I begin by noting that on the one hand many Catholics and other Christians are working for the conversion of the world to Christ whilst paying little or no attention to the fate of unborn children, whilst on the other hand many pro-lifers are doing all they can for unborn children whilst having no official policy about converting the world to Christ.
And so priests offer Holy Mass, preach, educate the young, prepare people for and celebrate the sacraments, visit the sick, visit the imprisoned, organise all manner of parochial and diocesan activities, but somehow pay little attention to the plight of the baby. The priests' flocks join in the various initiatives and the result can be considerable apostolic activity - but somehow the baby is omitted.
(I believe that the thinking in this kind of situation is as follows: - there are many sins and we are against them all! Abortion is just another sin, lamentable, regrettable and to be stopped but unlikely to end in this present age. There have always been sins, there will always be sins, we will oppose them all, but sins, including abortion, will continue to the end of time. We will occasionally mention this particular sin but with no great expectation of real success.)
Pro-lifers give their attention specifically and explicitly to the protection of the baby. They have a clear grasp of the value of every unborn child, acutely aware that each is made in the image of God. Accordingly they seek to challenge the conscience of society. They write letters to people in ecclesiastical or civil authority, march in the streets, distribute leaflets explaining the development of the baby before birth and the horror of its destruction by abortion before birth. They lobby those in civil authority in their parliaments and their congresses and state legislatures. Pro-lifers organise counselling services for women in pregnancy and in distress. They go - though not in sufficient numbers - to the slaughter houses themselves and try to persuade the girls to accept the right kind of help, also blockading the entrances so that the mothers have to take time to think again even if they are very reluctant to do so.
All this is an apostolic work but like the clergy pro-lifers too can be guilty of serious omissions. Pro-life literature often falls short of the standards and preaching of the Sermon on the Mount, and of catholic standards as set out in the recent great encyclicals Evangelium Vitae, Veritatis Splendor and of course the Catechism of the Catholic Church. And so pro-lifers will propose compromises in politics as the starting point of their campaign. With total defeatism, they refuse to ask for the commandment "Thou shalt not kill" in all its simplicity and magnitude. Instead they preach "Thou shalt not kill babies who are older than eighteen weeks' gestation". "Thou shalt not kill the baby if he or she is deemed to be viable". "Thou shalt not kill for minor reasons of convenience but only for grave reasons concerning the life and health of the mother", "Thou shalt give an anaesthetic before murdering a baby". Compromise at the very beginning! The Holy Father has written on the matter in the encyclical "Evangelium Vitae" and has laid down, thank God, that politicians may accept compromises if they have made their position absolutely clear on where they really stand - namely for the protection of all - and if they believe that they cannot get all they want at the moment and have some prospect of saving some lives or improving the climate of opinion by voting for the compromise.
The Holy Father's position is light years from failure to announce where you stand, failure to announce where you are going, and adopting compromise even before the opposition has begun to amend a bill on its way through Parliament. There was no such compromise in the Sermon on the Mount and there is no such compromise in any ecclesiastical teaching. We must make it clear to the world where we stand, what we are going for, and what we are asking. Indeed the long delays in achieving even a few crumbs - which are all that some pro-lifers have been prepared to ask - make it all the more obvious that our message should be loud and clear and we should be taking our position on the solid indestructible platform on which we truly stand which is that all babies have the right to life from Almighty God from the moment of conception i.e. fertilisation.
Compromise Goes Further.
Catholic and therefore Christian morality are often ignored by pro-life groups. How many pro-life groups fail to take a stand on fornication, adultery, contraception, divorce, homosexuality, or embryo manufacture (as distinct from experimentation)? How often counselling services run into the error of non-directional counselling, which is a contradiction in terms?
The lack of a policy can have even further catastrophic consequences, even to pro-life groups having no position on Almighty God Himself, on Father, Son or Holy Spirit. This happens even although the vast majority of those working with particular pro-life groups are Catholic or other denomination of Christian. This is all a clear misunderstanding of sound principles of ecumenism.
Shall the Twain Meet?
Can we unite those who are converting the world and ignoring the baby with those who are all-out for the baby but have no clear policy on the conversion of the world? I believe we can and must and Evangelium Vitae shows us how to do so. It does so firstly in its very title. Those who preach the Gospel must preach the Gospel of Life and those who work for life must make it the Gospel of Life. All of us have to be intent on conversion - - the conversion of the world.
Conversion to what? What does conversion mean if we are not clear on what we want conversion to? Are we afraid to think through where we are going? Are we convinced that we must keep it a big secret where we are going?
These questions can be answered sensibly. Where we are going is conversion in the proper sense of persuading people to accept the abundant riches of Christ. Conversion must not be misunderstood as some kind of domination. It must not be seen as some kind of triumph over those who have so long been wrong and have now been persuaded to admit their errors and join those who were right all the time. That kind of thinking has given conversion in the form of its Greek synonym proselytisation a bad press. We do seek to proselytise. We do seek to convert but that means that we seek to pass on to others, to the whole human family, the wonderful riches we have received from Christ the Son of God Himself. Our attitude in converting is that we want to share with others the abundant Divine gifts, including the wonderful gift of respect for human life, which we are privileged to enjoy.
