Watch the miracle of conception and early life

Thanks to Les Whittaker of the East Grinstead "Gospel of Life" group for sending me this amazing video.  It is a medical visualisation of conception and the development of the foetus in the womb, based on MRI scans.  Watch it and be amazed at the miracle which is the development of human life from its earliest single-cell beginning to an intricate and complex intelligent being - all before birth!  The most complicated parts of this development happen in the first few weeks. 

The human being is a precious marvel from his/her earliest days and worthy of all the respect and protection we can offer him.

Back to Basics 2: Catholic Marriage (1)

When my husband Edek and I were engaged, I – a non-Catholic at the time – was given a book called How to Survive being Married to a Catholic.  It set the fundamental teachings of the Church on matrimony out in cartoon strip form and was rather funny as well as very useful.  The page on sex, I remember, began with a cartoon depicting a grim-looking Bishop pointing his crozier in rather threatening fashion at a romantic couple below.  He was perched high atop towering words which read, “NO YOU CAN’T”. 

 

“NO YOU CAN’T” does rather sum up the impression many both inside and outside the Church have of Catholic teaching on sex and marriage, especially just now with gay partnerships so much in the news.  However, the boundaries that the Church places on sexual relationships arise out of the desire to protect something beautiful, meaningful and overwhelmingly positive.  May I suggest an exploration of the Church’s great big “YES!” to the beauty of human sexual love, taking the quotation below as our starting point.  
 

It’s too big a topic to cover in one go, though, so will be covered in a trinity of posts (fittingly enough really, as we shall see...)

The matrimonial covenant, by which a man and a woman establish between themselves a partnership of the whole of life, is by its nature ordered toward the good of the spouses and the procreation and education of offspring; this covenant between baptised persons has been raised by Christ the Lord to the dignity of a sacrament.  (Catechism of the Catholic Church 1601)

'TIL DEATH DO US PART

"The matrimonial covenant..."

The rate of change of modern life can be frightening at times.  It’s not just that we’re advancing so rapidly in technological terms: that in and of itself is a value-free thing which can be turned to good or bad according to the use we make of it.  However, it seems that our approach to every aspect of life has become transitory, marked by impermanence, the desire for change, a mistrust of commitment, a valuing of some nebulous concept we call “progress” at the expense of tradition.  The way we view relationships is no exception.  We cohabit, we expect easy access to divorce; increasingly, children live in single parent families or households where one partner is not their natural parent.  “If it breaks, rather than try to fix it we dispose of it and get a new one” doesn’t just apply to our treatment of toys, socks or computers.

Marriage, in the eyes of the Church, is a covenant.  It is a binding partnership which two parties, the man and the woman, make together in clear recognition that amongst its terms is that of indissolubility – for better, for worse.  Why would two people do that?  Because they recognise that permanence and stability are the only conditions in which love can flourish.  Where the cold winds of conditionality blow, the seedling plant of human love dares not grow and bloom.  “Accept me for who I am” is the clarion call of many these days – well, Catholic marriage is the ultimate manifestation of this desire, a promise of permanent acceptance, even if you mess up or get wrinkly.

That’s exactly the type of relationship that God has had with His people from the very beginning.  The history of humankind as related in the Old Testament is a series of Covenants, made by God so that His people could live in close relationship with Him.  It’s exactly the type of relationship Jesus came to reaffirm and secure when He established the "New Covenant in His blood" - and that's the reason why marriage reflects the union of Christ with His bride, the Church, and with every human soul.  As the Catechism says, 

         Seeing God’s covenant with Israel in the image of exclusive and faithful married love, the prophets prepared the Chosen People’s conscience for a deepened understanding of the unity and indissolubility of marriage.  The books of Ruth and Tobit bear moving witness to an elevated sense of marriage, and to the fidelity and tenderness of spouses.  Tradition has always seen in the Song of Solomon a unique expression of human love, a pure reflection of God’s love – a love “strong as death” that “many waters cannot quench”.  (CCC 1611)

 

Christ Himself affirms this in Matthew 19:8 when he “unequivocally taught the original meaning of the union of man and woman as the Creator willed it from the beginning: permission given by Moses to divorce one’s wife was a concession to the hardness of hearts” (CCC 1614).

