by Leela Ramdeen, Chair, CCSJ and Director, CREDI
“It is necessary that the whole of society defend the right to life.” Pope Benedict XVI (2011).
Tuesday, January 22, marked the 40th anniversary of Roe vs Wade, the US Supreme Court’s decision which legalised abortion throughout pregnancy in the USA. Priests for Life estimate that in the USA more than 53 million have been legally killed since 1973.
Statistics from the World Health Organisation show that “every year in the world an estimated 40-50 million women decide to have an abortion. This corresponds to approximately 125,000 abortions per day.”
Pope Benedict XVI’s words should lead us in prayer that God will touch the hearts of those who promote this culture of death. He said: “Every child…brings us God’s smile and invites us to recognise that life is His gift, a gift to be welcomed with love and preserved with care always and at every moment.”
The sanctity of all life and the dignity of each human person are the foundation upon which our Church’s social justice principles are based. During this Year of Faith, let us commit to pray and work incessantly for the right to life of our precious unborn, God’s gifts to us. Let us reach out to our pregnant girls/women and help them to have their babies and to look after them. Support the work of organisations such as Mary Care Centre (Tel – 622-5880), a sanctuary for young girls who are pregnant. The Centre was opened in 1980 by the late Archbishop Anthony Pantin. Parishes should also establish ministries to offer pastoral care/compassion for those who have had abortions. Help lead them to reconciliation. God is loving and forgiving.
Each of us has a duty to help develop our conscience and that of others so that we will discern and choose good and avoid evil. The Vatican has announced that June 16, 2013 will be a day dedicated to Blessed John Paul II’s encyclical, The Gospel of Life. Spend some time to read it. I offer the following extracts from it for reflection:
*“The Gospel of Life is at the heart of Jesus’ message. Lovingly received day after day by the Church, it is to be preached with dauntless fidelity as ‘good news’ to the people of every age and culture” (#1).
*“To all the members of the Church, the people of life and for life, I make this most urgent appeal, that together we may offer this world of ours new signs of hope, and work to ensure that justice and solidarity will increase and that a new culture of human life will be affirmed, for the building of an authentic civilisation of truth and love” (#6).
*“We are facing an enormous and dramatic clash between good and evil, death and life, the ‘culture of death’ and the ‘culture of life’. We find ourselves not only ‘faced with’ but necessarily ‘in the midst of’ this conflict: we are all involved and we all share in it, with the inescapable responsibility of choosing to be unconditionally pro-life” (#28).
*“The Gospel of Life is both a great gift of God and an exacting task for humanity…In giving life to man, God demands that he love, respect and promote life (#52) …human life, as a gift of God, is sacred and inviolable. For this reason procured abortion and euthanasia are absolutely unacceptable. Not only must human life not be taken, but it must be protected with loving concern…Respect for life requires that science and technology should always be at the service of man and his integral development. Society as a whole must respect, defend and promote the dignity of every human person, at every moment and in every condition of that person’s life” (#81).
*“A great prayer for life is urgently needed, a prayer which will rise up throughout the world…Let us…discover anew the humility and courage to pray and fast so that power from on high will break down the walls of lies and deceit: the walls which conceal from the sight of so many of our brothers and sisters the evil of practices and laws which are hostile to life. May this same power turn their hearts to resolutions and goals inspired by the civilisation of life and love” (#100).
*“It is impossible to further the common good without acknowledging and defending the right to life, upon which all the other inalienable rights of individuals are founded and from which they develop (#101). The Gospel of Life is for the whole of human society. To be actively pro-life is to contribute to the renewal of society through the promotion of the common good”(#101).