What do those who concern themselves with parochial and diocesan affairs have to add to their ministry? One can put forward a considerable catalogue. The following list for priests is based on suggestions given me by a young Kenyan journalist:
(a) Offer Holy Mass regularly for the pro-life cause, and publicise the intention.
(b) Form a pro-life prayer group in the parish.
(c) Arrange pro-life devotions, such as Holy Hours, Rosaries, Stations of Cross, in reparation for the crime of abortion.
(d) Preach on abortion, not omitting suggestions on what to do about it.
(e) Include abortion in the Prayers of the Faithful regularly on Sundays.
(f) Put the above and other pro-life activities in the parish bulletin.
(g) Present pro-life topics in Bible Study groups, parish meetings, marriage preparation, etc.
(h) Invite pro-life speakers to address the parish.
(i) Have special educational meetings, with speakers, videos, literature.
(j) Keep good pro-life literature on the porch pamphlet rack.
(k) Put up pro-life posters.
(l) Set up a permanent pro-life sign on the property, e.g. large picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
(m) Encourage teachers to arrange pro-life essay and other competitions for pupils.
(n) Publicise sound caring groups offering practical alternatives to abortion.
(o) Have information available on post-abortion counselling
(p) Bring people out for a life chain or witness at a slaughter house.
(q) Establish an independent parish pro-life committee to assist with the above.
(r) Read up on sound pro-life literature.
(s) Promote special parish days of prayer and penance to end abortion.
(t) Establish a parish pro-life newsletter.
(u) Raise the cause of the babies at clergy meetings. What is the diocesan policy? Is it in full harmony with Evangelium Vitae? Is the diocese delegating to secular groups the work she should be doing herself?
(v) Arrange a blockade of a slaughter house so that babies cannot go in to be butchered or mothers to be maimed.
How have pro-lifers to develop their work and their thinking to become 100% apostles instead of what you might call partial apostles preaching only one small part of the Gospel and with no official views on any of the rest? They have to decide first of all what kind of world they are going for. Is it a big secret the kind of world they really want or are they prepared to admit that they want God's world? Is it even feasible to be genuinely working for the world that Jesus asked us to form when He said "Make disciples of all nations" and yet keep our intentions a secret? I submit that it is not. We must be clear that we are seeking the world that Jesus came to form. We are seeking to respond to all his commandments. We are seeking the world that He began to establish when He formed the Church and gave Peter authority over it.
I submit furthermore that not only can we not keep it a secret that this is the world we want but also that there is no other world which pro-lifers should be aiming for. Do we want to establish an atheistic world where babies are fully protected? That is not possible because atheism does not have the intellectual, philosophical capacity to ground love of neighbour as oneself even to the point of giving one's life for one's friend. The consistent atheist must not give his or her life for an unborn child. When the really hard case presents itself and the mother is invited to risk her life (as happened with Blessed Gianna Molla) for the sake of her child, the consistent atheist should say "no". I am not saying that all atheists are consistent. I am not saying that all who claim to be atheists are genuinely so. I am simply saying that in a world of consistent atheism one should look after oneself, get as much power and enjoyment as possible, commit euthanasia when things are getting rough and in the meantime let the weakest go to the wall. An atheistic world cannot ground the full protection of unborn children.
I submit indeed that only in a truly one hundred per cent Christian world can the babies be completely safe. Obviously I am convinced that that world must be Catholic. Whilst small evangelical units have distinguished themselves in standing up for the babies and against immorality, the turmoil among non-Catholic Christians is all too obvious and the failure of the Anglican Church in Britain to stand up for unborn children is lamentable. Our Eastern Orthodox brethren have of course a better record in their official teaching but their weakness under totalitarianism saw Russia become the abortion monster of the world before being overtaken by the west.
The Catholic Church, enjoying the fullness of Divine Revelation, has, despite the many failings of her children, continued to hold fast to the truth, and must always do so. The outstanding pro-life figure in our times is Pope John Paul Il. It is his leadership that has kept the Catholic Church together and made her witness to the unborn pre-eminent. Indeed I would warmly invite pro-lifers of other Christian denominations to consider if Divine Providence is not making it clear that the whole world needs the Pope.
Furthermore those various non-Christian religions which do not have a clear understanding of forgiveness cannot keep the babies completely safe. Where a mother is liable to penalties including execution, e.g. by stoning for adultery, the baby in her womb can be in great danger. Those who will commit themselves to the protection of the baby have to understand divine forgiveness. They have to be prepared to forgive those who have done wrong if they are sorry. Those who through sin have conceived must be invited to repentance and to seek man's forgiveness as well as God's. God's forgiveness is always waiting: man's must
also be on offer.
Now let us consider how each branch of sound pro-life activity can easily be an opportunity for conversion.
