During my teenage years, I was blessed to have parents that pushed me to know about the world. They encouraged me to read the newspapers and monthly news magazines. I watched the nightly network news religiously, as a duty of citizenship. During my childhood and teenage years, I was plugged in to what was happening in our state, our country, our world; and it was from this attentiveness to things that I came to know about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.Lots of the important adults around me did not like Dr. King. Teachers in school and at church doubted him. Some ridiculed him. Most of the adults in my neighborhood disliked the man. My teenage buddies would make fun of him. But when Dr. King spoke, I heard something in his voice that I didn't hear anywhere else. He spoke with authority about the Way of the Lord, and he taught his listeners that discipleship in this new Way of living required us to act on our faith, required us to act through our faith... to be involved and invested in the politics of the world. To use the familiar aphorism: he didn't just talk the talk (of religion). He walked the walk, making his commitment to the Way of the Lord central to his politics, central to his life.
Now the difference between Dr. King and the gaggle of television priests, preachers and politicians was and is this: preaching politicians and media ministers often point to their own lives, assuring us of their faith and purity. Dr. King asked us to look within ourselves, within a living conscience, within the revelation of God, and then to follow what we knew was right and of God.
As we look to the work week ahead, the remembrances of Monday the 19th and Thursday the 22nd should animate our prayer. On Monday, our beloved nation will remember the life of Dr. Martin Luther King. We will reflect on how this man of faith spoke the truth of God's love for all humanity; and in doing so, he called our nation to change its heart. And on Thursday, many of us will mark the 22nd as a Day of Penance. We will reflect on the changes seen in our nation since the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision struck down state laws outlawing or restricting abortion.
In the same way that Dr. King spoke from a position of faith, we at St. John Neumann are called to speak out in faith, about the sacred gift of life and our nation's need to protect all of life, from conception to natural death. Our parish's Respect Life ministry will hope to set up an information table in the Narthex this weekend. They will encourage each of us to contact our representatives in Congress, and make our position known, on the proposed Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA). The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has asked us to step out in faith, and make our voice heard in Washington. The proposed FOCA would place abortion as something of a fundamental right. The Respect Life ministry will offer you their insights and the teaching of our world-wide Church. The decision to act on this public issue is yours.
As a teenager, I listened to the debate about race and equality. I listened to those that spoke of the status quo and I listened to those like Dr. King, those that spoke of the need to reform and redirect the law according to the God-given human dignity of every human life. As a teenager in the early 1960's, I sided with the faith that Dr. King called us to, and spoke out about the need to change the status quo.
As the new Congress and new President look at this proposed Freedom of Choice Act, which side of this issue will you choose to support? And, how will you make your voice heard? It's up to you... to speak out or to remain silent.
What does the new Way of life call us to?
AMDG 
Msgr. David Talley
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