Thursday, November 4, 2010

Pro-life advocates help prevent forced abortion in Austin -- CNA

While it is sometimes hard to describe what the difference is between Catholic lawyers and any other lawyer, you can check out this story where attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), saved a baby's life by obtaining a retraining order preventing a parent from forcing her child to have an abortion.  The Alliance is a Christian organization of lawyers who defend religious freedom, the sanctity of life, and family life.  The organization is not Catholic but they are doing God's work and should be applauded. 

As Catholic lawyers we, too, are called to use our talents in God's service.  We can , of course, make our own living practicing law as any other lawyer might but there should always be room in our practice to have God as our client. 

One of the most satisfying things I have done as a lawyer was to do an adoption for a low-income family.  They were hard-working and God-fearing but lacked the money to hire a proper adoption attorney on short notice.  My client's sister was a crack addict and had had a baby.  Child protective services were two-days away from taking the child from the hospital and placing her in foster care where she would have languished.  I knew next to nothing about adoption but asked a lot of people a lot of questions and was able to accomplish the job.  At the final hearing of adoption, the new mother was there with the child who looked beautiful in a fine white dress.  The judge was compassionate and pleased to be a part of the saving of this child. I was near tears as the judge rendered her final order. 

Cynics may say a lot about the practice of law and much of it is true in today's world.  As Catholic lawyers, we are called to be better than that.  And when you are doing God's work, there are rewards greater than those the world can offer.

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