At the slaughter house we are attempting to save both baby and mother by offering God's gifts. We ask the mother to recognise the gift of life that she has, the gift of fertility that she has, the gift of a son or daughter she has. We ask her to recognise that the gift of life comes from Almighty God and is to be cared for in accordance with His designs. Her turn-around at the slaughter-house door will be the beginning of her conversion, an acceptance of God's gift. We will gladly lavish more upon her if we can.
Similarly we are offering the gift of life, of forgiveness, of purpose in life, of God's salvific grace, to those who work in the slaughter-houses, those who go in and out there for any purpose, those who supply services there, those who take mothers there. We are there for conversion properly understood as distributing God's gifts to those who will receive them.
In the counselling services it is a great gift to understand and offer Catholic teaching on the unity and indissolubility of marriage, the error of fornication and adultery, the poison of contraception, the perversion of homosexuality, the rights of the baby immediately from conception to be a child of two loving parents and not the object of a scientific enterprise in a laboratory. We have all these gifts and must be ready to offer them and make no secret that they are available to those who are in any way prepared to receive them. Jesus did not hesitate to offer his gifts to the Pharisees even although only a few like Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus in fact were willing to accept.
A pro-lifer has these gifts to offer in lecturing in schools. It is a capital error to speak in schools about the development of the baby and the abomination of its destruction before birth and say nothing about unsound sex education - almost all of it is unsound - and nothing about the calamity of sex outside of marriage or infidelity within, and the calamity still more fundamental of not knowing where you came from in this world or where you are going. Give the whole message. Preach it from the roof-tops. As the Holy Father said at the World Youth Conference, Denver, Colorado, 'This is not a time to be ashamed of the Gospel, it is a time to preach it from the rooftops".
We must offer these gifts to politicians as we lobby them in their chambers. Their problem is often unconfessed atheism. Challenge it. And offer the real pro-life message, not a truncated version.
Let me deal with the problem of those who offer half-way houses to the politicians instead of the full wealth of the Gospel. This has become in Britain a case of asking the politicians for only a few crumbs - with disastrous consequences. Now as a result of the main political lobbying in Britain the last state is considerably worse than the first. I have no trouble whatsoever in public debating because I take my stand on the firm rock of the full teaching of the Catholic Church, and on the firm rock of the sacredness of all unborn children from the moment of conception. In the British Parliament those who stand up accordingly will no doubt be derided by their opposition as being unpolitical but they will not be refuted - they cannot be.
A common answer to this kind of argument is that there is no point in preaching God to the deeply ingrained pagans of much of British society. This is untrue. The pagans need to hear about God. The pagans too can be brought to understand the nonsense of atheism, the unproven claims of Darwinism, the absurdity of the idea that the world could make itself and organise itself and look after itself. We have to study all these matters, present the nonsense of atheism clearly to those who would subscribe to it, repudiate those who try with similar absurdity to maintain that religion is a matter of personal taste to be kept and adhered to entirely in private. These people must be challenged to recognise the good God who made us all. In any case as I have said, atheism cannot be the ground of our work. So long as you are confronting an atheist you are confronting someone who cannot have any ultimate motivation for protecting unborn children. And if you fail and leave him to make exceptions for extreme cases, the thin end of the wedge is under the door and before long coach and horses will drive through as well. That has been our experience throughout this battle in the U.K.
A Spiritual Battle.
The pro-life effort is a spiritual battle. Because it is a battle we must be active, not only contemplative. Because it is spiritual we must use all the spiritual weapons we can get. Catholics should aim to participate in Holy Mass and receive Holy Communion every day if at all possible. They should say the Rosary. They should repent of their own sins, and confess and do penance. They should think of every deliberate sin as an obstacle to the conversion of the world, and realise that so long as the world remains unconverted babies pay for it with their lives.
Pro-lifers have no business to undermine and denigrate the work of the rescuers. On the contrary they should give rescuers every assistance, and even join in if they can justify in conscience running the attendant risks. Rescuers offer the Church and the world a practical way forward for the pro-life movement. Everything else has failed. Rescuing is always a success - it always at least delays the executions. But it is a limited success because of the lack of support.
If you have a chance to save a baby today will you pass it up because people tell you you might conceivably save more tomorrow if you restrain yourself and don't bring the movement into disrepute? The movement was never popular, and many tomorrows have passed since that argument was first advanced. It is not for nothing that the Holy Father holds up to our admiration the Hebrew midwives who feared God and disobeyed Pharaoh.
And how much should the Catholic Church be prepared to sacrifice for a baby's life? £5? £10? £1000? £1 000 000? All the Churches and other Church buildings in your diocese? What is your price? By the Sea of Galilee the Church had nothing but the Good News - the Gospel of Life. Shall she now keep the material possessions she has since acquired and abandon her principle?
Conclusion.
All Christians have to be pro-life apostles, all pro-lifers must be Christian evangelists. We all have to convert the world. Our conversion work must be baby-orientated. We seek to save the babies, and we seek to convert all those who would ignore or afflict them.
Rev. James Morrow, Humanae Vitae House, Braemar, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, AB35 5YT.
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