Pro-life pioneer and political strategist Mike Schwartz succumbed to Lou Gehrig’s disease and passed from this life on February 3. His funeral is being held today.
I met Mike Schwartz back in the mid-1970’s, when he was working in Milwaukee for the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights. His boss was Fr. Virgil Blum, also a close friend of mine.
Mike and I spent time together working for the pro-life cause during his stay in Milwaukee, and I learned first-hand what a dedicated, loyal and faithful Catholic he was, as well as a fierce but gentle pro-life activist. I liked to call Mike, “an activist’s activist.”
When he moved to Washington I only saw him occasionally at meetings and rallies. But despite the fact that he went into politics, he never left his pro-life work. For one thing, Mike will always have the distinction of having helped hold a “sit in” at a hospital in Washington in l970, three years before the Supreme Court’s abortion rulings. I believe Mike saw it coming.
You will read much of Mike’s accomplishments, his carefully thought out plans for winning the war on the unborn—as well as a war on religious freedom. These eulogies will follow Mike’s career and review his accomplishments, and they will tell you much you should know about this hero.
But I just want people who didn’t know Mike well to understand that a truly good and holy man has left us. And I feel that a great, warm light has been turned off. We will all miss that light, and that gentle way he had of telling you he had a plan.
