Mass for Life celebrated at Wichita abortion clinic

Jesus described Satan as the father of lies, Bishop Carl A. Kemme said last Saturday during a Mass celebrated on the street next to Wichita’s abortion clinic.

“What happens here in this building behind me is a lie of unimaginable proportions and of the direst of consequences,” he said to a crowd of over 200 dressed for the chilly morning. “The lie is that freedom is somehow served here – but at whose expense?”

The freedom and the baby’s right to life is sacrificed for a woman’s so-called right to choose, he said. “Jesus confronted the evil of lies with the truth and so must we.”

Our understanding that life begins at conception, the truth that comes from ultrasounds of the unborn, how a fetus attempts to avoid pain in utero, Bishop Kemme said, “all of this helps us confront the great and terrible lie that is being told and lived in the world in devastating ways. We Christians and others of goodwill know and live the truth; may we never tire of proclaiming it in season and out of season.”

When Jesus casts a demon out of a person, he restores that person to wholeness and to a right relationship with God, he said, adding that sometimes evil enters places.

Prayers of exorcism

“The ministry of exorcism, which I will offer today over this place, invites us as believers to caste out evil from our midst,” he said. “This prayer, obviously subordinate to the more efficacious prayer of the sacraments…is nonetheless very powerful and effective. Let us put our faith in these spiritual actions of the church, which uses them in the name of Christ.”

Bishop Kemme closed his homily by saying Jesus invites all to confront evil by “flooding the world” with goodness. He asked that our humble efforts, our prayers, our participation in the Mass, adoration, confession, sacrifices, and reparation, “increase the great flood of goodness that eradicates evil, even if it does so slowly, gradually, and almost imperceptibly.”

God is goodness itself, the bishop said, “and the more we bring God into the human experience of sin, the more sin and its consequences of death will be overcome.”

Bishop Kemme said he was inspired by the perseverance of those attending. “Please keep up your strength, your willingness, and your desire to stand for, save, and defend life at all stages, but especially at the very beginning, when life is so very vulnerable.”

Blessed Sacrament processed

In addition to the prayers of exorcism, Bishop Kemme processed the Blessed Sacrament in front of and beside the abortion clinic.

The Mass was coordinated by the diocesan Office of Respect Life and Social Justice. Fathers Gabe Greer, Jacob Carlin, and Adam Grelinger assisted Bishop Kemme. The Region III youth choir led the music.

Bonnie Toombs, director of the Respect Life office, said the diocese is blessed to have a bishop who recognizes and acts on the evil that takes place at the abortion clinic.

“We were there to pray for the closure of the clinic as well as for the tiny souls that have lost their lives there and those who will until it is closed,” she said. “We also pray for the women and men who are wounded by the act of abortion, may they know forgiveness through the love of Jesus Christ.”

Toombs said she and many others experienced many emotions as Bishop Kemme turned away from them, faced the clinic, and prayed that the unclean spirits and evil forces be driven from the abortion clinic.

“To be at a location where innocent unborn babies, made in the image of God, are brutally killed was unnerving,” she said. “It was truly a blessing when at the end of the exorcism prayers Bishop Kemme asked all to pray the prayer to St. Michael the Archangel. I just hope our prayers are answered soon.”