DID YOU KNOW?
In their statement, A Culture of
Life and the Penalty of Death, the U.S. Catholic Bishops write: “The
question of the death penalty’s deterrence value remains unproven. States with
more executions do not generally have lower murder or crime rates.” The entire
statement may be found online at
www.usccb.org/sdwp/national/penaltyofdeath.pdf.
For further information, please
contact the diocesan Respect Life Department at (941) 484-9543.
Project Rachel – Struggling
after abortion? Project Rachel, a confidential healing ministry for women and
men who have been touched by abortion, can help. Call Project Rachel in Florida
toll free at 877-908-1212 or email
project.rachel@dioceseofvenice.org.
Prayer for the Helpless Unborn - Heavenly Father, in
Your love for us, protect against the wickedness of the devil, those helpless
little ones to whom You have given the gift of life. Touch with pity the hearts
of those women pregnant in our world today who are not thinking of motherhood.
Help them to see that the child they carry is made in Your image - as well as
theirs - made for eternal life. Dispel their fear and selfishness and give them
true womanly hearts to love their babies and give them birth and all the needed
care that a mother alone can give. We ask this through Jesus Christ, Your Son,
Our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever
and ever, Amen.
The Catholic Church has always condemned abortion as a grave
evil. Christian writers from the first-century author of the Didache to Pope
John Paul II in his encyclical Evangelium Vitae ("The Gospel of Life") have
maintained that the Bible forbids abortion, just as it forbids murder. This
tract will provide some examples of this consistent witness from the writings of
the Fathers of the Church.
As the early Christian writer Tertullian pointed out, the law of Moses ordered
strict penalties for causing an abortion. We read, "If men who are fighting hit
a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely [Hebrew: "so that her child
comes out"], but there is no serious injury, the offender must be fined whatever
the woman’s husband demands and the court allows. But if there is serious
injury, you are to take life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for
hand, foot for foot" (Ex. 21:22–24).
This applies the lex talionis or "law of retribution" to
abortion. The lex talionis establishes the just punishment for an injury (eye
for eye, tooth for tooth, life for life, compared to the much greater
retributions that had been common before, such as life for eye, life for tooth,
lives of the offender’s family for one life).
The lex talionis would already have been applied to a woman who was injured in a
fight. The distinguishing point in this passage is that a pregnant woman is hurt
"so that her child comes out"; the child is the focus of the lex talionis in
this passage. Aborted babies must have justice, too.
This is because they, like older children, have souls, even though marred by
original sin. David tells us, "Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the
time my mother conceived me" (Ps. 51:5, NIV). Since sinfulness is a spiritual
rather than a physical condition, David must have had a spiritual nature from
the time of conception.
The same is shown in James 2:26, which tells us that "the body without the
spirit is dead": The soul is the life-principle of the human body. Since from
the time of conception the child’s body is alive (as shown by the fact it is
growing), the child’s body must already have its spirit.
Thus, in 1995 Pope John Paul II declared that the Church’s teaching on abortion
"is unchanged and unchangeable. Therefore, by the authority which Christ
conferred upon Peter and his successors . . . I declare that direct abortion,
that is, abortion willed as an end or as a means, always constitutes a grave
moral disorder, since it is the deliberate killing of an innocent human being.
This doctrine is based upon the natural law and upon the written word of God, is
transmitted by the Church’s tradition and taught by the ordinary and universal
magisterium. No circumstance, no purpose, no law whatsoever can ever make licit
an act which is intrinsically illicit, since it is contrary to the law of God
which is written in every human heart, knowable by reason itself, and proclaimed
by the Church" (Evangelium Vitae 62).The early Church Fathers agreed.
Fortunately, abortion, like all sins, is forgivable; and forgiveness is as close
as the nearest confessional.
~ Phrases
to think about ~
The most important person on earth is a mother...she has built
something more magnificent than any cathedral - a dwelling for an immortal soul,
the tiny perfection of her baby’s body.
Abortion is not as safe as the pro-abortion forces would like for
you to believe. There are well documented studies which indicate that abortion
causes infection, hemorrhage, cervical tears, perforation of the uterus and
other organs, sterility, breast cancer and death; this is just the mother’s
risk, Death always occurs to the baby!
Personal rights should end when exercise of them leads to
endangering one’s own life or the lives of others; for example, drunk driving,
drug addiction, murder, rape and abortion.
