Archbishop Terrence Prendergast says abortion hurts more than just a woman having one
By Deborah Gyapong
Canadian Catholic News
Ottawa Archbishop Terrence Prendergast at the Pro-Life Mass at Notre Dame Cathedral in conjunction with the National March for Life rally, May 10 in Ottawa. Deborah Gyapong / CCNOTTAWA

At the National Pro-Life Mass May 10, Ottawa Archbishop Terrence Prendergast blasted the false sense of personhood that results in abortion on demand in Canada.

“We need to challenge the false idea that abortion is merely a private, personal decision,” the archbishop said in a homily at one of several Masses in conjunction with the National March for Life. “The truth is, abortion hurts everyone–the developing child in the womb, the mother, the father, the extended family, the community, and even our culture.”

“We need to be witnesses to our God-given dignity as human beings,” he told those who packed Notre Dame Cathedral. “We are created and loved by God from the moment of conception, called into being to be united with God, and to love and serve one another in Christ Jesus.”

Prendergast spoke on the 2012 March’s theme “Abortion Hurts Everyone.”

“In the abortion debate, individual autonomy is often at the core of the discussion,” the archbishop. “You’ve heard the slogan ‘my body, my choice’ offered as the discussion-ending argument.”

“But this is a false sense of personhood,” the archbishop said. “God made us for relationships–with Him and with one another. Our choices affect not only our own lives, but also those of our family, friends, and the larger community, too.”

While Archbishop Prendergast presided at the bi-lingual Mass in conjunction with the event, the Primate of Canada, Quebec Archbishop Gerald Cyprien Lacroix celebrated a French-language Mass at Sacré-Coeur parish, and Peterborough Bishop Nicola De Angelis celebrated an English-language Mass at St. Patrick’s Basilica. A non-denominational Christian prayer service was also held at a downtown church.

“Our decisions have an impact beyond the limits of our own bodies,” Archbishop Prendergast said. “The great Catholic social activist Dorothy Day once remarked, ‘We have all known the long loneliness and we have learned that the only solution is love and that love comes with community.’”

At the close of the Mass, Montreal Archbishop Christian Lépine urged those present to be people of love and mercy in their support for life at all stages. He told the story of a woman who had an abortion, despite knowing it was wrong, and tried to convince herself she had only destroyed a clump of cells. She wavered between knowing she had killed her unborn child and experiencing despair, to trying to convince herself otherwise. She needed to encounter the love and mercy of Jesus Christ, he said.

Among other bishops present were Ukrainian Eparchial Bishop of Toronto and Eastern Canada Stephen Chmilar, Toronto Auxiliary Bishop Thomas McGrattan, Pembroke Bishop Michael Mulhall, Montreal Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Dowd, Sault Ste-Marie Bishop Jean-Louis Plouffe, Valleyfield Bishop Noel Simard.