DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN — Rose Diaz stood outside of an abortion clinic on DeKalb Avenue on Friday morning, Dec. 6, and prayed as she does almost every morning. Only this time, her prayers weren’t just for the unborn. She said her prayers were also dedicated to the late Msgr. Philip Reilly — her friend, mentor, and a pioneer of the national pro-life movement.
Msgr. Reilly, a retired priest of the Diocese of Brooklyn and the founder of the pro-life organization the Helpers of God’s Precious Infants, died on Nov. 30. He was 90.
Diaz and others have vowed to keep his pro-life legacy alive.
“I have so many blessed memories of him. He taught me so much, and we have to continue to fight,” Diaz said moments after finishing her prayer vigil outside of the abortion clinic. “It’s too important to stop. Babies are dying.”
Msgr. Reilly’s niece Susan Moore and her husband Kevin, who are active in the Helpers of God’s Precious Infants, said they will continue the mission. They are organizing a prayer procession and vigil that will be held on Saturday, Dec. 28, in Corona. Pro-life advocates will gather for Mass at Our Lady of Sorrows Church at 8 a.m. Following the Mass, participants will walk to a nearby abortion clinic, where they will stand outside and pray.
Msgr. Reilly’s record of pro-life advocacy stretched back decades. In the late 1960s, he lobbied lawmakers against legalizing abortion in New York State. When it ultimately happened in 1970, he organized protest demonstrations and lobbied state lawmakers to reconsider their decision.
Msgr. Reilly also helped organize the first National March for Life in 1974, which took place after the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision. Throughout the rest of the 1970s and much of the 1980s, he organized nightly prayer vigils during the March for Life in both the Diocese of Brooklyn and the Archdiocese of New York.
In 1988, Msgr. Reilly worked with the National Rescue Movement, a group that blocked the entrances to abortion clinics. A year later, he co-founded the Helpers of God’s Precious Infants, which employed a non-confrontational strategy when holding prayer vigils outside of abortion clinics.
“He was a man with tremendous foresight,” Kevin said. “Even as far back as the mid-1960s, he could see where the abortion fight was going, and then he saw that blocking the clinics and getting arrested was not working anymore, so he started holding prayer vigils. The vigils really touched people.”
What started as a handful of volunteers, the Helpers of God’s Precious Infants now has chapters in 40 states. Susan Moore said that growth is a testament to Msgr. Reilly’s efforts to include others in his work.
“One of the things that sticks out in my memory is that he never went and just did it. He went and taught other people to do it,” she said. “He gave people the confidence to go out there and do it themselves. You came to realize that one prayer, one person, is important because it’s a prayer that God is hearing.”
Prayer vigils were just one part of Msgr. Reilly’s mission. He also worked to connect mothers who chose life for their babies with organizations that could provide them with essentials like diapers, bottles, and baby clothes.
“He wasn’t just about praying for the unborn. He always told us to pray for the mothers, too,” recalled Fred Trabulsi, executive director of the Life Center of New York in Bay Ridge, who also noted that Msgr. Reilly was a devoted worker.
“He would be standing there outside an abortion mill praying, handing a rosary to anyone who wanted it, and talking to women to encourage them to have their baby,” Trabulsi said. “Then he would call us at the Life Center and say, ‘Listen, I have a young lady here. Please give her a call and see what you can do to help her.’ And we did.”
Msgr. Reilly was born and raised in Maspeth. He was ordained in 1960 and served in various parishes over the years, including St. Thomas More in Breezy Point and St. Teresa of Avila in South Ozone Park. For 19 years (1965-1984), he taught Latin at Cathedral Preparatory School and Seminary, where he was named the rector in 1984 — a position he held until 1991.
He then served as chaplain to the sisters at the Precious Blood Monastery in Borough Park for the next 28 years, from 1991 until his retirement in 2019.
Msgr. Reilly continues to inspire members of the pro-life movement. Diaz carries with her the message he gave to volunteers during some of the first prayer vigils of the Helpers of God’s Precious Infants.
“The pro-abortion people would be screaming at us, but he would always tell us to stay calm and just keep praying,” Diaz recalled. “He was truly a man of God.”
