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Bishop Joseph Coffey celebrates Mass Oct. 10, 2020 in a parking lot adjacent to late-term abortionist LeRoy Carhart’s facility in Bethesda, Maryland.

BETHESDA, Maryland, October 15, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – Shortly before daybreak on Saturday, October 10, Bishop Joseph Coffey and Fr. Stephen Imbarrato began the concelebration of a Mass for some 50 pro-life advocates gathered in a parking lot adjacent to late-term abortionist LeRoy Carhart’s facility in Bethesda, Maryland.

In his homily, Bishop Coffey, Auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese for the Military Services, stated that each of us is an “unrepeatable, unique work of God’s creation.”  In opposing abortion and abortionists, we should “be kind, be gentle, but be persistent,” he continued.

Bishop Coffey mentioned that he prays for Carhart by name and asked everyone to do the same. He said that he prays for Carhart to experience a “St. Paul-like conversion.”  If the atheist and abortionist Bernard Nathanson, who aborted over 60,000 babies including his own child, could convert to Catholicism, so could Carhart.  It may take a miracle, said the bishop, but Catholics experience a miracle every time they attend Mass and the priest consecrates bread and wine transforming them into the body and blood of Our Lord.

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In the upcoming election, the bishop continued, “we have to pray, and work, and vote accordingly.”

“There are always important issues to consider in every election, but the preeminent issue is life,” he stated. He further encouraged everyone to “never give up, never lose hope, never lose courage, and never lose the belief that someday this [abortion] will be illegal and unthinkable, just like slavery.”

At the conclusion of the Mass, the bishop led participants in a Eucharistic procession around the property of the abortion facility and blessed those attending.  He then moved the group to a nearby area where the rosary was said for an end to abortion.

The Catholic Church teaches that abortion is evil in every case.  Cathy Roth, the primary organizer of this 13th monthly ceremonial, said she was moved to do so because an intrinsic evil must be opposed both temporally and spiritually.  To overcome it requires public witness and prayer, and in special circumstances the Mass and Eucharistic processions.

LeRoy Carhart euphemistically calls his business CARE, an acronym for Centers for Abortion & Reproductive Excellence.  The term can easily mislead an angst-filled woman.  He advertises “safe and compassionate” abortions up to 35 weeks gestation.  In 2013, Carhart aborted the 33-week-old unborn child of Jennifer Morbelli.  Just hours after leaving his facility, Morbelli was rushed to the emergency room of a nearby hospital where she died of abortion-related complications.

Bishop Coffey has been an advocate for the unborn for over 45 years.  As a youngster, following the passage of Roe v. Wade, his parents often took their nine children to pro-life demonstrations.  After college, he joined the rescue movement before discerning his priestly vocation.  Now, having served almost 20 years as a military chaplain and being consecrated a bishop, he is once again active in pro-life activities.