God’s in it for the long run with each of us, just as he was with Israel throughout its chequered history.  He asks us to be in it for the long run with each other.

“...by which a man and a woman establish between themselves a partnership of the whole of life...”
 

That’s all very well for God, you might say.  I’m only human and there’s only so much I can or think I should put up with.  (Before going on, it should be said that, of course, in cases of physical or mental abuse this is true and no-one should be asked to remain under the same roof as a spouse who, for example, beats them.)

Such cases aside, marriage does demand it all.  All of you, all of your love.  All your patience, tolerance and forgiveness. It’s because marriage demands it all that it is so wonderful and beautiful, such an unparalleled opportunity for growth and fulfilment as a human being.  “No pain, no gain” does not apply just to the gym.  Push your capacity for virtue and see how your moral muscle power and your heart's ability to pump out love both grow!

We all have bad days... wish I looked
this good when I was having one

God’s nuptial covenant with us brought Him to earth to suffer and die on the Cross so that He and we might enjoy each other in love for all eternity; similarly, married love is sacrificial.  Good marriages work so well because the sacrifice is mutual – the spouses, as encouraged by St Paul, “submit to one another out of reverence for Christ” (Eph 5:21).  I don’t need to detail how one makes those sacrifices; big and little, they are called for every day. 

It can help to avoid two traps.  One: you are not two people living under the same roof; you are “one flesh” and each other’s priority (even when there are children on the scene).  Making that a lived reality rather than a pretty idea requires effort.  Two: don’t even vaguely hope for perfection.  God wants you to try for perfection, He helps you get closer to it, but He doesn’t send you packing because you haven't attained it yet.  Give your spouse the same leeway!

 

“... this covenant between baptised persons has been raised by Christ the Lord to the dignity of a sacrament....”

The disciples muttered and murmured amongst themselves when Jesus gave them the news that from here on in, marriage was forever.  It’d be better not to go near a woman in the first place, they decided.  However they were not allowing for the Jesus Factor.  Many engaged couples are told on marriage preparation courses that Jesus is the third person in their marriage.  Through Him, they receive what is known as a “grace of state” – supernatural aid to help them fulfil their vows.  The Catechism puts it beautifully,

          ...Jesus has not placed on spouses a burden impossible to bear, or too heavy – heavier than the Law of Moses.  By coming to restore the original order of creation disturbed by sin, he himself gives the strength and grace to live marriage in the new dimension of the Reign of God.  It is by following Christ, renouncing themselves, and taking up their crosses that spouses will be able to ‘receive’ the original meaning of marriage and live it with the help of Christ.  This grace of Christian marriage is a fruit of Christ’s cross, the source of all Christian life. (CCC 1615)

 

It’s this presence of Christ in marriage that the Church has recognised in instituting it as a sacrament.  That is, like Baptism or Holy Communion, marriage is a vehicle of God's "grace" or life-changing power. It’s the one sacrament which the Latin Church does not bestow via an ordained minister; the man and woman confer it upon each other, with the minister there as witness on behalf of the Christian community (see CCC 1623).  It has to be bestowed with the free consent of both parties, and we’ll look at that in a further post.

Christians are ambitious for their marriages.  Man and wife, they are working together for a great and glorious ideal – to reflect in the world the love of God for humankind, of Christ for His Church and for every soul.  Together they aspire to offer themselves as a joint vessel of the grace and goodness of the Lord, a sacramental chalice of the Lord’s blood “poured out for many”.  That’s an ambition to make every other goal pale by comparison. 

As a married couple, you form the fabric of a living breathing sacrament.  You are a means through which God acts in the world. Next time you hold your spouse, then, remember how precious, how sacred their flesh is!

