In his most recent column, Tom Venzor wrote a few reflections on the 2024 Bishops’ Pro-Life Banquet. The enthusiasm and sense of joy we could all feel that evening, less than a month after we defeated an existential threat to Nebraska’s future, was greater than at any pro-life celebration at which I have been. Not even events held in the immediate aftermath of the fall of Roe compare. It was a great occasion for gratitude and a joy to celebrate with you!
I do not think I have to tell anyone engaged in this cause that after the defeat of Initiative 439 and the passage of 434, we still have the greater part of our work left to accomplish. It is the goal of the pro-life movement that no child is subjected to lethal violence, that no woman is abandoned to abortion, that the dignity of every human life is recognized and its integrity protected, and that we achieve and maintain a strong and healthy marriage and family culture, which is the taproot of the Culture of Life.
Politics and public policy cannot ultimately achieve these goals altogether, but the political nevertheless has an important role to play. The law is both a shield and a teacher. And every now and then, the whole community has an opportunity to affect these things in a very direct way. We had that opportunity this fall—with everyone watching.
Many Nebraskans do not know that across the country, people in pro-life politics and policy see Nebraska and its people as examples of hospitality, good sense, and strength in defending the dignity of human life. I know this first-hand from the conversations we regularly have with pro-life policy professionals from all over the United States.
I grew up in Nebraska and love it deeply, and I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that the honor of our home was upheld before the nation on election night. That is how I felt. In the face of losing nearly every law we have for the protection of unborn children, Nebraskans flipped the script and not only preserved those laws but gained new constitutional protections for human life. Many babies who would have died will live because of this. Many women will be spared the spiritual and physical agonies of abortion. And we have preserved our ability to pass greater legal protections for these women and children in the future. We have shown other states a new strategy so that they might win in their turn, too. For all this I am proud and grateful.
We have shown the rest of our country that even a well-funded pro-abortion campaign, backed by powerful political and corporate interests can be defeated. Going into this counter-campaign for life, Nebraska was blessed with many important gifts: strong and unified Church leadership; a strong and unified pro-life policy coalition who had the patience and mutual trust to craft a creative, carefully considered strategy; strong financial and political support; and a lay faithful ready and willing to take on the burden and privilege of a massive grassroots campaign for life.
Praise God for the work He has done through us! Life can win on the ballot where pro-life people are faithful, smart, unified, and unafraid.
Stick with Him for the long run. It will take yet more time to achieve our temporal goals. But it is a thrill and a privilege to dare great things for Him and His little ones.
