Archbishop Julian addresses thousands marching for life
By Catherine Sheehan
Archbishop Julian addressed the thousands who gathered in Sydney for the Day of the Unborn Child on 14 April, urging them to raise their voices in defence of babies in the womb, and to pray that the culture would “once again discover the sacredness and wonder of human life”.
“While the conception of every new life awaits the moment of birth which brings joy for the couple as they hold their new child in awe, there is something very dark and disturbing sweeping the world of our time,” Archbishop Jullian told those gathered. “It is the culture of abortion, a culture of death.”
“We face the loss of over 90,000 children each year in Australia,” he added. “Now that abortion is legal up to birth we have hundreds of cases of infanticide when a viable life is simply abandoned to die.”
The Day of the Unborn Child began with Mass at Sydney’s St Mary’s Cathedral followed by the Angelus and a street procession led by Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP. The day concluded with Benediction in the Cathedral.
Archbishop Julian, a patron of Family Life International, was the guest speaker.
He lamented the recent law passed in France which enshrined abortion as a constitutional right, and the ensuing celebrations by supporters of legalised abortion.
“How can we have come to this?” he asked.
“There are now powerful cultural forces sweeping our Western societies in particular. These new ideologies are rapidly replacing Christian morality as a cultural influence.
“There has been a moral collapse in the West. Ultimately it is because of the rejection of God. We know that a large percentage of our society claim to have no religion. There is a spiritual void in their life and this quickly leads to a moral void.”
Archbishop Julian invited those present to “ponder the sheer wonder of being a human being”.
“Each new human person is created in the image and likeness of God. They are given an individual soul, a spiritual dimension to themselves. God has breathed his very life into them.”
He also encouraged them to raise their voices in defence of human life.
“As the society around us condones the destruction of the child in the womb as a right, we raise our voices to declare that every human being is precious in God’s sight. We cannot be silent as children are sacrificed to the dark gods in a culture of death.”
“Today we pray that our culture will once again discover the sacredness and wonder of every human life.”
The Day of the Unborn Child is an annual event held in Sydney and is an initiative of the Life and Family Institute.