IT'S GOOD FOR YOU

 “...is by its nature ordered toward the good of the spouses and the procreation and education of offspring...”
 

We’ve discussed that the stability and acceptance offered by a permanent marriage partnership offers the best environment for the flourishing of the human personality, secure in love and acceptance, and is even a necessary antidote to an increasingly transitory world. Marriage also, the Church teaches, shines a divine light on human nature so that we see it as God intended it.

        The vocation to marriage is written in the very nature of man and woman as they came from the hand of the Creator.  Marriage is not a purely human institution despite the many variations it may have undergone through the centuries in different cultures... These differences should not cause us to forget its common and permanent characteristics.  Although the dignity of this institution is not transparent everywhere with the same clarity, some sense of the greatness of the matrimonial union exists in all cultures.  “The well-being of the individual person and of both human and Christian society is closely bound up with the healthy state of conjugal and family life.” (CCC 1604)

What are these "common and permanent characteristics"?  The Church refers back to Scripture, to the opening two chapters of Genesis where we see humanity created as male and female and given the command to be fruitful and multiply; where God sees that it is not good for the man to be alone and gives him woman as a “helpmate”, representing “God from whom comes our help” (CCC 1605).  In fact the human being, in his intrinsic need to love and be loved, is reflecting the nature of God, Three in One, who exists in a permanent relationship of love.  
 

Marriage reflects this Trinitarian love precisely in its composition as a relationship between man and woman, a relationship which is inherently fruitful (just as the Holy Spirit springs from the love of Father and Son within the Trinity). This is why gay marriage is not “marriage”.  It is a relationship of a different type.  One cannot separate out the procreative aspect of the sexual relationship from the “unitive” or loving aspect without denaturing it... but that will be the subject of one of the two further posts, when the call to have children will be looked at as well and we’ll finish our unpacking of the quotation above!

This is already a very long post and we haven’t covered:
 

“Free consent” and what about when it all goes wrong?

Sex, love and children

So watch this space!  Further “Back to Basics” are planned on euthanasia and embryo research amongst others but please do let us know if there’s a particular topic you’d like delved into.

A breath of fresh air in a muggy modern world – the life of St Gianna Beretta Molla

Thanks to her recent feast day (28 April) I have come across a few programmes and blog posts recently about St Gianna Beretta Molla, patron of mothers, physicians and unborn children.  She died in 1962 and was canonised by Blessed Pope John Paul II in 2004.  These programmes and posts prompted me to find out a bit more about her, and she blew across my soul like a breath of fresh air!  Why?

I had known the basic facts about St Gianna and the reason why she is such an inspirational saint for pro-lifers.  However, if you’d asked me what her sanctity consisted in I would have replied, “She sacrificed her life for her unborn child even though she could legitimately have saved herself” (St Gianna was diagnosed with a large fibroid tumour in her womb early in her fourth pregnancy, that could not be left untreated.  The Catholic Church would have allowed a hysterectomy to save her life, as this would not have been a direct abortion but the child’s death would have been an unintended secondary effect – the moral principle of “double effect”.  The Saint, however, chose to have a much riskier operation to remove the tumour so that her child might live.  She died of septic peritonitis after a difficult pregnancy and birth).
 

What I hadn’t realised was that St Gianna’s whole life was dedicated to sacrificial love (one of her best-known maxims is, “One cannot love without suffering or suffer without loving”).   All through her life this seems to have been her mission, indeed her raison d’être.  Endowed from an early stage with a strong sense of vocation, she would have liked to follow her brother overseas as a missionary but was dissuaded because her health was not strong enough.  Instead, she devoted herself to the formation of young girls in the “Catholic Action” movement and to doing good in the St Vincent de Paul association.  
 

