In a recent blog (2 March 2011) I wrote about the death of Dr. Bernard Nathanson.
Fr. Frank Pavone, of Priests for Life, in his Newsletter for May/June 2011, now gives us some further information about Dr. Nathanson:‘Dr. Bernard Nathanson … and his colleagues launched the abortion rights movement and organizations, feeding false statistics to the media about the numbers of women dying from illegal abortion, and doing everything possible to marginalize the teaching authority of the Church, which they saw as their biggest potential obstacle. …‘He eventually became pro-life through the evidence of science …‘Dr. Nathanson said he and his colleagues had stolen the abortion issue from the Church and caught the Church asleep. Speaking to clergy, he maintained, “We would have never gotten away with what we did if you had been united, purposeful, and strong.” ’
In an interview with Fr. Pavone in 1999, Dr. Nathanson said: “Well, you know Priests for Life is an extraordinarily fine group. I don’t say that in order to make anybody feel better or flatter anyone. It’s an unusual and a very unique group in that most of the priests whom I have encountered across this country [U.S.A.] and indeed around the world, shy away from the subject of abortion. They somehow want to keep it under the rug and only pull it out when they’re ordered to. In my own experience as a Catholic convert for the last several years, I’ve attended a great many Masses and listened to a great many homilies and I believe in three years I’ve listened to only one homily on the subject of abortion and that was here in St. Patrick’s Cathedral.’
That’s something that all of us should take note of.
The Associate Director of Priests for Life, Fr. Peter West, who was present at Dr. Nathanson’s funeral, has written: ‘The story of Dr. Nathanson is one of mercy and redemption. A man caught in the darkness of evil, but never abandoned or rejected by God. His life is a reminder to us all of the power of God’s love and mercy which is limitless and stronger than death. Pray for others stumbling in the darkness, caught in the web of the culture of death, that they may see the light of truth and embrace it as fervently as Dr. Bernard Nathanson did.’
