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International pro-life leader Rev. Thomas Euteneuer (EYE-ten-our) offered hard truths and hope as he gave a sobering post-election assessment at Broward Right to Life’s annual Benefit Breakfast, November 15, 2008.
“I think the pro-life movement is going to have to do a bit of reevaluation of our situation,” Father Euteneuer, the president of Human Life International, told nearly 300 people at the breakfast.
Father Euteneuer, whose organization is active in 80 nations, suggested that the pro-life movement needs to reallocate time and energy away from politics toward infusing American culture with pro-life principles. The priority, he said, should be to reach the younger generation.
Hard Truths
The most harsh post-election reality, according to Father Euteneuer, is that the effort to overturn Roe vs. Wade has failed. President-elect Obama, he said, will appoint federal judges, including two or three Supreme Court justices, “who will confirm Roe vs. Wade as the law of the land for the next 30-40 years, if it’s ever overturned.”
The change in Washington, he said, means that all three branches of government will now work together to “ramp up” the agenda of death. He called the election outcome, “a catastrophic death blow to our country and our American civilization.”
Hope
He also offered hope. He noted, for example, that America has some 4,000 crisis pregnancy centers and just 700 abortion clinics. “Don’t lose hope,” Father Euteneuer said. “We have hope in Christ. This is not the time to despair but to strengthen efforts to rebuild culture.”
The pro-life movement must recognize, he said, that when it comes to defeating abortion, culture precedes politics. While not dismissing the role of politics in the pro-life battle, he said there must be a “proper division of labor” and a recognition that “in order to change the laws you have to first change the culture.”
In every country he has visited, anti-lifers, he said, “have legalized abortion as the end result, as the goal of a very patient long-term strategy of first changing the culture.”
When it comes to impacting culture, educating one’s own family should come first. “Make sure that your family knows all the pro-life principles and that your kids and your grandkids leave the house with a full set of pro-life principles,” Father Euteneuer said.
Beyond that, pro-life outreach should be disproportionately focused on young people. He also urged taking the pro-life message to abortion clinics.
Not Too Late
“We are going to see the progressive collapse of American culture and American civilization unless people like you and me decide right now to take the culture back, because the culture precedes the politics, always. I don’t think it’s too late.”
But it won’t happen without prayer. “Ask God to overturn this great evil,” he said. “Humanly speaking, it’s not possible to uproot this from our culture. God has to do it.”
Get the CD!
Please email or call Broward Right to Life, 954.563.LIFE (5433), to request the CD of Father Euteneuer’s extraordinary message given at the Broward Right to Life Benefit Breakfast!
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