Her vocational sense did not diminish; it is seen very clearly in her attitude to her work.  She was a doctor, practising both in general medicine and paediatrics, and – somewhat unusually for women in the 1950’s – continued her job after marrying and starting a family.  She had an enormous reverence for her patients, in every dimension of their being.  Thus her husband, Pietro, could say when interviewed at around the time of her beatification in 1994, “Gianna had a holy respect for the body and the person of the patient... She often repeated: ‘Whoever touches the body of a patient, touches the body of Christ.’  It was a quasi-sacramental concept, according to which Gianna sought to cure illnesses but at the same time bring comfort to spirits.  The sick realised they were treated with dignity and were grateful.” St Gianna would surely have been an enthusiastic advocate of the Theology of the Body!  
 

Her sense of vocation is also strong in her other great calling – marriage and motherhood.  During their engagement she wrote to Pietro, “I have so much trust in the Lord, and I am certain that he will help me be a worthy spouse to you.  I like to meditate often on the first reading for the Mass of Saint Anne: ‘Who shall find a valiant woman?... The heart of her husband trusteth in her... She will render him good, and not evil, all the days of her life.’ (Prov 31:10-12.)  Pietro, I wish I could be the valiant woman of the Scripture for you!”  Ten days before their wedding she wrote, “I would like our new family to be a cenacle gathered around Jesus”.
 

St Gianna was a virtuous woman.  When her cause for beatification was introduced, Pietro wrote – in the form of a “conversation” with his late wife – a summary of how she conformed to the theological and cardinal virtues.  St Gianna, who had a great reverence for Church teaching and did her best to pass it on to the young women in her care in Catholic Action conferences, would have seen life in these terms too.  She attended Mass daily if at all possible and her life, as Pietro tells us, “rested on prayer” – the Rosary, meditation, and a great devotion to Our Lady of Good Counsel to whom she consecrated each of her babies after their baptism.  At her suggestion she and Pietro prepared for their wedding day with a triduum of Mass and prayer.
 

And yet with all this she was joyful.  She lived life to the full.  She loved creation; she loved skiing; she loved attending plays and concerts; she expanded her somewhat workaholic fiancé’s worldview by encouraging him to play as well as work.  Pietro says, “In our workaday life, Gianna introduced the elements of beauty and festivity”.  In fact, amongst her notebooks we find that she wrote a whole Hymn to the Smile!
 

So: sacrificial love; vocation; prayer; virtue; joy. Pietro praises her distinctively “feminine” qualities.  Her role as wife and mother was of central importance to her.  All this, it seems to me, makes her a vital (both in terms of importance and of alive-ness!) “sign” in our times.  Reading the book co-authored by her husband and writer Elio Guerriero, I was deeply refreshed by her simplicity, her straightforwardness, her cutting to the heart of what is important in life and what makes it worth living.  
 

A few days before St Gianna’s beatification, Cardinal Martini said, “Figures like Gianna Beretta Molla are a sign of hope for us, even in this confused time that we pass through.”  I would say, especially in this confused time.  In an age of specious sophistication, dissent masquerading as intelligent debate, arrogant intellectualism, individualistic rejection of authority and a sense that we have “moved beyond” the old-fashioned simple approaches of virtue and devotion (and that’s just within the Church!), St Gianna witnesses – in the words of Cardinal Martini – to a “simple charism of fidelity to the Gospel”.  I could almost feel myself unwind as I read more and more about her.  “Thank goodness for that,” my soul seemed to say.  

Thank Goodness for St Gianna Beretta Molla. 

Facts and quotations above are drawn from the book "Saint Gianna Molla" by Pietro Molla and Elio Guerriero, trans. James G Colbert, published by Ignatius Press, ISBN 0-89870-887-7

Civil rights for the unborn?

A thought-provoking video by ProLife Wisconsin (hat tip to John Smeaton)...

