Paul Benno Marx, OSB (May 8, 1920 – March 20, 2010) was an American Roman Catholic priest and Benedictine monk, family sociologist, writer, and one of the leaders of the anti-abortion movements. The monk was professed on 11 July 1942 and ordained on June 15, 1947. Marx started the Sociology Department at Saint John's University, Collegeville, Minnesota in 1957 and headed it as a department chair until 1970. Similarly, the sociologist was the driving force in creating the local universitarian ''Human Life Center'' (1972), furthermore the

anti-abortion Anti-abortion movements, also self-styled as pro-life or abolitionist movements, are involved in the abortion debate advocating against the practice of abortion and its legality. Many anti-abortion movements began as countermovements in respons ...

organizations '' Human Life International'' (HLI, 1981) and '' Population Research Institute'' (PRI, 1989).

Family

Benno William Marx was born in

St. Michael, Minnesota St. Michael is a city in eastern Wright County, northwest of the Minneapolis-St Paul "Twin Cities" Metropolitan Area. The population was 18,235 at the 2020 census. Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total a ...

. He was the fifteenth child of devoutly religious parents, George and Elizabeth, from the dairy farm where he was raised. There were thirteen girls and four boys (three children died in infancy) in the family.

Activism

Marx's book, ''The Death Peddlers: War on the Unborn'', belongs to the basic literature of the

movement. The Benedictine Father became a spiritual mentor for his successor at PRI,

Steven W. Mosher Steven Westley Mosher (born May 9, 1948) is an American social scientist, anti-abortion activist, neoconservative, anti-communist, and president of the Population Research Institute (PRI), which opposes population control and abortion. In the earl ...

. Retrieved January 16, 2022. Marx regularly edited material about natural family planning and led HLI until 1999. In 2007, he received HLI's Cardinal von Galen Award. Other recognitions gained by the monk of Saint John's Abbey, Collegeville include the Cardinal John J. O'Connor Pro-Life Award from ''Legatus'' (2003), ''Family Life Internationals "Faithful for Life Award" (2004) as well as PRI's Founder's Award.

Books

* ''The life and work of Virgil Michel''. Dissertation, Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 1957. * ''Virgil Michel And The Liturgical Movement''. Collegeville, Minnesota: Liturgical Press, 1957. * ''The Death Peddlers: War on the Unborn''. Front Royal, Virginia: HLI, reprint, 1998, . * ''Death without dignity: Killing for mercy''. Collegeville, Minnesota: Liturgical Press, 2nd edition, 1978, ; later in the modified version ''And Now Euthanasia'': HLI, 2nd edition, 1985. * ''Fighting for Life: The Further Journeys of Fr Paul Marx''. HLI, 1989, . * ''Confessions of a Profile Missionary: The Journeys of Fr. Paul Marx''. Gaithersburg, Maryland: HLI, 1988, . * ''The Apostle of Life''. HLI, 1990, . * ''The Flying Monk (Still Fighting for Life)''. HLI, 1990, . * ''The Warehouse Priest''. HLI, 1993, . * ''Faithful for Life''– autobiography. HLI, 1997, . * ''The Pro-Life Wisdom of Fr. Paul Marx: The Apostle of Life'' – a collection of comments. HLI, 2008, .

References

External links

PRI website: Our Founder: Fr. Paul Marx, O.S.B.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marx, Paul (monk) American Benedictines American nonprofit executives American anti-abortion activists American Roman Catholic priests American sociologists Benedictine monks Benedictine scholars College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University faculty Founders of academic institutions 1920 births 2010 deaths People from St. Michael, Minnesota Writers from Minnesota