Day of Horror and Hope: Progress
Roe v. Wade
The United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons going into force.
We’re still in the backlash to the Dobbs decision, similar to the backlash to Brown – a decision for desegregating schools. Stopping Jim Crow laws brought violent backlash from white supremacists, which was quite intense for many years, and has not entirely dissipated yet. The psychological and social dynamics are similar.
More positively, while 50 countries ratifying the U.N. Treaty were required for it to go into effect, we are now up to 70 countries having done so. Each new ratification strengthens the global norm against nuclear weapons. And the fourth-largest country in the world by population – Indonesia – had its parliament give unanimous approval last November, so should be joining the list soon.
Upcoming Events
March for Life – Washington, D.C., January 19
Member group Rehumanize International will hold its meet-up with speakers at 10:30 AM, at 7th and Constitution NW. This year’s theme is Responding with Hope: Rehumanizing Every Day. As usual, many of us will join that contingent when the main March starts.
Member group Feminists for Life will have staff available to meet with at 10 to 11 a.m. at the corner of 9th St. and Constitution Ave. NW.
Member group Democrats for Life also plans to have a large contingent.
Rehumanize International will also have a Karaoke Party that evening, 5:30–9:00 PM. It will be in walking distance from the U Street and Dupont Circle metro stops; exact location will be on the tickets.
We at the Consistent Life Network will also have a table at the Cardinal O’Connor conference in Georgetown, in addition to having a presence at other events.
West Coast Walk – San Francisco, January 20
Feminists for Life will have its board member Pat O’Kane at 11 AM at its booth at the Info Faire before the March and will have placards available. That’s in the San Francisco Civic Center Plaza before the Walk starts.
Our board member Rachel MacNair plans to be at the Info Faire (which was already full at the time we tried to get a booth) and will acquaint the booth-sitters with CLN projects.
Peace Webinar on Nuclear Threat on January 27th
Consistent Life member group Pax Christi USA is co-sponsoring a webinar, “Building a World Without Nuclear Weapons: An Urgent Imperative,” on January 27th, at 2 pm ET. The webinar will mark the third anniversary of the U.N. nuclear weapons ban treaty by examining the increasing threat of nuclear war and what ordinary citizens can do to prevent it. The speakers are Archbishop John C. Wester of Santa Fe, Dr. Ira Helfand of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, and Marie Dennis of Catholic Nonviolence Initiative/Pax Christi International. Registration is free.
Our Latest Blog Post
Mere words may seem harmless enough, but actually linguistic warfare is needed to make us able to kill in socially approved ways – dehumanizing the victims first. Rachel MacNair goes over a short history of this in Words as One Root of Killing.
Quotation of the Week
Carol Crossed
Harmony Magazine, November 2004
Brian Hehir, who worked for the Conference of Catholic Bishops, was asked in the 1990s about John Paul II by a reporter from the New York Times. The reporter, who knew that the Pope opposed the Gulf War and also abortion, asked,
“Is this guy radical right or radical left?”
I love this question. It teaches us the radical nature of consistency.