(LifeSiteNews) — With nine pro-life activists currently incarcerated in federal prisons and one more awaiting trial, Theresa Bonapartis, a prominent pro-life advocate in New York City, is urging all Catholics to seek the intercession of Blessed Jerzy Popiełuszko on his feast day of October 19.
This call to prayer has been made in the hope of easing the suffering of the rescuers and redeeming the alarming injustice that pro-life activists are experiencing at the hands of the United States Department of Justice.
An outspoken champion and chaplain of the Polish Solidarity movement, Fr. Jerzy (roughly pronounced Yeh-shih) suffered martyrdom in 1984 at the age of 34 when he was dragged from his car by members of the Polish secret police, beaten, and thrown into the Vistula River alive with a boulder tied to his legs. His body was discovered eleven days later, sparking mass outrage amongst the Catholic population, who were demanding their dignity under communist oppression in response to Pope John Paul II’s call to “be not afraid.”
“Father Fidelis (Moscinski) has a very strong devotion to him,” said Bonopartis. “And when all these rescues started happening, I said, ‘We’ve got to pray to Blessed Jerzy.’”
Bonopartis has been handing out prayer cards with Blessed Jerzy quotes for the past two years. One reads, “Love and Truth may be crucified but cannot be killed. Out there, on the cross, truth and love triumphed over evil, over death, over hate.” Another simply states, “The sign of Christian bravery is the fight for truth.”
“The things that he’s saying aren’t coming from him, they’re coming from God,” said Bonopartis. “It’s a grace that [the rescuers] are in there [in prison].
“Not everybody could go through this and be okay with it,” she continued. “I think that Blessed Jerzy is somebody’s who’s gone before them, doing the same thing in many ways, and he’s an intercessor for them.”
“One of his quotes was, ‘Truth becomes a value worth suffering for, worth taking a risk, then we overcome the fear that keeps us in slavery.’”
Only six of the nine prisoners currently in federal prison are Catholic, but Bonopartis says they are all martyrs in need of intercession. “The value of life is worth suffering for and taking a risk, she said. “Everything that Blessed Jerzy talked about is so applicable to what’s going on.”
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Here is a suggested prayer of intercession: :
O Lord, who in your infinite goodness, bestowed upon blessed Jerzy Popiełuszko (Po-pee-eh-WOOSH-ko) the grace of faith in priestly vocation until his martyred death, we beseech you in the words of John Paul II: “May good arise from this death like the Resurrection from the cross.” Let it happen, that this unshaken protector of the laws of God and man, given to [Poland] and the world as a sign of victory of love over hatred, be a model for our life.
Bestow upon me, through the intercession of Blessed Jerzy, this favor for which I profoundly petition. May the sacrifice of life and his intercession with you be the cause for growth of Christian faith, unity and peace on earth. Through Christ, our Lord. Amen.
The names of the pro-life rescuers now in federal incarceration are Joan Andrews Bell, Jonathan Darnel, Herb (née Rosemary) Geraghty, Will Goodman, Lauren Handy, John Hinshaw, Heather Idoni, Jean Marshall, and Fr. Fidelis Moscinski.
Paulette Harlow is awaiting trial.
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