The following is a great interview with Bishop Aquila of the Diocese of Fargo, North Dakota, published in Catholic World Report.CWR: Why do you feel compelled to frequently speak out in opposition to abortion?
Bishop Aquila: My concern about the dignity of human life began when I was attending college in Colorado, one of the first states to liberalize its abortion laws. I was working as an orderly in a Boulder emergency room in the early 1970s, and a woman who had had an incomplete abortion was brought in. Those of us working in the emergency room were pro-life and had had nothing to do with the abortion, but were trying to help the woman afterward.
It was there I first saw the remains of an unborn child, about three and a half months along. It really impacted me. It was impressed in my mind and my heart and that this was a human life. It had now been forever destroyed. Ever since then I’ve been outspoken on human-life issues, and tried to help people to understand the dignity of human life.
As a priest and a bishop, I’ve spoken with women who have had abortions but later have a deep regret when they realize what they have done. There are tremendous lies out there in society, saying that the unborn child is not a unique human life, forever destroyed. The media has been deceptive about the issue, and many politicians have bought into idea that abortion is a right, which it isn’t. No one has the right to take innocent human life.
My commitment to the Church’s teachings on life issues has been reinforced by my study of theology, Blessed John Paul II’s encyclical Evangelium Vitae, and all that science can show us about the development of human beings. Each one of us started out helpless in the womb. From the moment of conception, we were living human beings. It is important to remind people of that truth.
Watching the process of abortion being legalized must have been distressing to you.
Bishop Aquila: It was very disappointing. Many people are misguided on the issue. When it was first legalized, there were many limitations. When the Roe v. Wade decision by the US Supreme Court striking down the nation’s abortion laws was announced in 1973, it opened up the floodgates and we’ve had millions of abortions since. Some, as in the case of partial-birth abortions, are, in fact, infanticide.
North Dakota has only one abortion clinic in Fargo, and you yourself go there to pray for the end of abortion.
Bishop Aquila: I’ve gone there two or three times a year to pray ever since I arrived in Fargo. Other people I know go there every week. When the 40 Days for Life campaign [a nationwide campaign involving prayer, fasting, and public vigils at abortion clinics for the end of abortion] began here five years ago, I myself became involved and promoted it to our priests and people. I encouraged each of our priests to go out at least once during the 40 days to pray in front of the clinic.
We pray in reparation for the sin of abortion, for the conversion of those providing abortions, and for women who have had abortions, that they may come to repentance. We also hope to save lives through our witness; many women who went to the clinic said they decided not to have an abortion after they saw us out there praying.
Sometimes we see the fruits of our efforts later, such as when women participate in our Project Rachel program to recover from the abortion experience. These women experience forgiveness and the healing presence of our Lord through prayer and the sacramental life of the Church, including reconciliation and the Eucharist. They come to know the mercy of God. Not only is the aborted child a victim of abortion, but often the mother herself [is a victim]. Many post-abortive women tell us they were not told the truth about abortion, and that they didn’t fully understand what was happening.
That, incidentally, is the great benefit of abortion-minded women seeing ultrasound images of their children. Once they see it, many change their minds.
How should the Church respond to Catholic politicians who support legalized abortion?
Bishop Aquila: Their particular bishops can use the process of correction that is given to us in sacred Scripture, especially in Matthew’s Gospel. Our Lord tells us to speak to the person, and then take two or three others with us if he does not change.
If he still does not change, the Church can speak to him, which is done through the bishop. [The bishop] exercises the authority of Christ. Christ then says that if that person is still obstinate and will not change, treat them as a tax collector or Gentile. Expel him.
We do this out of love for the person, seeking his conversion. He needs to understand that the salvation of his soul is in jeopardy because of the positions he is taking.
Catholics are called to defend human life, particularly that of the unborn. The Church’s teaching is clear. If we don’t challenge public officials who reject this teaching, we leave them in their sins and confuse the faithful.
In some Catholic marriage preparation programs, natural family planning (NFP) is only mentioned in passing. You have mandated that couples preparing for marriage in the Church in Fargo take a course on NFP. Why did you do this?
Bishop Aquila: Blessed John Paul II’s teachings on the theology of the body tell us that couples must be both fruitful and responsible. NFP is a great tool couples have for the regulation of child-bearing.
Also, in speaking to married couples who use NFP, I’ve learned what a great blessing it is to their marriages. The divorce rate, for example, is very low for couples using NFP, versus couples who practice artificial birth control.
I really wanted people to understand the benefits of this teaching, but if it was only superficially mentioned in marriage preparation classes, couples would tend to bypass it. So I asked them to take a full course, studying whatever method of NFP they wished. They take four classes, one-on-one with an experienced NFP couple, rather than in a group setting. They learn to chart the woman’s cycle, and the science behind NFP. We have found that when couples understand the science behind it and the communication it entails, many decide to use NFP.
NFP is a great way to enhance the love of the couple, and to help them be faithful to the teaching of the Church. They understand that child-bearing is the responsibility of both, not just one partner or the other.
When couples preparing for marriage first learn they have to take an NFP course, some cross their arms and complain, “Why do I have to do this?” But as the course progresses, many begin to see the beauty of NFP and are open to it. By the time the sessions are completed, many are grateful.
It’s been a great way to educate the faithful on an important issue, bring them the truth of our faith, and help them to understand the dignity and meaning of human sexuality.
About which other cultural issues do you think clergy should speak out?
Bishop Aquila: There are many to consider, and most are related to what Blessed John Paul II called the “culture of death.” The whole rationalization of same-sex unions and the debate about the redefinition of marriage, for example, is something we need to speak out on. The Church has been clear that marriage can only be between a man and a woman, and we need to continue to speak clearly to society on the truth, dignity, and meaning of marriage.
Read the entire interview here.
Read the entire interview here.
