Coming Home

It’s been quite a journey, one that I swore I would never make.

I would never blog, and I would never get involved in the pro-life movement. Having worked with unwed mothers for five years, then with kids with HIV/AIDS for two at Covenant House in New York’s Times Square during the 1980’s (before Disney took over), I had put my social activism behind me as I embarked on a career in science.

God, evidently, had other plans.

Not appreciating the power of the medium, nor of the maturity and sophistication of the pro-life movement, I was stuck in the typical academic mindset of refereed journals and academic conferences. But the truth be told, while there is still the great need for peer-reviewed research, there are precious few peers left in academia who hold to traditional morality and ethics. The American academy has been thoroughly infiltrated by leftist hacks who know only radicalized autonomy. It says something when Princeton’s Peter Singer has to stay awake at night trying to invent ways of staying ahead of the extremist curve.

No, the real intellectual mavericks have gone back to the future. The wedding of traditional Hippocratic medicine and Catholic Healthcare with contemporary medicine, technology, and law. They are not so present in the colleges as they are in the think tanks, the laws firms, the pro-life organizations on the right. The real heavy-lifting is being done on blogs and in the other social media, while the left have marched straight into Auschwitz and Dachau and set up shop.

In four years, I have tried to chronicle the descent of medicine into hell, the expansion of abortion within hospitals as clinics continue to close, of the increase in euthanasia, of Planned Parenthood’s ongoing eugenics program aimed at blacks and other people of color, of Obamacare’s thorough malignancy, and of the corruption of the scientific leadership in the nation.

Along the way, we’ve seen the fall of pro-life titans in the clergy, and the continued rise of an ever-younger and more vocal generation who have had enough of the culture of death.

I have met and had the privilege of working with hundreds of the finest people God ever made, and have become involved in some excellent research endeavors, as well as traveling the nation to teach the fundamental truth of medical science, showing how it all lines up on our side of the fence.

It’s been anything but boring, and for so many blessings I am truly grateful.

I am grateful to all who stop in and read, who comment, who challenge and argue, who affirm, who offer sage counsel, and their own priceless experiences.

I am grateful to know that so many others travel the same road, and have allowed me the privilege of walking that road with them.

I am grateful to God for all of that, and most especially for a wife and children who walk this road, too; who are so understanding when daddy needs to travel to so many cities and states, and who support me with their love, their prayers, and their patience.

There are times when I miss the solitude and the zen of lab work, but they are few and far between. In truth, I never realized how necessary this work is, how many physicians and scientists are needed out here in the virtual town square. I never realized how challenging and rewarding it would all be as we all join to save what is left of a Judeo-Christian civilization.

For as challenging as it all is, I sincerely believe the toughest fights are still before us.

I have no illusions about seeing the end of abortion in my lifetime. It won’t happen.

That’s not to say that I don’t believe in miracles, I’m just not sure that a miracle is what is necessary for the big picture.

God desires our hearts first. Our legislation ought to flow from hearts overflowing with love of God and neighbor. In the broader economy of salvation, it’s more important that we rebuild a civilization rooted in an understanding of who we are, of our great dignity, and of our resultant duties.

There is simply no room in such a civilization for abortion, eugenics, euthanasia, gay marriage, and all the rest.

My children aren’t perfect, but they’re wonderful. They radiate an inner beauty that comes from knowing who they are, knowing how unconditionally they are loved, how perfectly they are valued. Because they know how perfectly they are loved by their parents, they can believe they are loved even better by God. That security gives them the room to grow into the sort of citizens God expects both on earth and in Heaven. What we have here in microcosm is what is needed in macrocosm.

We’ll never end abortion, nor any of the other ills, until that day comes.

Along the way, we have much work to do in rebuilding Western Civilization from the ground up. It’s a blessing to have the company, the prayers and encouragement, of so may extraordinary people along the way.

As Coming Home embarks on its fifth year, we need to double our efforts at prayer for the bishops of the Church, the priests and religious, as well as all clergy of the other faiths. We will never build a civilization of love without them.

Once again, thanks to all who have welcomed me into the movement, and who have sustained me with your kind words, prayers, and good humor. It’s appreciated more than you know.

God Bless.