It brings to mind the words of Ruth Pakaluk, featured in an earlier post.  "Human rights are rights that pertain to us simply in virtue of the fact that we are human, not for any reason above and beyond that; the fundamental human right is the right to life, and so, if that right is denied, then all human rights are in effect denied; the thing growing in the mother's womb is surely alive (otherwise it would not need to be killed by abortion), and it is human; thus, to deny that the thing growing in the mother's womb has the right to life is to deny that anyone has any human rights whatsoever."

Back to Basics: 1. From conception until natural death

Every human life, from the moment of conception until death, is sacred because the human person has been willed for its own sake in the image and likeness of the living and holy God. (Catechism of the Catholic Church 2319.)

This is one of the most frequently quoted phrases by pro-lifers, one you've more than likely heard or read before. The Church has a lot to say about the sanctity of human life, she proclaims it boldly in fact, and it all stems from this one little sentence. In these 34 words more is said about the wonderful gift of life, its meaning and purpose than often meets the eye. And for some it also raises a lot of questions. I have tried to address some of the more frequently asked ones...

When does life begin?

Before I answer this question I'd first like to ask you one...when do you think a person becomes a person?

a) At birth
b) At 24 weeks
c) When there is an audible heartbeat and organs are forming
d) At conception

We asked this very question to our parish's confirmation candidates a few weeks ago and, whilst most of them answered d), there were some who thought c). There is a lot of conflicting opinion about precisely when human life begins; read different books, visit different websites and you will be told very different things. Part of the reason for this is that people often use strange, alien terms to refer to an unborn child during the various stages of development (e.g. zygote, foetus, embryo and many others) which dehumanise it and desensitise us to what it is too. But the fact is that a person is a human life from the very first moment, from the point of conception that zygote is an unborn child. Yes, he or she doesn't have arms or legs or a head yet but not being fully formed yet doesn't make them any less of a human being, in the same way that a toddler is no less a person than an adult purely because they haven't finished growing. A fertilised ovum will always result in a child growing in the womb of the mother, there is no point at which it suddenly becomes human having not been so before.

What does the Church have to say about life beginning at conception?

The Church has always believed that human life starts from the moment of conception. Until 1751 New Years Day in the English calendar was not January 1st but March 25th, the Feast of the Annunciation when the angel Gabriel announced to Our Lady that she was to become the mother of God (Luke 1:26-38). Our ancestors, along with the rest of the Body of Christ, recognised that Jesus' life on earth began long before his birth on December 25th. His incarnation began in the womb of the Virgin Mary, he became man at that moment, was fully human from that point onwards. The same is true of each of our lives; we are fully ourselves, totally human from conception. And because of this we have the same right to life as any other person. (CCC 2323)

What does it mean to be "created in the image and likeness of the holy and living God"?


Scripture and tradition speak at length about our innate dignity as human beings. That word, 'dignity', is one often thrown around, twisted and warped to mean a whole host of different things in a wide variety of contexts. But our true dignity stems from our being created in the image and likeness of God (CCC 1700), we are given a special gift, a unique honour in creation in that we resemble the divine. And this image and likeness, this dignity, is expressed in all of us, it is what makes each of us truly equal with our neighbour, none of us have more dignity than someone else. This image and likeness is expressed through the sick, elderly, disabled and dying, the toddler and the unborn child just as much as it is shown in the young, the fit, the successful and the healthy. Nothing can ever change this, no set of circumstances, no other person can ever alter the fact that we are made in God's image and that we are loved and cherished by him more than we could ever hope to fathom. And because we all share the same innate dignity we all have the same right to life. Just as no one can stop you from being created in God's likeness so can no one take away your dignity and your inviolable right to exist.

This is an immense and beautiful gift given to us by our Father in heaven, our lives are not something that we can create or bestow upon ourselves or others but something that we have been entrusted with.

What is 'natural death'?

Our lives are a gift from God from the moment of conception and this carries on until the moment we die. Because our lives are not our own (man does not have full dominion over his life, he cannot control when he comes into existence and only has limited control over his mind, body and spirit) they are not ours to end prematurely. Our human existence is directed towards doing the will of God and we do this through the big and small, major and minor events of every day right up until we breathe our last breath. In living the life that God has ordained for us and dying when he chooses we offer him our full obedience (CCC 1011), we set our worldly desires and will to one side and set our eyes on the things of heaven.

