January 23, 2026 // Bishop

Bishop Rhoades at Mass for Life: ‘To Be Pro-Life Is Not Optional’

Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades

The following homily was given by Bishop Rhoades on Thursday, January 22, at the Mass for Life at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis ahead of the annual Indiana March for Life.

I’d like to begin this homily by thanking all of you for coming to this Youth Rally and March for Life from throughout our state of Indiana. Your presence and your witness today are great testaments to the Gospel of Jesus, the Gospel of life. Special thanks to our wonderful Metropolitan Archbishop, Archbishop Thompson, and his staff of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis who worked so hard to prepare today’s events, including this beautiful Mass. And thanks to my brother bishops who are able to be here today.

 

Throughout our nation today, people who believe in the dignity and sanctity of human life from the moment of conception are praying, marching, and gathering for the cause of life. As Catholics of the United States, we celebrate a special Mass today to give thanks to God for the gift of human life. We do so on January 22, the date of the Roe v. Wade decision of the U.S. Supreme Court, which legalized abortion throughout our country. Even though, thanks be to God, Roe v. Wade was overturned by the Supreme Court in July of 2022, we still gather on this day since we know that we still have much work to do to promote a culture of life in our country and in our state.

 

To be pro-life is not optional for us as Catholics. When Jesus taught us to love our neighbor and to love one another as He has loved us, He didn’t make any exceptions. He even taught us to love our enemies. Love of neighbor does not admit of exceptions! The core of Catholic moral and social teaching is respect for the dignity of every person as a child of God. As Catholics, we are to be united as a community “of life and for life.” Not only as a bishop but as a Catholic, I am proud of our Church’s consistent and strong commitment to the defense of human life and dignity and the protection of the weak and vulnerable. I am proud of your strong commitment to the cause of life, motivated by your love for God and neighbor. It is a commitment to the dignity of human life in all its phases and conditions, as a gift from God.

In our first reading today, St. John wrote to the early Christians: “For this is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another, unlike Cain who belonged to the evil one and slaughtered his brother.” We’re all familiar with the story in the Book of Genesis about Cain killing his brother, Abel, out of envy – the first murder. After Cain murdered his brother, “The Lord asked Cain: ‘Where is Abel your brother?’” Do you remember Cain’s answer? He lied and said, “I do not know, am I my brother’s keeper?” And then God said: “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground.” This fratricide happened at the very dawn of history. That evil has continued and spread throughout history. How many attacks on human life have occurred since then and are happening today!

 

Cain tried to cover up his crime with a lie. Throughout history and today, all kinds of ideologies have tried to justify and disguise atrocious crimes against human beings. Cain refused to accept responsibility for his crime. “Am I my brother’s keeper?” he asked. The answer should be “yes, I am.” As fellow human beings created in the image and likeness of God, we are to be in solidarity with one another, especially with those who are weakest among us: the unborn, the elderly, the infirm, the disabled, the poor, the hungry, the homeless, migrants, refugees, victims of war and violence, and yes, even those who are on death row. There is a lot of indifference in the world to the plight of those who are vulnerable, whose lives are at risk. Pope Francis called this a “globalization of indifference.” Many, perhaps without saying it aloud, cynically repeat what Cain said: “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

St. John teaches most emphatically that we are to love one another. He wrote that Cain belonged to the evil one. How delighted Satan is when we are indifferent to the plight of our brothers and sisters in need, especially the little ones in their mothers’ wombs. If we belong to Christ, and we do because of our baptism, we cannot be indifferent to our neighbor. We must recognize that we are our brother’s keeper! Through everyday works of mercy, we can serve life. We bear witness to Christ every time we do a good deed and help a neighbor in need. St. John asked a rhetorical question in the reading today, a challenge to make our love active. He asked, “If someone who has worldly means sees a brother in need and refuses him compassion, how can the love of God remain in him?” This is practical Christian life. Our love for one another isn’t just a feeling. To be real love, it must be shown by our actions. And so, St. John gives us a very direct exhortation. He writes, “Children, let us love not in word or speech but in deed and truth.”

 

Think of the lives of the saints. That’s what they did. And that’s what the greatest of all the saints, the Queen of All Saints, teaches us. Immediately after conceiving the Son of God in her womb, she went to serve her elderly pregnant cousin, Elizabeth. The Gospel tells us she went in haste to visit her. What a beautiful and joyful encounter that was! And how amazing that the child in Elizabeth’s womb, the unborn John the Baptist, leaped for joy at Mary’s visitation to his mother, because Mary was carrying in her womb the Savior of the world.

Every one of us, like John the Baptist and like the Lord Jesus Himself, was once a child in our mother’s womb. We didn’t become human at the moment of our birth or become holy and precious, created in God’s image, at some particular stage of development. In His wisdom and love, God transmitted His image to us when we were conceived. And He wants us to respect and protect this gift of life that He has given us. That’s why He even gave us the specific commandment, “Thou shalt not kill.” And, on the positive side, the great commandment that His Son gave us: “Love one another as I have loved you.” It is right here at the altar that we see how much Jesus loves us: He loves us to the end: His body broken for us and His blood poured out for us in His sacrifice on the cross that is made present at every celebration of the Eucharist – truly an amazing mystery.

 

And Jesus nourishes us with His life-giving body and blood. He gives us the grace and strength to love as He loved, to serve our neighbors in need, and to bear witness to the Gospel of life with courage. May Mary, Our Blessed Mother, accompany us and intercede for us that we may be faithful disciples of her Son!