| Mission Report: Mexico: March 2009 |
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MISSIONARY TRIP TO MEXICO - Reported by Joseph Meaney, March 2009
In January 2009, the Archdiocese of Mexico City hosted the World Meeting of Families, organized by the Pontifical Council for the Family. I was asked to come and work in the press office for the duration of the event, helping with English translations at press conferences and translating the official press releases. Over 10,000 delegates came from around the world to celebrate the Church's pro-life and pro-family teachings. Mexican President Felipe Calderon came and gave a speech strongly supporting respect for life and traditional values. He was attacked in the liberal press for his good words but maintained his pro-life stance.
In March, our HLI affiliate in Mexicali put on a conference entitled "Mentiras Globales" (Global Lies), inviting several international speakers to give addresses at the event. This was the eighth congress they have organized. I went and spoke on "The Worldwide War on Baby Girls." Mexicans were generally surprised and shocked to learn that over 100 million girls have been selectively aborted globally since the 1970s, and it is a growing problem. In fact, my press conference on the topic was picked up by newspapers and radio stations across the country. I also did a television news interview on the topic. I did not fail to highlight the hypocrisy of "women's groups" that pressure for legalized abortion when this is the means for the greatest crime of discrimination against women in history.
While I was in Mexico for the pro-life conference, the new US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, made a brief journey to Mexico and really put her foot in her mouth at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Her now-infamous question to the rector of the shrine was, "who painted it?" He, of course, responded immediately with one word, "God!" It is simply amazing that none of her staff had briefed her on the miraculous origin of this most famous image of Our Lady.
The very next day, Clinton insulted Mexico again by stating in her acceptance speech for the "Margaret Sanger Award" that she was thrilled that the Obama Administration had revoked the Mexico City Policy. This foreign policy directive was originally created by President Ronald Reagan to prevent US foreign aid tax dollars from going to any group that performs or lobbies for abortion legalization. Hillary Clinton also said she was in "awe" of Margaret Sanger. One has to wonder if Mrs. Clinton has read the racist and eugenicist quotations of Sanger that are abundantly available on the Internet.
SWINE FLU SAVES MORE LIVES THAN IT TAKES IN MEXICO
Only a few weeks later, President Barack Obama went to Mexico and had a close encounter with the swine flu. He shook hands with a hospital patient who died of the disease the very next day. HLI's President, Fr. Tom Euteneuer, led a pilgrimage to the shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe during the height of the swine flu mass fear in Mexico City. Ironically, the flu may actually have saved more lives than it took in Mexico. Thirteen of the 14 hospitals that perform abortions in Mexico City stopped doing them during the height of the epidemic. Sadly, there were 159 fatal cases of swine flu in Mexico; but a far larger number of abortions would have taken place if the Mexico City hospitals had continued their grisly abortion business during the outbreak.
MEXICO'S CHURCH AND STATE WORK TO PROTECT LIFE
Throughout the federal republic of Mexico, the local state governments have started amending their state constitutions to protect life from conception. Having occurred in 13 Mexican states so far, this pro-life movement is a major counterweight to and rejection of the abortion-on-demand that is now permitted in Mexico City in the first trimester of pregnancy.
Mexico's bishops have strongly spoken out to encourage legal protection for preborn children. The bishop of Mexicali (in the Mexicon state of Baja California), His Excellency José Isidro Guerrero Macías, was almost killed for his courageous stance. A few years ago, he was stabbed in a failed assassination attempt after he went to lobby the state legislature. Bishop Guerrero has not backed down. He also gave the participants in the Mexicali pro-life conference a powerful pro-life homily on Sunday, March 29, the last day of the conference.
That same day, Archbishop Rafael Romo Muñoz of Tijuana led a pro-life march through the streets of this northern city on the California border. It was a courageous move, since the regions that border the US are in the throes of terrible violence caused by drug-trafficking gangs. The killings and kidnappings have increased so much that President Felipe Calderon called out the army to help control the border earlier this year.
EQUIPPING PRIESTS FOR THE PRO-LIFE BATTLE
While in Mexico, I had the chance to address a general meeting of priests from the Archdiocese of Tijuana. I showed them the remarkable pro-life video produced by American Life League, Baby Steps, which features the latest 3-dimensional color ultrasound images of preborn children. Jorge Scala, a passionate pro-life lawyer from Argentina, was my companion in speaking to this great group of priests. We encouraged them to defend life in their priestly ministry. Some of these priests speak to over 10,000 Catholics at their masses every Sunday, so we want them to be well-equipped with pro-life knowledge and materials.
Tijuana is now the home of a new Catholic institute, the Benedict XVI Center. The idea behind its creation is to form Catholic teachers in essential aspects of the Faith concerning life and family issues. I gave them a talk to encourage their work, copies of the Baby Steps video, and some molds used for the production of plaster preborn baby models. The lay teachers and nuns there were enthusiastic and eager to spread the pro-life message.
Dr. Martha Garza, the new head of the Hispanic Alliance for Life and Family group here in the USA, came on the second day I was there. She joined our speaking team at a one-day conference hosted by the Archdiocese of Tijuana. Martha spoke on the evils of "reproductive technologies" with a special emphasis on in vitro fertilization (IVF). Dr. Garza's conversion story from a medical practice centered on IVF to becoming a totally pro-life doctor is a powerful one. In the question-and-answer period at the end of the talks, many of the good people there were frankly angry that the rogue leftist government of Mexico City could have legalized abortion and that the Mexican Supreme Court refused to strike down this horrible law.
We were also quite fortunate in being able to speak with all the seminarians for the Diocese of Mexicali. Fr. Juan Claudio Sanahuja, an Opus Dei priest from Argentina, preceded us with a pro-life talk on the new pseudo-religion of radical environmentalism as embodied in the UN "Earth Charter." It is wonderful to see seminarians who are passionately in love with Christ and His Church and acutely aware of the fact that the defense of human life is the pressing pastoral issue of the modern age. My exposure to young seminarians throughout the world in the context of our HLI Seminarians for Life program has made me optimistic about the future of our Catholic clergy. I believe our young priests in the future will be ever more committed to defending life.
Northern Mexico is a desert zone where the temperatures in the summer can reach well above 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Fortunately, I was not there during the height of the summer, but we still managed to drive through some impressive sand storms. We saw several trucks that had literally blown off the road and down the slopes of the mountains. It reminds me of the time our car broke down in the middle of the African bush at night. Pro-life missionary trips can really expose you to some unique natural hazards.
On my way back to HLI from Mexico I passed through beautiful San Diego. Longtime friends of HLI, John & Janis Wakelin very kindly agreed to put me up for the night and take me to the airport the next day. On the way to the airport, I had the joy of seeing the Catholic Answers offices and meeting Gina Rodio, who had scheduled me for radio interviews with Catholic Answers. These shows were great opportunities to share pro-life information and the Catholic Faith.
Please pray for Mexico. The average Mexican family today only has 2.34 children, down from 8.2 children per family in 1965. Mexican-American families now have more babies than their compatriots back in Mexico. In fact, the great wave of Mexican migration to the United States may soon be ending. The economy in Mexico has consistently grown faster than that of the USA in recent years. Their labor shortages may lead Mexico to ever more massive importation of workers from Central America, where birthrates are still significantly above the replacement rate. We cannot let this Catholic and pro-life culture be dragged down the terrible road the USA has followed.
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