Thank you, Papa B!

 My reaction to the news today of Pope Benedict XVI's resignation was, I expect, fairly typical - shock and sadness.  I love "Papa B" - as our Pope, but also for his particular qualities... his theological wisdom, the way he has re-established a place in the Church for centuries-old traditions such as the Extraordinary Form Mass so that they can take their place alongside and complementary to newer developments, his sincere engagement with modern secular culture, his love for souls and evangelical zeal... and, above all perhaps, his devotion to those two soulmates who can never survive when separated: Love and Truth.

I know the rest of St John's Pro-Life Group as well as countless others will join me in praying for a happy and blessed retirement for "Papa B" and in thanksgiving for the countless blessings he has brought to the Church.  This is a pro-life blog and so I would especially like to thank Pope Benedict for his tireless defence of the sanctity of human life and his steadfast witness to the truth of human nature.  Over the years he's written and said many things on the subject; in grateful commemoration of this aspect of his ministry, I quote here from his message for this year's World Day of Peace on 1 January (courtesy of the Priests for Life website).

Peacemakers are those who love, defend and promote life in its fullness

The path to the attainment of the common good and to peace is above all that of respect for human life in all its many aspects, beginning with its conception, through its development and up to its natural end. True peacemakers, then, are those who love, defend and promote human life in all its dimensions, personal, communitarian and transcendent. Life in its fullness is the height of peace. Anyone who loves peace cannot tolerate attacks and crimes against life.

Those who insufficiently value human life and, in consequence, support among other things the liberalization of abortion, perhaps do not realize that in this way they are proposing the pursuit of a false peace. The flight from responsibility, which degrades human persons, and even more so the killing of a defenceless and innocent being, will never be able to produce happiness or peace. Indeed how could one claim to bring about peace, the integral development of peoples or even the protection of the environment without defending the life of those who are weakest, beginning with the unborn. Every offence against life, especially at its beginning, inevitably causes irreparable damage to development, peace and the environment. Neither is it just to introduce surreptitiously into legislation false rights or freedoms which, on the basis of a reductive and relativistic view of human beings and the clever use of ambiguous expressions aimed at promoting a supposed right to abortion and euthanasia, pose a threat to the fundamental right to life.

There is also a need to acknowledge and promote the natural structure of marriage as the union of a man and a woman in the face of attempts to make it juridically equivalent to radically different types of union; such attempts actually harm and help to destabilize marriage, obscuring its specific nature and its indispensable role in society.

These principles are not truths of faith, nor are they simply a corollary of the right to religious freedom. They are inscribed in human nature itself, accessible to reason and thus common to all humanity. The Church’s efforts to promote them are not therefore confessional in character, but addressed to all people, whatever their religious affiliation. Efforts of this kind are all the more necessary the more these principles are denied or misunderstood, since this constitutes an offence against the truth of the human person, with serious harm to justice and peace.

Today is the Memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes.  Let's ask her to pray for our Pope in his retirement, for the Barque of St Peter as it awaits the next Captain to steer it through often choppy waters and especially for the conclave who must elect that Captain.  May God's Will be done!

Novena for the protection of natural marriage

Here's a good idea from LMS Chairman.  Why not make the Novena to Our Lady of Good Success, starting today if possible and ending on 1 February (the day before the Feast of the Purification and also the Feast of Our Lady of Good Success) for the protection of natural marriage against the proposed same sex marriage legislation?

I hadn't heard of this devotion (which apparently has full ecclesiastical approval) before but will be making it.  If anyone can defend marriage and family life, it's Our Lady!

Novena to Our Lady of Good Success

 

Hail Mary, Most Holy, Beloved Daughter of God the Father,

through the intercession of Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres,

grant Thy good success to this request (name your request)

 

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be

St Michael, pray for us

Hail Mary, Most Holy, Admirable Mother of God the Son,

through the intercession of Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres,

grant Thy good success to this request (name your request)

 

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be

St Gabriel, pray for us

Hail Mary, Most Holy, Most Faithful Spouse of God the Holy Ghost,

through the intercession of Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres,

grant Thy good success to this request (name your request)

 

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be

St Raphael, pray for us

Hail Mary, Most Holy Temple

and Sacrarium of the Most Holy Trinity,

St Michael, St Gabriel, St Raphael, pray for us

 

Our Lady of Good Success, Thou who art the all-powerful intercessor before the Most Holy Trinity, deign to hear and answer my request,

so long as it contributes to the salvation of my soul, and the glory and exaltation of our Holy Mother, the Church.

Salve Regina (Hail, Holy Queen)

 

Same sex marriage - why we must act urgently

Today two members of our parish pro life group, Stella and myself, had the good fortune to attend one of SPUC's Information Days for clergy and laity which are to be held around the country on the subject of the same sex marriage Bill that the Government wishes to introduce imminently.  We were spoilt in that the meeting was held in our own church hall - other delegates had to brave icy roads and snow-delayed trains to attend, but I'm sure they thought it was worth it.  An inspiring and informative day which has, I'm sure, left us all convinced of the necessity of urgent action.

The first speaker was Anthony McCarthy, a bioethicist and Philosophy tutor who now works for SPUC overseeing their educational work and publications and their website.  His talk, Protecting Marriage - Protecting the Unborn, set the whole day in context by illustrating just why the issue of same sex marriage is so important for all of us and why an organisation whose primary concern is protecting the sanctity of life had got involved in the issue.  He pointed out that one doesn't have to be "religious" in order to believe that marriage, defined as an exclusive and committed union between one man and one woman, should be protected.  As Catholic Christians, yes we believe that Jesus Christ raised marriage to the dignity of a sacrament, but the very existence of that sacrament depends on a prior reality - natural marriage, as inbuilt into our very natures as male and female human beings.  This natural reality precedes all civil definitions and thus determines them.