Would that we, the children of light, were as industrious as the
children of darkness. That is the challenge. For too long we have been silent,
taught by our culture that faith is a private thing. It is time that we step
forward and be witnesses to the truth in everything we do. We must speak out
against abortion.
Abortion is a tragic mistake for all involved. The consequences on family
relationships can be far-reaching and quite destructive. Yet there is nothing
beyond God’s capacity to heal and forgive.
In America’s death camps (abortuaries) dehumanizing terms are
often used to describe a pregnancy, thereby desensitizing the public about
abortion; terms like “unseen infection”, “a cancerous growth”, and the
“termination of a pregnancy”. The language and action of abortion is evil.
Abortion is justified by claiming the killing of babies is “safe
and legal”. An abortionist and clinic owner said, “I just go by what the courts
say. I only do what’s legal.” These were the same justifications used by
“doctors” who participated in the massacre of millions at Auschwitz. Evil
doesn’t change.
Abortion is a problem for every one of us; we are all one big
family. Nobody can be neutral on abortion; it involves the destruction of an
entire group of human beings! Just as we cannot be indifferent to the killing of
a newborn baby, so we cannot be indifferent to the killing of a pre-born baby.
We all share the responsibility for people who are in danger. Injustice to any
person in this world is in justice to all!
How can we de-fund the multi-million dollar big abortion
industry? Our elected officials are public servants, not kings and queens.
Unless we make demands, they will assume that the pro-death side speaks for us.
We cannot and must not remain silent. As children of God, we vote for moral,
pro-life politicians at all levels of government.
Nationally, Planned Parenthood receives an average of more than
180,000,000 of our tax dollars each year. Their net assets are in the hundreds
of millions of dollars. All that money setting in their coffers of the purpose
of killing babies and yet P.P. continues to demand more money form Congress.
Each child is sent into this world by God with a unique message to deliver, a
new song to sing, a personal act of love to bestow. Abortion destroys God’s plan
for that child to affect the world.
"A nation which
kills its own children is a nation without
a future."
- Pope John Paul II
"If we
remember that God loves us, and that we can love
others as He loves us, then America can become a sign of
peace for the world. If you become a burning light of
justice and peace in the world, then really you will be
true to what the founders of this country stand for."
- Mother
Teresa of Calcutta
That slippery slope we heard about is
here. RU486, the human pesticide, is increasingly available in western
nations. Euthanasia is legal in some nations and “assisted suicide” is
protected by law in Oregon and could spread across the. Nation. This movement
cloaks its embrace of death by calling it “good death” or “pleasant death.” It
turns doctors and friends into killers. Think not? It happened to Terri
Schiavo.
I wasn’t told that after having
an abortion an unbelievable self-hatred would consume me and lead to distrust,
suspicion and the utter inability to care about myself or others, including my
four children. I wasn’t told that hearing babies cry would trigger such anger
that I wouldn’t be able to be around babies at all.” (Words from a mother who
aborted). Pray for those who have had an abortion.
Certainly we are called to work for the Kingdom of God with all our heart,
soul, mind and strength. Certainly we are to live the Gospel of Life.
Certainly we are to "stir into flame the gift God gave us". But in the
end, this great work of defending human life is not our work: it is the
work of God! We must pray as we never have before --
We pray for our President, members of Congress,
and the Supreme Court, that they might renounce the death of the unborn, and
imbue within our laws respect for all life from conception to natural death.
We pray for medical researchers, that they may be
inspired and strengthened by a love for every human person, from the first
moment of conception. We
pray for all who have grown very old that we might cherish their presence in our
midst and drink deeply of their wisdom.
We pray for those who pray before abortion
clinics, who march for life, or who witness to the rights of all human beings:
that God might strengthen and guide them.
We pray for a spirit of repentance and
conversion, that the culture of death may be defeated by the power of the Cross
of Jesus. We pray for
the families of those condemned to die: that the hope of the resurrection
and the truth of the Gospel of life might strengthen them in their time of need.
God, give us the patient endurance to carry on!
Give us the hope to know You will win the victory! And give us the faith
to trust only in You, the Author and Keeper of the Gospel of Life.
Dr. Albert Bajohr and Mr. Norbert Walz are our Respect Life
co-representatives and represent St. Catherine Parish in our diocese. For
more information, you may call the parish office at (863)385-0049. |
