Overflow crowd turns out for 25th Annual Celebration for Life

An overflow crowd turned out to hear Rex Moses at the 25th Annual Celebration for Life banquet on Thursday, Sept. 4. Moses was credited by many in attendance for providing the direction and energy to the pro-life movement in Corpus Christi during its early years.
 
Moses, who today lives in Houston with his wife Valerie, returned to what he described as a "family reunion." As in any family reunion he shared stories of their time together. And he left his family with some parting advise for their future.
 
Before Moses took the podium, Bishop Emeritus Rene H. Gracida made brief remarks about how he first met Moses and how "providence" intervened to bring Moses to Corpus Christi.
 
Bishop Gracida said he first met Moses at a luncheon he attended with Cliff Zarsky.  The bishop was "amazed" at what Moses was doing for the pro-life effort in Austin and invited him to Corpus Christi if he ever decided to leave Austin. As it turned out, sometime later Bishop John McCarthy of Austin–who had given Moses his blessing–asked him to stop. Bishop McCarthy feared that things were getting too dangerous as Moses and many of his followers were being arrested and thrown in jail.
 
Moses, as a good Catholic, obeyed his bishop and stopped. A short time later he and Bishop Gracida happened to be on the same flight and ended up sitting next to each other. The bishop renewed his invitation and Moses was soon on his way to Corpus Christi.
 
Bishop Gracida christened the new pro-life movement in Corpus Christi the "Body of Christ Rescue." At the time there were three abortion clinics in the city. Their efforts closed all but Dr. Eduardo Aquino's office (it was not a clinic the bishop said). Earlier this year, however, the doctor closed his abortion facility. 
 
"It took 25 years, but through your efforts, your witness, your prayers, your sacrifice God gave us eventually the victory we celebrate tonight," Bishop Gracida said.
 
After Bishop Gracida awarded the "Life Servant Award" posthumously to Betty Harris, Moses took the stage.
 
"We experienced something so powerful, something so special, something that bound us together in a very special way, it's almost like a family," Moses said in his opening remarks.
 
He said one of the most important achievements was the "Gabriel Project," which enlists parishes to assist mothers during pregnancy. The project was in response to the aggressive promotion by the abortion clinics. Moses convinced Bishop Gracida that the church needed to counter with its own aggressive campaign to help those in crisis pregnancies.
 
"It was a moment that changed history," Moses said. Today more than 940 parishes and Protestant chapels throughout the country display Project Gabriel signs in front of their churches.
 
Moses took time to pay tribute to the many "sidewalk counselors" that had dedicated their lives to the pro-life movement; people such as Manuel Garcia, Paul Laudadio, Zarsky, Father James Harris and many others. He also recalled some of the more memorable events that occurred during his time in Corpus Christi, including the time someone firebombed his car and the burning of one of the abortion clinics. No one blamed the pro-life movement because they knew "that was not how we operated," Moses said.
 
He also credited the Rosary as being the "most powerful weapon that was ever leveled at abortion."
 
Moses retold the story of St. Juan Diego obeying the requests of Our Lady of Guadalupe. He used the story to illustrate that the "Blessed Mother submits herself to the bishop" and told his audience they should do the same.
 
"That is the beauty of what we've done and the opportunity to do now," Moses said. "We stopped in Austin because the bishop said stop…we did see ourselves as being in submission to him because he's the bishop. Bishop Gracida told us he thought we should stop rescuing…and we said yes because you’re the bishop."
 
"We're nothing if we're not sons and daughters of the church," he said. "You have a new bishop and I commend him to you and to your prayers. I command you into his service. The Lady of Guadalupe works through the bishops and we should too."
 
In his closing remarks, Moses shared with the audience his notion of good stewardship. He cited a line from a song his son David Michael–who is a seminarian–wrote. "When you die the only money that is going to do you any good is the money that you have given away."
 
Moses asked the audience to think about how much money they needed and to give all the rest away. Birthright of Corpus Christi, the Gabriel Project and Corpus Christi Hope House were the beneficiaries of the evening's celebration.