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Civil Rights Movement

The Last Full Measure of Devotion: Civil Rights and the Right to Life

by Fr. Gordon J. MacRae on January 19, 2011 · 11 comments

Fr. Gordon J. MacRae, Rev. Gordon MacRae, Speaker John Boehner, Saint Anselm College, Saint Mary Seminary and University, Baltimore Maryland, racial divisions, Mount Saint Mary Seminary, Emmitsburg Maryland, Gettysburg, Battle of Gettysburg, American Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address, John F. Kennedy, Michael Shaara, The Killer Angels, Cemetery Hill, Dred Scott v. Sanforo, abolitionists, the North and the South, Missouri Compromise, Chief Justice Roger Taney, Fifth Amendment, Squanto and the Pilgrims, Catholic Church, Rev. Martin Luther King, Father John Crowley, Father Richard John Neuhaus, The Beloved Community, Pornchai Moontri, Selma Alabama, Selma Times-Journal, Roe v. Wade, life Site news, Linda Gibbons, Mary Wagner, National March for Life, 40 Days for Life, Norma McCorvey, University of Notre Dame

. . . It felt strange standing for the first time upon Cemetery Hill where the Civil War pivoted toward victory for the North. But there was really no victory. It was America against itself, and the powerful imprint of death and sacrifice was still upon that battlefield as I stood there 116 years later. It was both eerie and inspiring. My friends went off to tour the museum and stare at row upon row of cannonballs and muskets, but I couldn’t leave that field. I realized standing there for the first time just what an idea can cost, and what hardship and sacrifice it can demand from those who serve it. . . .

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Prophets on the Path to Peace

by Fr. Gordon J. MacRae on January 20, 2010 · 9 comments

JFK, John F. Kennedy, Civil Rights Movement, Civil Rights March, Selma Alabama, Roe v Wade, Abortion, Martin Luther King, MLK, Richard John Neuhaus, Fr John Crowley, Society of St Edmund, Beloved Community, Selma Times Journal, the Path to Peace in Selma, Dred Scott, Roger Taney, Missouri Compromise, Blackman,

. . . There is a natural abhorrence to such language today, and to such a decision from our Supreme Court. But in 1857 the Court went far beyond the simple ruling that Dred Scott did not possess the rights of a citizen to sue. The decision rendered the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional thereby throwing out the U.S. Congress’s right to make territory free of slavery. The decision held that the Missouri Compromise violated the Fifth Amendment by depriving Southerners of their right to private property, i.e., slaves. That decision sounds appalling to us, but it was cheered in its day by many. It caused some, however, to assert that there is a higher moral law than the Constitution, and a higher moral authority than the Supreme Court. These voices of conscience changed minds and hearts, and, in time, the Supreme Court’s decision. . . .

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