds of criticism for opposing this horrible infanticide.’
Expanding upon his comments, Bishop Hermann said in the interview, ‘I think that the way abortion has been presented over the past 35 years so often is that this is something that’s horrible, and we need to stop it. But it seems to me that people do not realize that it is 50 million children that we have killed … There should be 50 more million Americans in our midst, and anyone under 35 can look around and say, ‘Where are they?’ And, ‘I’m very lucky to be alive.’’
‘If American youth are willing to go to war and lay their life down to defend our freedoms,’ Bishop Hermann continued, ‘then every bishop should be willing to give up his life, if it meant putting an end to abortion. And if we’re willing to do that, then we should be totally fearless of promoting this cause without being concerned about political correctness, without trying to build coalitions with pro-choice people.’
‘Behind Planned Parenthood, behind the abortion issue, is the evil one,’ Bishop Hermann added. ‘I often see human beings caught up in this as victims of the evil one who need my prayers and who need my compassion and who need my love. We don’t only want to save our children from destruction; we also want to save our adult brothers and sisters from eternal destruction.’
Bishop Hermann condemned President-elect Obama’s comments earlier this year that if his daughters ‘make a mistake, I won’t want them punished with a baby.’
‘I am very horrified that he would make such a statement, which in effect is saying that he would be willing to see his grandchild killed for the convenience of his daughter,’ said Bishop Hermann. ‘When he promotes abortion, he is, whether he knows it or not, targeting blacks, because they have been targeted by Planned Parenthood with abortion information and facilities in their neighborhoods. So he and Planned Parenthood together are helping to reduce the African- American population in this country.’
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