Bishop: How can we treat human beings this way?

Four days before Bishop Carl A. Kemme celebrated a Mass for Life next to a Wichita abortion clinic on Saturday, Oct. 19, he was in Auschwitz and Birkenau as part of a pilgrimage to Poland.

“How could this have ever happened?” he asked referring to the Nazi concentration camps. “How could people treat other human beings in such a way? If this question can be asked of those camps, we can certainly ask that of the exterminations that take place just behind me and in places like it all over the world. What is happening here is no different than what happened in Europe during World War II, the wholesale extermination of vulnerable people.”

Bishop: Vote for life

With his back to the west side of the abortion clinic on East Kellogg, bishop Kemme told the crowd of the faithful sitting and standing in the blocked street to be resolute and to do all they could by voice or vote to speak for those who are not able to do so.

“And let us not be afraid ourselves, as members of the laity, to enter into public service or at least public discourse to raise our voices for the pre-born – their lives and our future demand it.”

In reparation for the sin of abortion

Bishop Kemme opened his homily by saying he was grateful for the opportunity to celebrate Mass there adding that he was planning to do so annually in reparation for the grievous sin of abortion, an unspeakable act of violence and destruction. “This happens and is happening here in increasing numbers and in many other so-called health clinics across the world.”

In addition to celebrating the Eucharist, he said, “I also will be praying the prayer of exorcism over this place for we are all convinced that the devil and his legion are hard at work in places like this. Just as Jesus did often in the Gospels, so we also must do, by virtue of our baptism in Christ, we name the evil spirits of our times and command that they cease and flee from this place so that God’s creative will can be accomplished. I thank you for making the sacrifices necessary to join me for these prayers.”

Referring to the readings of the day, Bishop Kemme said he wanted to ask of God what St. Paul asked in his letter to the Ephesians, that he fill those attending with a spirit of wisdom and revelation resulting in knowledge of him.

Truth is on our side

“When we know God, who is the creator of heaven and earth and all things visible and invisible, then we have wisdom and knowledge of the truth. It is truth that will sustain us in this battle against life and the truth is on our side.”

We can also rally in this battle because we have Christ as our commander, Bishop Kemme said.
“With this confidence, we can go out into the battlefield of the world, with its evil, lies, and deceptions, and stand strong, for as Jesus himself said in today’s Gospel, we need not worry if we are brought before rulers and authorities for what we believe, for we will be given at that moment what we are to say, acknowledging the lordship of Christ in this and in all things.”

Some who consider themselves pro-life might have us believe abortion is not the preeminent issue of our times, the bishop said, mentioning issues such as climate concerns, poverty, health care, and the economy.

“While these are important matters for our civil leaders to consider and for us in our voting, none of them take the place of abortion as our pre-eminent issue of our times. We who are truly pro-life must proclaim clearly and unhesitatingly that abortion is the most defining issue of our time and one that takes precedence over everything else, for someone once said that a nation that kills its children has no future.”

Never lose heart

Never lose the heart to pray, Bishop Kemme added. “For prayer is not something we do when we are helpless or unable to act, but something that we must always do in imitation of Jesus and all the saints. For prayer brings God into everything and while God will always respect our free will in all things, we can be sure that God uses our prayers in hidden and mysterious ways, not always entering the human heart by the front door, so to speak, but perhaps in a crack in the window or a back door to change the situation for the good, the true, and the beautiful.”

He closed his homily by asking God to bless the world, the nation, the city, and the diocese, “so that we will one day reclaim the dignity of all persons here and beyond, especially the inalienable right to life of every unborn child.”

After the Mass, Bishop Kemme blessed those attending with the Blessed Sacrament. He then turned around, faced the abortion clinic, and read prayers of exorcism.

The street was closed for the Mass with blockades and police at both ends of the street and in an adjacent parking lot.