|
As Catholics, we should not be
surprised by these developments.
Forty years ago, Pope Paul VI
predicted that widespread use of
artificial contraceptives would lead
to increased marital infidelity,
lessened regard for women, and a
general lowering of moral standards
especially among the young. Forty
years later, social scientists, not
necessarily Catholics, attest to the
accuracy of his predictions. As if
following some bizarre script, the
sexual revolution has produced
widespread marital breakdown,
weakened family ties, legalized
abortion, sexually transmitted
diseases, pornography, same-sex
unions, euthanasia, destruction of
human embryos for research purposes
and a host of other ills.
It is impossible for me to
answer all of the objections to the
Church’s teaching on life that we
hear every day in the media.
Nevertheless, let me address a few.
To begin, laws that protect abortion
constitute injustice of the worst
kind. They rest on several false
claims including that there is no
certainty regarding when life
begins, that there is no certainty
about when a fetus becomes a person,
and that some human beings may be
killed to advance the interests or
convenience of others. With regard
to the first, reason and science
have answered the question. The life
of a human being begins at
conception. The Church has long
taught this simple truth, and
science confirms it. Biologists can
now show you the delicate and
beautiful development of the human
embryo in its first days of
existence. This is simply a fact
that reasonable people accept.
Regarding the second, the embryo and
the fetus have the potential to do
all that an adult person does.
Finally, the claim that the human
fetus may be sacrificed to the
interests or convenience of his
mother or someone else is grievously
wrong. All three claims have the
same result: the weakest and most
vulnerable are denied, because of
their age, the most basic protection
that we demand for ourselves. This
is discrimination at its worst, and
no person of conscience should
support it.
Another argument goes like this: “As
wrong as abortion is, I don't think
it is the only relevant ‘life’ issue
that should be considered when
deciding for whom to vote.” This
reasoning is sound only if other
issues carry the same moral weight
as abortion does, such as in the
case of euthanasia and destruction
of embryos for research purposes.
Health care, education, economic
security, immigration, and taxes are
very important concerns. Neglect of
any one of them has dire
consequences as the recent financial
crisis demonstrates. However, the
solutions to problems in these areas
do not usually involve a rejection
of the sanctity of human life in the
way that abortion does.
Being “right” on taxes, education,
health care, immigration, and the
economy fails to make up for the
error of disregarding the value of a
human life. Consider this: the
finest health and education systems,
the fairest immigration laws, and
the soundest economy do nothing for
the child who never sees the light
of day. It is a tragic irony that
“pro-choice” candidates
have come to support homicide – the
gravest injustice a society can
tolerate – in the name of “social
justice.”
Even the Church’s just war theory
has moral force because it is
grounded in the principle that
innocent human life must be
protected and defended. Now, a
person may, in good faith, misapply
just war criteria leading him to
mistakenly believe that an unjust
war is just, but he or she still
knows that innocent human life may
not be harmed on purpose. A person
who supports permissive abortion
laws, however, rejects the truth
that innocent human life may never
be destroyed. This profound moral
failure runs deeper and is more
corrupting of the individual, and of
the society, than any error in
applying just war criteria to
particular cases.
Furthermore, National Right to Life
reports that 48.5 million abortions
have been performed since 1973. One
would be too many. No war, no
natural disaster, no illness or
disability has claimed so great a
price.
In saying these things in an election year, I am
in very good company. My
predecessor, Bishop Timlin, writing
his pastoral letter on Respect Life
Sunday 2000, stated the case
eloquently:
Abortion is the issue this year and every
year in every campaign. Catholics
may not turn away from the moral
challenge that abortion poses for
those who seek to obey God’s
commands. They are wrong when they
assert that abortion does not
concern them, or that it is only one
of a multitude of issues of equal
importance. No, the taking of
innocent human life is so heinous,
so horribly evil, and so absolutely
opposite to the law of Almighty God
that abortion must take precedence
over every other issue. I repeat. It
is the single most important issue
confronting not only Catholics, but
the entire electorate.
