PLATTEKILL — As the Ulster Deanery Respect Life Committee (UDRLC) seeks to amplify the participation of Catholics in Ulster County along with allies such as the Bruderhof Communities for the pro-life cause, the Committee’s third annual Forty Hours Devotion of Solemn Exposition and Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament was moved to Our Lady of Fatima Church (Plattekill) from April 11 to 13, after having been celebrated in November 2021 at Presentation Church (Port Ewen) and in April 2023 at St. Mary’s Church (Kingston).  

“In the wake of the Dobbs v. Jackson decision by the Supreme Court that remanded the issue of abortion-on-demand to the states in June 2022, the UDRLC wanted to raise awareness that New York had legalized abortion on April 11, 1970, about three years before the Roe v. Wade decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in January 1973,” explained Robert D. Smith, Jr., a parishioner of Our Lady of Fatima Church who headed the hosting team of the Forty Hour Devotion at Plattekill.  

“Given that abortion is firstly an issue of whom we treat as fully human in our society and from what point, our committee believes that reparation must be made to God before we can seek justice for the pre-born child and compassion for distressed expectant mothers in New York,” stated Father Arthur F. Rojas, Moderator-Spiritual Director of the UDRLC.

Starting with a Mass of Exposition on the afternoon of April 11 celebrated by Father Rojas and concelebrated by Father Paul Jibrin, the priest stationed at Our Lady of Fatima, the Blessed Sacrament (a consecrated Host containing the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ) was exposed for adoration for 40 hours with the themes of reparation for the 54 years of legal abortion in New York, praying for the conversion of New Yorkers both high and low toward the pro-life cause, and for divine blessing of the efforts of Catholic and other pro-lifers in Ulster County and elsewhere towards defending human life and dignity from conception until natural death.

“It is impressive that hundreds of people within Ulster County and even from other places came to Plattekill throughout the forty hours, whether day or night, for this combination of Eucharistic adoration and the cause of social justice and human rights via the prolife cause,” observed Father Rojas. “The Spirit of God was palpable, you couldn’t help but be moved. The Forty Hours Devotion was life-changing” for many parishioners who participated, Smith added.

The Forty Hours Devotion concluded on the morning of Saturday, April 13 with Solemn Exposition by Father Jibrin and then the Mass of the morning. The UDRLC intends to carry the devotion into next year so long as abortion remains legal in New York state. Indeed, the UDRLC is active on other pro-life issues such as combating the threat of euthanasia with the proposed “assisted suicide” bill pending in Albany (A.995/S.2445). Finally, the Committee is readying itself to actively back the “no” campaign on the “Equality Amendment” on the ballot this November that would enshrine abortion-on-demand in the state constitution.