New Orleans priest to speak at ND demonstration

New Orleans, La., May 17, 2009 / 12:29 pm

This afternoon a priest and graduate from Notre Dame who serves as principal for a predominately black New Orleans high school will be speaking at a demonstration on campus today as President Obama arrives in South Bend.

 

Father John Raphael, a 1989 graduate of Notre Dame, told the New Orleans Times-Picayune that though he is thrilled of the election of a black man as President of the United States, he firmly disagrees with Obama’s pro-abortion stance.

 

It is because of Obama’s stance on abortion, that Fr. Raphael felt compelled to speak out at the demonstration organized by NDResponse.

 

The priest elaborated on his pro-life beliefs in a February 7 column in the New Orleans archdiocesan Clarion Herald.  

 

He explained that his pro-life beliefs have old been strengthened from the history of slavery.

 

“If we believe that slavery was wrong, if we believe that segregation was wrong, if we would never support a politician who upheld these odious practices, then we must believe that abortion is wrong and actively fight to protect the unborn, regardless of who occupies positions of leadership,” he wrote.

 

“If abortion is OK, then slavery was OK because it was always a matter of choice – the choice of those who were in control,” he continued. But if these things were wrong because they deprived men and women of human and civil rights, then how much more is that act wrong and offensive to God which deprives an innocent human being of his or her very life?”

 

He asked: “Are we are willing to stand up for the unborn today as our forebears stood up for us?  If we are not, then unto what purpose is our faith? In the end, we must be accountable to God and there is no doubt where he stands: ‘Before I formed you in the          womb, I knew you, before you were born, I consecrated you, a prophet to the nations, I appointed you’ (Jer 1:5).”