(Easter 1997: This homily was given on March 30, 1997 at St. Pius X Church, Westerly, R.I. by Fr. Raymond Suriani. Read Acts 10: 34-43; Colossians 3: 1-4; John 20: 1-9.)

"A true, contemporary Easter story: Dr. Bernard Nathanson."

I share with you today a true, contemporary Easter story:

Once upon a time, there was a little Jewish boy named Bernard. Bernard was the son of a doctor--a doctor who had once studied to be an orthodox Jewish rabbi. But Bernard’s dad eventually gave up his Jewish faith, although he still went to synagogue on the high holy days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. (Just like all those non-practicing Catholics out there who still come to church faithfully on Christmas and Easter.) And the doctor still sent his son Bernard to Hebrew School, even though he himself didn’t believe in any of it. (Again, just like those Catholic parents who send their children to CCD, but who don’t practice the faith themselves.) Of course all of this had a tragic effect on Bernard, as it would on any child. As he himself would say many years later, "When I would come home, and tell my father what I had learned [in Hebrew school], he would simply deride me; he would laugh and destroy all those things that I had [heard] with a [forceful] remark which was enough to tear down the edifice of anything I had learned. . . . [I would be taught these things], and then my father, whom I worshipped, would destroy them for me. [Consequently] I was left utterly bewildered for many years about God and religion. I did proceed to my bar mitzvah at the age of 13 . . . but thereafter I never set foot again in a synagogue. Never. And I drifted along for years after that. . . . I had no beacon, no poles, no lights to guide me spiritually."

But Bernard, my brothers and sisters, was a very gifted young man (intellectually speaking), and so he went on to college and medical school, where he graduated with honors. Unfortunately, shortly afterward, he also went through two marriages, because, as he puts it, his relationships with his wives were "centered only on worldly, mundane pleasures and nothing more."

Having set up a very successful practice as an obstetrician\gynecologist, his life continued on without major incident--until one evening in 1968 when he met a man at a dinner party named Lawrence Lader. Lader had just written a book on abortion, and he and Bernard began to discuss the subject. Well, the two men soon came to the realization that there were some big bucks to be made providing this "service" to women, but at the time abortion was illegal. So they (along with two others) decided to begin a lobbying group which would work for the overthrow of any and all laws restricting abortion. That group still exists. It’s called NARAL: The National Abortion Rights Action League.

Well, we all know the rest of the story: NARAL was very successful in it’s efforts. And so eventually Bernard became the head of the largest abortion clinic that has ever existed in the world. It was located on the east side of Manhattan. He had 35 doctors and 95 nurses working for him. They did 120 abortions a day; every day of the year except Christmas. During his time there he estimates that he presided over as many as 75,000 abortions, something he later called "a pretty heavy baggage."

After two years he stopped doing abortions and took a job as head of obstetrics and gynecology at St. Luke’s teaching Hospital at Columbia University. Then, with the help of new technologies like ultrasound, he began to reflect on what he had been involved in. He began to study, from a purely scientific perspective, the fetus in the womb; and he came to the shocking conclusion that this was a person--a human person. So he became pro-life. But he recently said this about his change of heart: "[I made this change back then] without a glimmer of recognition of a Supreme Being, of God, of anything. There was nothing religious about anything I did in those years. This was purely done on a level of science, not belief, not faith." In fact, I think Bernard would have classified himself at the time as an atheist. (So much for those who say this is a religious issue! It’s not a religious issue, it’s a human rights issue.)

Well, to make a long story short, throughout the 1980’s Bernard became a strong voice in the pro-life movement. He made two well known films, The Silent Scream and Eclipse of Reason. However, as that decade drew to a close, he realized something: he realized that he had no inner peace. (Which shouldn’t come as a surprise to any one of us. I mean, if you had the guilt of 75,000 murders hanging over your head, would you have peace in your heart?) Here are his words: "I plunged into a very serious, profound depression. I found myself almost unable to go to work. I was deeply troubled by what I had done in my life. Another marriage was falling apart, my son was emotionally disturbed. I was getting older, and as I looked back all I could see was the baggage of 75,000 little lives interrupted and destroyed, and a great deal of adult lives that I had damaged. . . .I reached bottom spiritually in those years. . . . [and I seriously thought about suicide]. I felt there was really no reason to go on."

"Fr. Ray, you promised us an Easter story. This is no Easter story." Oh yes, it is. In fact, it’s one of the most powerful Easter stories I’ve ever heard. But before I finish it we need to pause and ask, "What is Easter?" Some people nowadays seem to think that Easter is about a big bunny that brings colored eggs to little children. Others think that Easter is just an excuse to get dressed up and gather the family together for a great meal. That’s not the meaning of Easter! Do you know what Easter is? Easter is for people like Bernard! Easter, in other words, is for people who know they need redemption. Easter is for people who are humble enough--and honest enough--to admit that. Jesus said in John 12:32, "When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men to myself." That’s what happened on Good Friday: Jesus drew all people, and the sins of all people, to himself. And that includes Bernard and every single one of his 75,000 sins of murder. Jesus atoned for those sins, and for every sin, on the Cross; and he rose from the dead three days later so that we could rise from the dead with him--so that Bernard could rise from the state of spiritual death that he was living in. That’s what Easter is about. It’s about God’s gift of risen life in Christ: the risen life that we receive first in Baptism, and then, when necessary, in the sacrament of Confession. That’s the life that Bernard needed. That’s the life everybody needs--because it brings us, after physical death, into heaven.

I’ll now conclude Bernard’s story with his own words:

"[By the late 1980’s] I felt there was really no reason to go on. But riding to my rescue was a man named Fr. John McCloskey, who had somehow heard of my plight. And he began to talk to me. First we had just [general] conversation, [but] gradually we began to penetrate to more central things. And I began to think that the path that I had chosen--to despise myself--was not constructive, and that there was hope to be found . . . the hope of redemption, of the cleansing of sin, of the shedding of this intolerable baggage. . . . Fr. McCloskey got me interested in reading at first. He knew that he could not appeal to me except first through the intellect, and then into the heart. And that’s how he did it--with the skill and the unerring accuracy of a cardiac surgeon, he knew exactly how to reach me. And gradually I became more and more interested, attending religious retreats. I was not unaware that I was still Jewish. I [even] consulted several rabbis during this period of crisis. [But their] response was inadequate. [They gave me] no true hope of cleansing, redemption, expiation and the shedding of the baggage. And it was simply inadequate for me. And so, I went along, gradually understanding that my only hope of salvation was in the peace of Christ! To the point where I stand before you now as a believing Christian. . . . I have been . . .reborn, resurrected, renewed, and today I am finally finding some peace. . . . I don’t have any doubts anymore. I am happy with what I have, happy with what I believe in. . . . [You know through all this] I’ve learned one thing: that I . . . cannot control my life. It is in the hands of God. I want to relinquish control of my life, and I have."

Last year, at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City, Dr. Bernard Nathanson was baptized into the Catholic Church for the forgiveness of his sins! He was made, at that moment, a new creation--a totally new creation in Jesus Christ! That’s the power of the Resurrection. That’s the power of Easter. May each and every one of us experience it for ourselves.