My fellow bishops, writing ten years ago,
explained why some evils – abortion
and euthanasia in particular – take
precedence over other forms of
violence and abuse.
The failure to protect life in its
most vulnerable stages renders
suspect any claims to the
‘rightness’ of positions in other
matters affecting the poorest and
least powerful of the human
community. If we understand the
human person as ‘the temple of the
Holy Spirit’ – the living house of
God – then these latter issues fall
logically into place as the
crossbeams and walls of that house.
All direct attacks on innocent
human life, such as abortion and
euthanasia, strike at the house’s
foundation [emphasis in the
original]. These directly and
immediately violate the human
person’s most fundamental right –
the right to life. Neglect of these
issues is the equivalent of building
our house on sand. Living the
Gospel of Life: A Challenge to
American Catholics, 23.
While the Church assists the State
in the promotion of a just society,
its primary concern is to assist men
and women in achieving salvation.
For this reason, it is incumbent
upon bishops to correct Catholics
who are in error regarding these
matters. Furthermore, public
officials who are Catholic and who
persist in public support for
abortion and other intrinsic evils
should not partake in or be admitted
to the sacrament of Holy Communion.
As I have said before, I will be
vigilant on this subject.
It is the Church’s role now to be a
prophet in our own country,
reminding all citizens of what our
founders meant when they said that
“. . . all men are created equal,
that they are endowed by their
Creator with certain unalienable
Rights, that among these are Life,
Liberty, and the pursuit of
Happiness.” The Church’s teaching
that all life from conception to
natural death should be protected by
law is founded on religious belief
to be sure, but it is also a
profoundly American principle
founded on reason. Whenever a
society asks its citizens to violate
its own foundational principles – as
well as their moral consciences –
citizens have a right, indeed an
obligation, to refuse.
In 1941, Bishop Gustave von Galen gave a
homily condemning Nazi officials for
murdering mentally ill people in his
diocese of Muenster, Germany. The
bishop said:
“Thou shalt not kill!” God wrote this
commandment in the conscience of man
long before any penal code laid down
the penalty for murder, long before
there was any prosecutor or any
court to investigate and avenge a
murder. Cain, who killed his brother
Abel, was a murderer long before
there were any states or any courts
or law. And he confessed his deed,
driven by his accusing conscience:
“My punishment is greater than I can
bear. . . and it shall come to pass,
that every one that findeth me the
murderer shall slay me” (Genesis
4:13-14)”
Should he have opposed the war and remained silent about
the murder of the mentally ill? No
person of conscience can fail to
understand why Bishop von Galen
spoke as he did.
My dear friends, I beg you not to be
misled by confusion and lies. Our
Lord, Jesus Christ, does not ask us
to follow him to Calvary only for us
to be afraid of contradicting a few
bystanders along the way. He does
not ask us to take up his Cross only
to have us leave it at the voting
booth door. Recently, Pope Benedict
XVI said that “God is so humble that
he uses us to spread his Word.” The
gospel of life, which we have the
privilege of proclaiming, resonates
in the heart of every person –
believer and non-believer – because
it fulfills the heart’s most
profound desire. Let us with one
voice continue to speak the language
of love and affirm the right of
every human being to have the value
of his or her life, from conception
to natural death, respected to the
highest degree.
October is traditionally the month of the
Rosary. Let us pray the Rosary for
the strength and fortitude to uphold
the truths of our faith and the
requirements of our law to all who
deny them. And, let us ask Our Lady
to bless our nation and the weakest
among us.
May Mary, the mother of Jesus, the Lord of Life,
pray for us.
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Most Reverend Joseph F. Martino, D.D., Hist. E.D.
Bishop of Scranton
Encyclical
Letter on the Value and
Inviolability of Human Life
His Holiness Pope John Paul II
March 25, 1995
|
