The Bishop Writes

(From the Oct. 26, 2000 edition of the Inland Register)

It has become our custom in the Catholic Church to designate October as Respect Life month. The month is an annual opportunity to reflect upon the great gift of life. Just as important, we also have the opportunity to be advocates for life, to proclaim the life-giving message of the Gospel.

Pope John Paul II a few years ago issued an encyclical titled The Gospel of Life, a call for all of us to positively respect life and to build the culture of life in our society and world. He begins with the story of Cain and Abel in the book of Genesis. Cain, after killing his brother, was asked by God, “Where is your brother?”

Cain cynically responded, “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

The Holy Father clearly implies that we in the human family are indeed our sisters’ and brothers’ keepers.

In our tradition we strongly believe that every human life, from the moment of conception to natural death, is sacred. That is why we in the Church have consistently taken a strong stance with regard to the tragedy of abortion. Abortion is an act of oppression against one who has the right to live. In our tradition, reproductive rights do not trump the right to life of the unborn child.

Having said that, I also want to say immediately that there are those who regret bitterly decisions they have made in the past. The Church on behalf of Lord Jesus is always ready to express forgiveness and facilitate reconciliation, especially with oneself.

As a Church community we must also be about the business of searching out the root causes of the culture of death and help society enhance the culture of life. We need to identify those areas which dehumanize human beings and weaken the fabric of our culture. For example, women and children are clearly the most vulnerable in circumstances of poverty. We must continue to remind everyone of how interconnected we are in the human family. No act we commit is really solitary or private. Thats why you and I go to a representative of the community of faith to receive forgiveness in the sacrament of reconciliation.

The abortion pill, RU 486, is now available in this country so that the follow-through of a decision now takes place in the home rather than in an abortion clinic. As a Church and as individuals committed to respecting human life at its every stage, we must realize that the battle to create a culture of life primarily must be won not in the legislative assembly but in the human heart. As a state Catholic Conference director told me some months ago, the struggle with this issue doesn’t revolve so much around whether or not people consider the fetus to be human life. Rather the struggle is over the attitude that personal rights take precedence over another’s right to live. Obviously, there are many other complicating factors as well: fear, poverty, shame, coercion, abandonment, to mention a few.

We are God’s people. As people of God, we are stewards of our lives, of one another, and of the culture in which we live. There are those who attempt to depict our position in the Church as sinister, as dangerously radical, by saying our stance for life is a right-wing mentality. This becomes a challenge to continue the course of calling for respect for human life.

Fostering support for that life in our legislative work and advocacy has to be a continuing priority. All of us are aware of the erosion for the support for children in our society here in the United States. Today, in one of the strongest economies this country has ever experienced, approximately one in four of our preschool children grows up in poverty. We cannot allow that reality to stand. Obviously, the issues are complex, but they must be addressed.

Recently, all of us have heard the tragic stories coming out of Iraq — about the effect of sanctions, especially the toll which sanctions take upon families, mothers, and children. This, too, is an issue of respect for life. The most vulnerable can be victims of a failed diplomatic policy that does not touch the root of the problem. People are written off as expendable.

So we have the opportunity for much conversion of heart. We must continue to search for helpful and effective means of appreciating the dignity of all of human life. We must find more and better ways of being in greater solidarity with one another on this human journey. Especially, we must look deep into our own hearts to identify those attitudes which are contrary to Jesus command to love neighbor as ourselves. We as Church can make a difference — and have made a difference. May the Holy Spirit guide us with wisdom on this mission of strengthening and affirming the culture of life.

Much peace and many blessings upon all of you!

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