April 17, 2009
Life is precious: Sarah Palin, Michael Steel offer pro-life stances at banquet
Frank Lamble, Father Dave Nunning and Allen Schmitt sit in the meditation garden at St. Wendel Cemetery on a sunny day in November 2002. Click for a larger version.
By MARY ANN HUGHES (Message staff writer)
Last week in Evansville, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin told a hushed crowd that early in her fifth pregnancy she understood what women go through in difficult or unplanned pregnancies.
That’s when her faith became her rock, and she knew she must “walk the walk” not just talk the talk.
On April 16, Palin and Michael Steele, Republican National Com-mittee chairman, flew into Evansville with the same message: Innocent life is to be cherished and protected.
They shared their pro-life stances with nearly 3,000 people at the Vanderburgh County Right to Life banquet.
In mid afternoon, Steele met with area and national reporters for a brief question and answer session. Paul R. Leingang, editor of the Message and director of Communications for the Diocese of Evansville, asked for clarification about Steele’s view on abortion, particularly regarding “rape and incest.” Steele replied, “I am pro-life. No exceptions.”
As people were arriving for the evening, Gail Shetler said she was there “to be with people supporting pro-life, to help stop the madness. It’s total madness to kill our own children.”
Shetler, a parishioner at Holy Trinity Church, Evansville, added that Trig Palin, the governor’s son who has Down syndrome, “is a gift not only to her but to our entire nation. Trig is a gift to all of us, and I’m thankful she accepted that gift.”
Steele’s opening remarks were light and friendly. “I was just in the neighborhood,” he said, adding, “what an impressive gathering.”
He told the crowd, “I am pro-life. I always have been, and I always will be. I believe we are called to respect life at all stages. The unborn child is a child, it is not a choice.”
His own life experience was key in forming his pro-life stance, he ex-plained, recalling a “young woman facing an unwanted pregnancy who chose to give me the gift of life.” Because of his subsequent adoption and for several other reasons, he said, “I will always be pro-life. I never apologize or make excuses for being pro-life.”
Steele, who is Catholic, quoted Pope John Paul II’s words “Be not afraid,” as he encouraged the pro-lifers to embrace a call to action “not just to defend life, but to save it.”
He also encouraged that they “show compassion in your words and deeds” to each pregnant woman they meet because by doing that they can “help her understand that her life is not over. It’s just beginning.”
Good people can be a powerful force in doing what is right “when they are not afraid.”
Steele was given the honor of introducing Palin to the guests at the banquet, and she was clearly the person they had come to see. She began her remarks by talking about the merits of her state of Alaska, inviting the Hoosiers in attendance to come up and visit. If they take her up on her invitation, she promised them they would find “the cutest little boy in the world,” her one-year-old son Trig.
Palin was 44-years-old when she learned she was pregnant with Trig, and early tests indicated that he had Down syndrome. “He is our gift from God,” his mother said, “and he has proven to me that every life has a purpose.”
Life is precious, she said, “the newborn, the elderly, special children. I tell his sisters that he has more chromosomes than you — that means he wins!”
When she was pregnant, it was a “sweet, sacred time,” Palin said, “between [husband] Todd, God and me. I learned a lot about the other side of the issue, that protecting life is what we need to do here in America.”
She was away from Alaska when she first learned she was pregnant, in a place where no one knew her. She remembers an “instant understanding” that she could make it all go away and “bring normalcy back” into her life as wife, mother and governor and into the lives of her four children and husband.
“Plus I was old,” she said, laughing at the memory of reminding God “my name is Sarah but my husband is not Abraham. He is Todd.”
It was a “less than ideal circumstance,” she said, “but I had just enough faith to know not to change the circumstances.” But those moments of doubt changed her, giving her a new understanding of what women go through in difficult or unplanned pregnancies.
She was 13 weeks into her pregnancy when she learned the baby had Down syndrome. “I had a heck of a time putting my arms around it,” she admits, remembering asking herself, “Am I going to walk the walk or was I just going to talk the talk?”
She clung to her faith, and soon became eager to meet her fifth child. Eager, but worried too. “I wasn’t sure my heart would have what this baby would need.”
She prayed to be “filled up” with love for him, and says, “My prayers were answered.” At his birth, her heart “overflowed” with joy and love and compassion for her tiny son. “He’s the best thing that has ever happened to me.”
As she concluded her re-marks, she told the Right to Life group that in their work they are “reminding us that children are perfect gifts — not burdens.”
The banquet was attended by 2,180 at the Centre in downtown Evansville with an overflow crowd of almost 800 in a nearby auditorium. Bishop Gerald A. Gettelfinger had been scheduled to give the closing blessing, but in March he made the decision to stay away because of remarks Steele made to GQ magazine.
In the March issue of GQ, Steele was asked if he thought women have the right to choose abortion. He answered, “Yeah. I mean, again, I think that’s an individual choice.”
The bishop spoke with Steele by phone on March 20, and after examining a statement issued by Steele, the bishop maintained his decision not to attend the event.
In a letter to Vanderburgh County Right to Life executive director Mary Ellen Van Dyke, the bishop said Steele’s answer seemed to emanate “from a political stance, not a principled one.
“The principled answer for us is that there can be no equivocations,” he said. “Intentional abortion is an act of killing the unborn. There is no room for choice in this deadly matter. Mr. Steele assiduously avoids such strong language.”
In his Message column on April 3, he encouraged “all readers: Support the Vander-burgh County Right to Life banquet. Even if you, as I, choose not to attend, please send your contribution to help support the educational efforts, services and programs. I intend to do so and I will increase my gift from last year.
“The protection of all life from conception to natural death is a critical issue for our time. Each of us must assume responsibility to protect it in whatever manner we can. We cannot waffle on the matter! There is but one choice: life!
“In emails and phone calls, some have interpreted that ‘I am forbidding’ them to go to the banquet. That is incorrect. Please go! Please be generous as it is a fund raising event.”