Dominicans pray for lawmakers who support abortion

Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Jun 2, 2009 / 12:34 pm

At the conclusion of Mass on Sunday in all parishes in Santo Domingo, a list of names was read of the lawmakers who supported overturning the country's law protecting the unborn. Priests and the faithful “held a minute of silence for each one of them and their families and prayed they would reflect on their decision.”

Prayers were also said for all children who for whatever natural reason died before birth and for mothers and fathers who did not allow their children to live because they chose abortion.

Cardinal Nicolas de Jesus Lopez Rodriguez of Santo Domingo sent a message for Mother’s Day—celebrated in the Dominican Republic on Pentecost Sunday—in which he praised “mothers who have honored there femininity by accepting the marvelous gift of maternity.”

In his message, which was read in the 250 parishes of the archdiocese, the cardinal said, “There are great women in our nation at all levels who are proud of their femininity.”

“I have met and worked with them during almost 50 years of priestly and episcopal ministry, and among them there are women of great intellectual prestige, business leaders and officials, public and private employees, self-sacrificing stay-at-home mothers,” he said.

The cardinal also praised women who live and work in the rural areas of the country for the “simple yet admirable way in which they are open to life and undergo great sacrifices and hardships to educate their sons and daughters.”

“The same could be said of so many mothers who live amidst poverty and precarious living conditions in the big cities, where they stand out for their endurance, faithfulness to work, love of the family and piety,” he added.