But as bleak as this may sound to some death is not a negative, nor is living out our full life. In living a full life (i.e. a life not cut short) we are given the invaluable opportunity to carry our very own Cross, to walk with Christ, to journey with him towards the Father, to grow in love and holiness for God and our fellow man. And because of Christ's triumph on the Cross at Calvary death is not the end but only a gateway into life, life with God for all eternity (CCC 1010). It is something that we should look forward to and prepare ourselves for through a regular reception of the sacraments.

That being said it is not something that we can or should hasten. Suffering is something that is as painful to watch as it is to endure but that does not mean that there is no value in it, that a person's life in those times of darkness and pain is less worth of having than yours or mine. We are called to love our neighbour, to care for them as we would have others do to us (Mark 12:30-31), to try and ease their discomfort through the means at our disposal (e.g. pain medication etc.) but not to perform so-called 'mercy-killings' as, due to our innate dignity as human beings, that person is still created in the image and likeness of God right up until the end and we have no right to say when a life becomes 'worthless' or 'too hard to endure'.

Don't we have the right to an abortion or the right to die?


There is a notion that we have the "right" to an abortion or the "right" to die as and when we choose, some even refer to them as "human rights." Human rights were created and given international recognition after the Second World War to ensure that never again would the rights of our fellow man be violated in such a dreadful way. These rights are there to protect our lives, to keep our right to life from being threatened by others. We, to name but one example, have the right to live free from the threat of torture, something designed to keep us safe and well.

Abortion and assisted suicide/assisted death can never be "rights" as they fundamentally undermine our right to life, they purposely seek to destroy it and this is totally contrary to what human rights were created for in the first place. Abortion, assisted suicide and assisted death are attacks and violations of our dignity as human beings, they destroy that life which has been freely created and freely given and are not a "right" and can certainly never be the correct course of action to take.

Although I tried to think of a poetic conclusion to draw this post to a close it unfortunately didn't quite come together. So instead I leave you with the same quote I opened with and hope that you will see more in those 34 words, understand better the Church's need to proclaim the Gospel of Life than you perhaps did to begin with.

Every human life, from the moment of conception until death, is sacred because the human person has been willed for its own sake in the image and likeness of the living and holy God. (Catechism of the Catholic Church 2319.)

Back to Basics

At our last group meeting we were discussing how there are many misconceptions about what it is to be pro-life. The Church has a lot to say when it comes to the sanctity of human life, as does our secular society and as a result we are constantly bombarded with different messages, conflicting information and it can be difficult to separate fact from fiction, truth from lie. So we and decided that we would have our very own "Back to Basics" sessions here on the blog. We will gently and gradually explore each of the core pro-life issues in the hopes that it will help us to grow in the Gospel of Life. Please do follow our various articles and feel free to post comments, ask questions or suggest a topic of your own!

Pro-life victories at home and abroad

Every now and then it's good to "look on the bright side" and celebrate some of the achievements of the pro-life movement!  We do win some of the battles, so why not pause and take heart from some of the positive stories that have been in the pro-life news recently...?


Congratulations to SPUC's SAFE AT SCHOOL CAMPAIGN, and particularly campaign leader Antonia Tully, for the part it has played in getting the BBC to review its controversial sex education video.  The video, designed to be shown in primary schools, contained clips of animated figures making love, computer-generated images of men and women in explicit sexual positions and more - the Mail Online has an article here.  Altogether "much too much, much too soon" for nine-year-olds.  Antonia Tully addressed a meeting of concerned parents in Northampton and the MP for South Northamptonshire, Andrea Leadsome, got involved, to the extent of helping deliver SPUC's Safe at School petition to the Department of Education. She and a group of parents met with Schools Minister Nick Gibb who in turn raised concerns with the BBC, saying, "Parents are justifiably worried materials like this are being used in lessons."

