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As a parish priest in 1967, Msgr. Philip J. Reilly stood in his pulpit and tried to warn his flock that New York State was on the path to legalizing the killing of unborn children. Some of his parishioners approached him after Mass with concern for his mental state.
“Are you okay, Father?” they asked. “There's no way you can change the law to allow children in the womb to be killed. This is America.”
Twenty years later, he spoke in support of legislation to protect the lives of unborn children. Again, people were concerned for his mental health.
“Change the law to protect all the children in the womb? Are you okay?” they asked. "This is America.”
“And I realized that we had gone from a culture of life where it was unthinkable not to protect children in the womb to a culture of death where it was unthinkable to change the law to protect all the children in the womb,” he recounted.
Msgr. Reilly, who went on to start a worldwide pro-life apostolate called the Helpers of God’s Precious Infants, died November 30 at the age of 90.
He had lived to see not only his prediction come true that New York State would legalize abortion – one of the first states in the nation to do so – but that Roe v. Wade would be overturned.
Early on, however, the priest came to realize that there was little hope that the political process would restore a culture of life. Through much discernment, Msgr. Reilly found a different approach, one that, as he put it, looked beyond this world for help.
Beginning of pro-life movement
Born on June 21, 1934, in New York, he was ordained to the priesthood for the Diocese of Brooklyn, New York, on May 28, 1960. In addition to serving as a parish priest, he was chaplain to the Sisters Adorers of the Precious Blood at Precious Blood Monastery in Brooklyn, and principal and teacher at Cathedral Preparatory Seminary in Queens.
He held degrees in philosophy from Cathedral College and theology from the Catholic University of America. He earned a Masters in the Classics from Fordham University in New York, and was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Science degree from the School of Medicine of Tinava State University in Slovakia.
He also spearheaded a push for a catechetical lectionary, which he presented to both Pope Benedict and Pope Francis. With this method, everyone who attends church would know the Catechism in a three-year period.
Msgr. Reilly, in a 2012 interview with Fr. Benedict J. Groeschel, on EWTN, spoke about his early involvement in the pro-life movement, which included being one of the organizers of the first March for Life in Washington; withholding part of his tax payments so they would not be used for abortions, and being arrested several times for blocking the entrances to abortion clinics.
He was involved in efforts to overturn New York’s 1970 abortion law. The pro-life side scored a victory in the New York State Assembly, but the governor at the time, Nelson A. Rockefeller, vetoed it.
Ultimately, Msgr. Reilly discovered that political action would never solve the problem.
“We founded the Helpers on the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary,” he said. “We saw that the whole world was going to the culture of death, so we have to go outside the world, as St. Pius V had done [in calling for the Rosary to be prayed in the Battle of Lepanto], and ask for the intercession of the Mother of God.”
“The Achilles' heel of the abortion industry is the place where children are dying,” he said. The question was how should pro-lifers be present there. His answer might surprise people.
“We go there not to save babies, primarily, but to save souls,” he said. “Our Lord went to Calvary for the salvation of the people who were going to kill him. We must have that same mindset.”
"Start with the Eucharist"
Marcela Palos, a longtime associate of the priest, said that Msgr. Reilly realized that being confrontational “is never going to work, or trying to change politics is never going to work. So he was like, we need to change the hearts of the people, and you cannot change the heart of the people unless you bring Jesus to them.”
Msgr. Reilly said once, “We cannot overcome this by any human effort. We start with the Eucharist.”
That’s why a typical Helpers event begins with an early morning Mass, followed by a prayerful procession from the church to the local abortion clinic, where attendees pray the rosary.
Palos said that by the time the group arrived at the clinic, everybody was totally focused on what was going on there, "because he had this beautiful theology: When you go to an abortion clinic, you are going to Calvary. And all these babies are united to the sacrifice of our Lord. And they are martyrs. And he said, all these babies, when they die, because they didn't do anything wrong on this earth, they go directly to their Father.”
Msgr. Reilly was equally concerned for the salvation of mothers who intended to abort or did in fact abort. He said that many women going for an abortion “buy the lie: that abortion brings back yesterday.” Many also realize later that they did indeed abort a human being, a child.
“They say, ‘Can God ever love me again?’” he said. “I ask them, ‘Will you love God again? That’s what God wants to know.’”
