Could the people of Connecticut have done more?

I guess it's really our fault. NC Register Editor Fr. Owen Kearns sums it up very neatly:

The story of what happened in Connecticut should serve as an example of how effective laypeople can be when they support the Church — and what can happen when they don’t.

The Connecticut Catholic Conference planned a “Catholic Concerns Day” at the state Capitol — a great opportunity for the state’s 1.5 million Catholics to stand up and be counted. But only 100 people showed up. In the past, concerned voters have changed the minds of legislators by inundating them with phone calls and urging their friends to do the same. They could have done the same this time, making it clear that they weren’t about to let their elected representatives bully the Church on this or any other topic.

But they didn’t. At the crucial moment most pro-lifers did nothing.

I guess Fr. Kearns knows what a Connecticut Catholic is doing at home to make a difference-(nothing apparently), and believes that those 100 fervent people weren't enough to make a difference at the Capitol.

But here we are again, thinking only of numbers. Numbers of people at the Capitol, number of people in the pews, number of actual newly conceived human beings (maybe they don't exist!) being aborted. There's just not enough numbers to really make it worth fighting for.

I can think of a number, too- the number three. Three Bishops, God bless them, to stand up and support those meager 100 people (and the rest of us 1.5 million Catholics in the state), not to mention one Victim Advocate, Jim Papillo, all putting themselves on the line to stall or stop this legislation. Three Bisops to follow through, at whatever the cost, to save the life of (maybe only) ONE, and to let those 100 people (and the rest of us "do-nothing pro-lifers")know that what they were fighting for was real.

To quote one concerned Catholic citizen from the Connecticut Catholic Blog who did attend:

"I wonder what changed. Why didn't the CT Conference change their Plan B protocols 2 years ago? It would have saved me and countless other loyal Connecticut Catholics time spent writing letters, talking to fellow parishioners, defending Catholic teaching, protesting with several small children at the Capitol. What a waste of time! A holy, Catholic friend of mine can only think of the poor souls lost. But me, I'm concerned with the egg on our collective faces."

When I think of Fr. Kearns commentary, I think of another number-ONE. Genesis 18:32-one man, Abraham, petitioning God for the righteous in Sodom, Esther 7- one woman pleading for her race, Luke 18-one widow persistently petitioning a cranky judge.

While 100 visible people, representing 1.5 million, were marching on the Connecticut Capitol, those at home (invisible to Fr. Kearns), were writing and calling legislators, and praying and fasting in support of our collective mission.