Ms Leadsome's comment was, "This material is explicit.  It is shattering the innocence of childhood." Quite. We do seem intent on shortening that part of life known as "childhood" until it scarcely exists.  However we should bear in mind that whilst we may be able to do this in terms of destroying innocence and encouraging age-inappropriate behaviour and dress, we do not have the same power over children's minds and emotions, which remain that of children.  What short-term distress and long-term damage may we be doing through this premature sexualisation of the younger generations?  It is a culpably irresponsible abdication of our duty of care towards our children and the future society they will build.

Well done SPUC, Antonia and Andrea Leadsome for taking effective action!

It is good to remember that pro-life issues are global and that some of their most serious ramifications are felt in the developing world.  There has been a positive pro-life development at the UN too, namely at a session of the Commission on Population and Development (CPD). C-FAM reports via the Friday Fax that youth activists - sponsored by the likes of the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), the Youth Coalition, and the International Women’s Health Coalition (IWHC) - failed in an attempt to "place controversial language in the [conference] outcome document that would undermine the right and responsibility of parents in the sexual education of their children and include sexual and reproductive health 'rights' as well as comprehensive sexuality education (CSE)." C-FAM says, "Though comprehensive sexual education was eventually included in the document, countries refused to mention it without reference to 'the rights, duties and responsibilities of parents' to provide 'appropriate direction and guidance on sexual and reproductive matters.'  Similarly, any reference to sexual and reproductive rights in the document was explicitly understood by countries not to include abortion as a method of family planning."

The Conference theme was "Adolescents and Youth", initially defined as being 10-24 years old, but happily countries were not willing to give the "sexual and reproductive rights" mentioned in the document to 10 year olds and this definition was not included.  The only reference to sexual orientation was also cut out.

In the end, as C-FAM tells us, "countries rejected [the demands of the youth activists for homosexual rights and abortions] and produced a fairly balanced outcome document that focuses on more pressing youth concerns like education, employment, health and development."  Phew.  One would sometimes think that lobbying for "sexual rights" completely trumps the need for action on poverty, famine, education, employment and other things that really do fundamentally affect human dignity and quality of life.

Finally, a rather heartening report from John Smeaton about the Faroe Islands where pro-life convictions are alive and well from governmental level downwards.

Deo gratias!

Start your Jubilee Bank Holiday weekend off with a swing...

... literally!  Our Diamond Jubilee Concert in aid of Aila's Fund has a varied programme which includes Handel, Faure and Rutter, Spanish guitar music and exhilarating Gospel pieces.  It'll be a fantastic journey across a musical landscape containing many a vista of mood and tempo, and Kevin Tayler and his boys will be rounding off the evening with a toe-tapping jazz set!  That should set us all up in swinging style for the long weekend in honour of Her Majesty.

Other delights include performances by superb and successful local choir Voices and, of course, our (particularly delightful) diocesan Vocations Director Fr Terry Martin on his fabulous flute.  A raffle and free glass of wine or soft drink in the interval add the icing to this cornucopia of treats... we'd love to see you there.

Two things worth adding YOUR voice to

John Smeaton draws our attention to two ways we can stand up and be counted, hopefully with profitable effect in terms of saving lives.

Stop Eugenics Now

This is a new European initiative which has launched an online petition open to individuals, families and disabled rights organisations to sign.  It calls upon the European Court of Human Rights to “reaffirm the principle of the prohibition of eugenics, and the obligation of the Member States to protect the life of every person, including of the disabled before their birth.”