2 Kinds of mothers
Msgr. Reilly compared the situation of abortion-bound mothers to two figures in the crucifixion scene. Like the "Good Thief," who had a conversion while dying on the cross, some mothers will turn around before going ahead with the abortion. Others, like the centurion who recognized Christ after he died, realize that the baby they aborted was a child of God.
But both kinds of mothers, Reilly insisted, “must be treated with dignity and respect, before and after the abortion.”
Palos pointed out that it was important for pro-life participants to understand that they “don't save babies.”
“He said, ‘We are not outside of the clinic to save babies, because the baby didn't do anything wrong in this life. He's on the way to heaven. The problem is the souls of all the abortionists and the nurses and the women who are having abortions. Those souls are the ones in danger, because if they die, they might not go to heaven. I mean, we don't know, because of the merciful love of God, but, but the probability is like they might go to hell. As the Mystical Body of Christ, could we go to the abortion clinic to make Him present and help Him to convert those souls? So we are there for the abortionists, for the nurse, for the father, for the mothers who are having this abortion, because we are there for saving those souls.”
Spread around the world
Msgr. Reilly's approach quickly attracted followers, including Fr. Peter Pilsner, a priest of the Archdiocese of New York.
"In the pro-life movement, some people see the horrific injustice of abortion and feel called to fight this evil. Sometimes they direct their anger at women who have abortions. Others see vulnerability of women to the lies and manipulation that push them into abortion, and feel called to protect women. In their empathy they sometimes minimize the evil of abortion," Fr. Pilsner told Aleteia.
"Msgr. Reilly taught pro-lifers how to embrace both of these threads, without departing the path of truth and charity. He never lost sight of the shocking evil of abortion, and he never forgot the humanity of women, made in God's image and worthy of His abundant mercy. He had unshakable faith in the power of prayer to change hearts. He taught everyone in the pro-life movement, by his personal witness, what it means to act like abortion is indeed the killing of innocent, defenseless children, while approaching women with the love of the merciful heart of Christ.
"He will be missed for sure, but his methods, example, and wisdom have already influenced generations of pro-lifers, saved lives, and spared women years of sorrow."
Fr. Pilsner accompanied Msgr. Reilly on a trip to Mexico, and Palos, who comes from there, also assisted him in speaking in Mexico as well as Colombia and other countries. Others, too, were so impressed with the approach that they stepped forward, such as Wenqi Glantz, a native of China who helped translate materials for use in Taiwan. Reilly spoke about possibly taking the apostolate to China, but getting permission from the communist government would have been too difficult, Glantz told Aleteia. Reilly did, however, get the Helpers into South Korea.
In the end, Helpers groups have been established in a majority of US states, as well as far-flung places such as Australia, New Zealand, Austria, Germany, Slovakia, Romania, Albania, and South Africa.
In a testimonial on a tribute website set up after Msgr. Reilly’s death, David Bereit, founder of 40 Days For Life, said that the priest was an “early inspiration, mentor, and teacher to me when I first got started in the pro-life movement.” He said that he and his wife, Margaret, spent a day with him in 2001, "where he taught us everything we needed to get our local pro-life efforts in Texas up and running.
“Several years later, we brought him to Texas to lead sidewalk counseling training and vigils, and he was always incredibly encouraging and supportive," Bereit wrote. "Without Msgr. Reilly and Helpers of God’s Precious Infants, there never would have been a 40 Days for Life.”
Shawn D. Carney, President & CEO of 40 Days for Life, in an email to Aleteia, affirmed, “We had based our sidewalk counseling training in Texas after his model before we launched 40 Days for Life. Once we announced the 40 DFL going national he was one of the early vocal supporters of it. He was truly a saint.”
For many years, Msgr. Reilly battled skin cancer, which likely came from countless hours under the sun doing sidewalk counseling outside abortion clinics. In his later years, much of his nose had to be surgically removed. It made for an off-putting appearance, but for those who admired him, it was a sign of his commitment.
Said Marcela Palos, "When you saw his actions, when you saw that the man had this suffering in his own skin by being outside the abortion clinic every day and have this cancer, it's just amazing how he had this fire in his heart that he was passing to another generation and other people."
Following a funeral on Monday, December 9, at Immaculate Conception Center in Douglaston, New York, Msgr. Reilly will be buried at St. John Cemetery in Middle Village, Queens, New York.
