I’m “pro-life,” you could say. I was reared in a strictly Catholic household at 216 Geneseo Street, and sent to St. Mary’s School where that regimen was reinforced. I matriculated to an all-men’s college run by priests in the Twin Cities, where I was fully schooled in moral theology.
I was a sophomore in Catholic high school when Roe V. Wade was decided. Petitions were circulated in our homerooms for us to sign in objection to the ruling. I dutifully signed. One of my homeroom classmates did not. In fact she wrote a letter to the editor of the local newspaper explaining why. Imagine a teenage girl in a Catholic high school taking that position publicly 50 years ago - and having to go back to her school of 1,100 students the next day and face her teachers, which included many clergy for whom the issue was clear cut. She was a brilliant student and received school service awards in her high school years. She didn't transfer to public school. She didn't back down. I think back on that now and do so admire her courage -- and the courage of my classmates who got pregnant while in high school and their partners who had to face some pretty serious life choices at an early age - decisions they would have to live with the rest of their days. As we go through all this again, I hope we listen with compassion and aren't so quick to draw battle lines and get swept away in a drama of power politics. Those most directly affected, like my classmates and those who followed them, deserve better. In fact, they deserve all the love we can give them.
I was a sophomore in Catholic high school when Roe V. Wade was decided. Petitions were circulated in our homerooms for us to sign in objection to the ruling. I dutifully signed. One of my homeroom classmates did not. In fact she wrote a letter to the editor of the local newspaper explaining why. Imagine a teenage girl in a Catholic high school taking that position publicly 50 years ago - and having to go back to her school of 1,100 students the next day and face her teachers, which included many clergy for whom the issue was clear cut. She was a brilliant student and received school service awards in her high school years. She didn't transfer to public school. She didn't back down. I think back on that now and do so admire her courage -- and the courage of my classmates who got pregnant while in high school and their partners who had to face some pretty serious life choices at an early age - decisions they would have to live with the rest of their days. As we go through all this again, I hope we listen with compassion and aren't so quick to draw battle lines and get swept away in a drama of power politics. Those most directly affected, like my classmates and those who followed them, deserve better. In fact, they deserve all the love we can give them.
So much common sense Art. Is anyone listening? We can only hope so and expect that we don’t wait too long.