The background against which the petition is being brought is that of the case of Anita Kruzmane v. Latvia. Anita's doctor suggested, at 18 weeks pregnant, that she have an appointment with a specialist to include an alpha-feto protein (AFP) test which is used to detect foetal abnormalities.  Anita, who claims that she was not in fact referred for this test, went on to give birth to a baby with Down's Syndrome.  She has taken her case to the Court of European Human Rights under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, claiming that the negligence of a doctor has meant she was denied adequate and timely medical care (the AFP test) resulting in her being unaware that her foetus was at risk of having a genetic defect - and that she therefore was denied the opportunity to choose whether or not to continue with her pregnancy.

John Smeaton points out that this case follows several other high-profile ones about abortion, including "several cases from France and the Netherlands concerning so-called 'wrongful births' of children with conditions such as Down’s syndrome".

What is the central issue at stake here?  The European Centre for Law and Justice (ECLJ) has said, “This case may provide an opportunity for the Court to clarify its case-law with regard to eugenics and abortion. This is necessary due to some visible confusion in the existing case-law, and this is made possible considering the large number of important cases currently before the Court on this issue.”

Mr Smeaton reports Gregor Puppinck of the ECLJ as seeing the key question arising from this case to be:

"Does the [European Convention on Human Rights] guarantee a right to eugenics for parents, and in particular to the procedure of prenatal screening-elimination of sick or disabled fetuses? If so, does the State have a positive obligation in this regard?"

That is, as Stop Eugenics now puts it,  Should the elimination of one’s unborn baby because it has Down syndrome be regarded as a human fundamental right? 

Many readers will be aware that in the UK, out of those babies diagnosed before birth as having Down's Syndrome, 92% will be aborted.  It is legal in our country to abort a baby right up until birth if it is found to have a disability or handicap.  Certainly, as a child growing up in the 1960's and 70's, I knew or met several Down's Syndrome people.  One lived in the same block of flats as us.  These days you rarely see any... because they haven't been born.

Certainly some of those I knew had varying degrees of health problems, but what I clearly remember is that they invariably had huge smiles on their faces!  Possibly this is a trick of memory of the it-was-always-sunny-in-summer-when-I-was-a-child type, but Down's Syndrome children are certainly more than capable of deriving a lot of pleasure from life and giving a lot of pleasure to those around them.  Why, then, are we killing them?

With regard to "wrongful birth" cases I admit I find it hard to get my head around the fact that a mother can look at her child and say she feels that child shouldn't have been born.  I am not judging such parents... or at least I am trying my best not to judge, because I know I am not standing in their shoes or feeling the pressure and demands they must cope with.  Presumably they are acting out of compassion for their child, who they must feel will not have a good quality of life.  I only know that it gives me the chills to think there are now prenatal tests for my daughter's condition and that a parent could choose to abort a child like her.  In fact I try not to think about it, because the idea that Aila might never have existed is too awful.  At the same time I know I have to do what I can to avoid other Ailas being denied their right to life.

That's why I signed Stop Eugenics Now's petition and encourage you to do so too.  What else is systematic testing for disability in an unborn child followed by the automatic right to abortion, other than eugenics?  There were many people in the last century who mounted passionate arguments in favour of eugenics and there are people doing the same now.  The fact remains that it is an unacceptable use of medical technology and an inhuman form of discrimination against those we deem not fit to live - however we couch our arguments in terms of a misguided compassion and concern for "quality of life" (a flexible term if ever there was one, defined differently by different people).

I've said it before and I'll say it again!  True compassion tries its utmost to offer people reasons to live, not ways to die (or to be killed).

One Million Rosaries for Unborn Babies

Hat tip again to John Smeaton for drawing attention to a campaign being run by the Saint Michael the Archangel Organization.  They are collecting pledges to pray a rosary (or two!) for unborn children over 4-6 May, to bring an end to "the surgical and non-surgical killing of unborn human persons".  They didn't quite make their target last year but say that people from over 30 nations participated.  Why not go over to the website here and make your pledge?  Imagine the prayer power of hundreds of thousands of Rosaries being offered up around the globe for the same intention over those three days... what couldn't the Holy Spirit do with that?

But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labour in the Lord is not in vain. (1 Corinthians 15:57,58)