Bishop Victor Galeone: His Parents Rejected Abortion

When Bishop Victor Galeone's mother was pressured by a social worker to abort her fourth child (him), she responded:

“I told her that I could never do that…that I would rather die first."

His father's response to the threat to take away benefit cards if an abortion was not performed was equally heroic:

"Very well, let them! Let them have their cards back! The Lord will provide. ”

Bishop Galeone tells of his mother's emotional revelation:

"On two occasions of my life, I stayed awake all night long. One was a case of food poisoning in Peru. The other was Mother’s Day 1970. I tried to fall asleep, but to no avail. For the first time in my life – on learning how close I had come to not seeing the light of day – I fully realized what a precious gift life is.

"Throughout the night, scenes from my boyhood intermingled with images of the heroine I had for a mother: “Hey, Victor, your Mom sure talks funny. I could hardly understand her.” Gee, I wonder why my Mom can’t talk nice English like all the other mothers can. “No, I could never do that! I would rather die first!” And she only went as far as the third grade in a backward school in Southern Italy. “Is that your grandmother?” No, that’s my Mom. Her hair turned snow white when she was 30. She had me when she was 35. “At two months, all the major organs are formed and functioning. All that is required for birth is time and nourishment.” – “No, I could never do that! I would rather die first.”

"I would like to close with the inspiring words that Cardinal József Mindzenty penned many years ago about motherhood:

“A Christian mother cannot claim the honor of having built Notre Dame Cathedral. She need not. She has built something more magnificent than any cathedral – a dwelling for an immortal soul, the tiny perfection of her baby’s body. The angels have not been blessed with such a grace…God joins forces with mothers in performing this act of creation. What on God’s good earth is more glorious than this – to be a mother?”

~ Bishop Victor Galeone: excerpts from The Gift of Mothers ~

~ A previous post about abortion: The Cry of Unborn Future Priests ~

Mary, Mother of Jesus Christ, Eternal High Priest, Mother of all priests and our Mother, help us respond generously to the Holy Spirit's request, through the voice of His Church, to offer up to God Eucharistic adoration for priests. Amen.