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Part Two is an amazing story of journalistic hubris and abortionists who kill babies late in a child's development.

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I begin on a grim note. As you know, Sen. Ted Kennedy died last night. Our condolences go out to his family. The Kennedys have lost two members in less than a month, a frightful toil.

While it is tragic (in the extreme) that Sen. Kennedy employed his enormous clout on behalf of the most militant pro-abortion forces, today is not the time to focus on that. I'd rather talk about the pro-life convictions of his late sister, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, and of the late political columnist, Bob Novak.

Earlier this month when I penned a tribute to Mrs. Shriver, I received some of the loveliest responses ever to a TN&V. ( See www.nrlc.org/News_and_Views/Aug09/nv081309.html.) I would like to quote a few comments that Cardinal Archbishop of Boston Sean O'Malley posted on his blog in tribute to Mrs. Shriver, best known as the founder of the Special Olympics.

Eunice Kennedy Shriver, founder of the Special Olympics

"She was preeminently prolife, against abortion and there to protect and underscore the dignity of every person," he wrote. "This, of course, manifested itself in her love for children with disabilities."

Cardinal O'Malley continued, "In that regard, she reminds me very much of Jean Vanier who founded the L'Arche movement in Canada. That movement was born out of the Church's teachings on the dignity of every human person as a treasure made in the image and likeness of God and of our obligation to care for each other and to recognize the gift in each person."

As many of you know, columnist Bob Novak died a week ago after a long bout with brain cancer. I am so old I remember him from his early days when he co-authored a must-read political column with his beloved partner, Rowland Evans. Novak was passionate about his opinions, and equally passionate that they should be supported by old-fashioned reporting.

Last November he gave an engaging, thoughtful, and highly entertaining interview to Barbara Matusow of the Washingtonian magazine. She had spent time with Novak five years before and was nervous about approaching him when he was so gravely ill.

But the "Prince of Darkness" gave her "plenty of time in spite of his killer schedule and seemed utterly candid. No subject was off limits." Indeed, "Somewhat to my surprise, the scowling, sardonic columnist turned out to be a peach of a subject. Yet I couldn't shake the feeling that he was putting me on at times, making himself sound more misanthropic than he really was. I finally concluded that the pose -- Scrooge in a three-piece suit -- was manufactured to make him into a memorable TV personality, which it did."

From our single-issue perspective, the most interesting comment came near the two-thirds point of the interview. Matusow asked him, "You've had a chance to look back on your life and think about what you've done that was good and what was bad. What stands out?"

He responded, "When I started out, I didn't have any agenda or tablet of principles at all." Novak then went on to observe that when he and Rowland Evans "started the column, Rowly and I were neutral on abortion, maybe leaning toward pro-choice. I began to read, think about it, and by the time I embraced Catholicism, I was adamantly against abortion. I'm happy that I moved in that direction." As are we!

Reverence for Life, of course, is a principle that transcends all boundaries, religious or otherwise. We've known that from the beginning and it remains a source of immense importance to our Movement.

But it is no less true (to borrow from Cardinal O'Malley) that a church among whose core teachings is "the dignity of every human person as a treasure made in the image and likeness of God and of our obligation to care for each other and to recognize the gift in each person" is a faith community that will be second to none in its capacity to inspire its members to take up the cause of the least among us, our unborn brothers and sisters.

Part Two