An interesting development out of the bishops’ meeting in Texas: a special new mass liturgy may be heading our way before long.

Take a look:

Nearly 20 years after Cardinal John O’Connor of New York suggested it, the U.S. bishops approved a Mass in Thanksgiving for the Gift of Human Life June 18 during their spring meeting in San Antonio.

The Mass was approved 183-2, with three abstentions. A second vote to add the text to the missal was 179-1, with one abstention. It now goes to the Vatican for “recognitio,” or confirmation.

The Mass requested by Cardinal O’Connor, who died in 2000, was first prepared in 1990 to be included in the Roman Missal. The text was approved by the Committee on the Liturgy and the bishops as a whole in 1992 and sent on to the Vatican for review the following year.

The Vatican Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments soon after expressed interest in the subject matter but said it was “a matter of universal concern” that required further study.

As Bishop Arthur J. Serratelli of Paterson, N.J., noted in his June 17 presentation of the text of the Mass, “no further response on the subject was ever received” from the congregation and there is no such text in the Latin version of the Roman Missal.

It occurs to me that a great patron saint for the unborn would be Cardinal O’Connor, whose Sisters of Life are also bearing wonderful witness to to the pro-life cause.