Father Paul Marx, OSB, received the first annual Faithful for Life Award for his heroic pro-life work and witness in defense of the unborn, from Family Life International (FLI) on October 30 during FLI’s conference in London. FLI Chairman and PRI Senior Advisor Dr. Claude Newbury of South Africa presented Father Marx the award.
Noting that Pope John Paul II called Father Marx “the apostle of life,” Dr. Newbury said, aside from the original apostles, “I can think of no other person down through the ages that the Pope has called an apostle.” Father Marx, said Dr. Newbury, sided with the truth when he defended Humanae Vitae from its critics. Calling him “one of St. Benedict’s most illustrious sons,” Dr. Newbury said Father Marx is known for “speaking the truth in season and out of season.”
Euthanasia Follows Abortion
In his acceptance remarks, Father Marx said that euthanasia is now following abortion just as surely as the latter followed contraception. “I’ve always said, if you can be killed before birth, why not after?” he said. He urged conference attendees to continue the fight. “I’m sure you, like me, are despised and dismissed for being foolish,” he continued. “It becomes more evident every day that you’re right… . Europe is dying out. The United States is growing only because of immigration.”
The Faithful for Life Award will be given annually to the individual who, over the course of his or her lifetime, has made the greatest contribution to the Culture of Life. Born on May 8, 1920, in St. Michael, Minnesota, Father Marx was the 15th child in 17 pregnancies. Such generous parents engendered in Father Marx a deep love and caring toward other people and especially the unborn. This caring continued throughout his priesthood, beginning with his ordination in 1947 as a Benedictine priest at St. John’s Abbey in Collegeville, Minnesota. In the early days of his priesthood, he taught college students in marriage preparation and natural family planning at St. John’s University and the neighboring College of St. Benedict.
Undercover Mission
Father Marx became directly involved in the pro-life movement in the mid-1960s when rumblings of abortion legalization began, writing his first article against abortion in 1967. He went undercover to attend a secret meeting of high-ranking anti-life officials in California who discussed the possibility of legalizing abortion in the United States in the early 1970s. His bestselling book The Death Peddlers was a direct result of his investigations and secret participation in that meeting.
Foundations for Life
In 1972, Father Marx founded the Human Life Center at St, John’s University, Collegeville, Minnesota, to counter contraception, sterilization, abortion and euthanasia. During the 1970s, he did much to increase public awareness of the emerging anti-life forces and worked with many international experts on solutions to the growing anti-life culture. He is considered a pioneer of natural family planning (NFP), which is 99% effective when practiced properly, in the United States and organized international symposia and national weekend NFP conferences. Father Marx published much NFP material and founded the International Review of Natural Family Planning during this time.
In 1981, Father Marx moved to the Washington, D.C. area, founding Human Life International in order to increase the opposition to anti-life efforts worldwide. In 1989, he founded the Population Research Institute to oppose the worldwide war on people through population control programs and to counter the myth of overpopulation. He is a member of PRI’s Board of Directors and is an Honorary Founder of Family Life International.
“Don’t get discouraged, never give up, and your reward will be great in Heaven,” Father Marx told the conference attendees.