Natural marriage involves a very particular type of love; that between a male and a female, whose sexual union is oriented towards and contains the possibility of procreation.  To attempt to introduce same sex "marriage" is not a widening of that definition but in fact abolishes it.  If "marriage" is redefined as simply the union of two individuals (gender irrespective) who love each other and want to have sex (procreative potential irrespective), that is a new definition which supersedes and makes redundant the former more particular one.  Marriage as we know it will have been legislated out of existence!  The new definition is one which ignores all the natural attributes which come with our birth gender and its procreational characteristics; our bodies, our human natures, become blank slates which we can "orientate" as we wish.

The implications of this are far reaching and beyond the scope of this post to narrate in detail.  What I find frightening is that we seem to be wiping out any givens when it comes to defining human nature.  We are each a mini god, not only able but with a positive right to create ourselves into whatever we want to be, to do whatever we want to do, without any externally imposed limitations.  This is a highly individualistic worldview which ignores the many familial and social ties that were previously accepted as resulting from our inherent male or female human natures.  Ignoring ties means ignoring responsibilities and in a world of competing individual rights, whose right is going to dominate (because for the sake of social cohesion, someone's has to)?

Why has SPUC got so involved in this issue?  The redefinition of marriage and the new genderless, "orientationalist" concept of the human being impacts, as Anthony pointed out, upon our notions of sex and complementarity - and therefore our concept of the human family itself, where a man and a woman commit to a union from which children can potentially result.  Far more abortions occur outside of marriage than within it.  It follows that marriage has a primary role in protecting the unborn child and to weaken marriage is to leave many more children in the womb vulnerable.  Marriage and the family relationships stemming from it have in fact given rise to our societies as we know them and have very fundamental implications for our self-identity as individuals.

I've rambled on a bit but I think these foundational issues are important, because so many people will say "Yes marriage is important, but if people with same-sex attraction want to marry each other, let them - what difference will it make to the rest of us?"  Anthony showed (with a skill I have not been able to reproduce) that it will in fact make a fundamental difference to the rest of us, to the way we view ourselves, to the ethos and structure of our society.  He and Antonia Tully of SPUC (whose talk followed) both stressed the frightening legal implications for schools and churches.  Not only are pastors, teachers etc who refuse to teach the equality of gay and "straight" marriage unlikely to be able to avoid legal censure, in the case of some professions to the extent of losing their jobs (despite the Government's talk of protection of conscience, any cases brought against such professionals are likely to succeed in court once the basic legislation equalising all sexual relationships is in place), but there are implications for school curriculum content.  Antonia mentioned the insidious ways in which "gay sex ed" is already subtly infiltrating lessons.  Just a photo here, a phrase there, but the mindset is being prepared and the avalanche has been triggered...

So what can we do?  Antonia and the third speaker, SPUC's Honorary Treasurer Bob Edwards, had some clear suggestions to make.  First and foremost, lobby and/or write to your MP and get others to do so!  Consider getting a group together to pop SPUC's leaflets through letterboxes (see SPUC's website for order details).  Have you signed the Coalition for Marriage petition yet (you can do so via this blog on the right)? Catholic parishes should soon be receiving postcards from the Bishops for parishioners to send to their MPs; perhaps organise a table at the back of church so that people can sign these on the spot, and then arrange for them to be delivered to your MP en masse.  Do other people in your church fully understand all the issues implied in same sex marriage and that opposing this marriage does not mean one is a homophobe (it is worth noting that all gay people are by no means united in support of gay marriage)?  Can you work with your priest or pastor to inform others?

This is a difficult and sensitive area, of course, and it is hard to convince people that in opposing gay marriage one can still respect the sensitivities of those with same-sex attractions and understand that they have often suffered greatly.  None of us, gay or straight, are totally defined by our sexuality - we are more than that in our common humanity.  I'd be the first to admit that there are many, many gay people who are far better human beings than I and far more worth knowing!  That is not the issue.  This is not about judgement or condemnation, but it is often seen as such.  Neither, for that matter, are gay people the only ones of whom the Catholic Church asks celibacy.  And from a secular point of view, civil unions already provide gay couples with the same legal rights vis-a-vis property and inheritance etc that married couples enjoy.

Our own group plans to meet soon to discuss some of the things we could do.  And as our Deacon Tom pointed out at today's meeting, our most powerful weapon has to be prayer... For marriage, for our government, for all those who struggle with same sex attraction, for all of us that everything we do may be founded in truth and charity.

Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, sought thy help or implored thy intercession was left unaided.  Inspired by this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of Virgins, my Mother.  To thee I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful.  O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petition, but in thy mercy hear and answer me.  Amen.

Our impoverished response to human frailty

Katherine alerted our group this week to the story of two Belgian twins, deaf since birth who, when they discovered they were also losing their sight, requested (and received) euthanasia two weeks before Christmas because "they thought they had nothing to live for".  They were only 45 years old.  The Telegraph covered the story here.

I will leave the comment on this story to Professor Chris Gastmans, of the Catholic University of Leuven, who (in the words of the BioEdge site) "criticised the deaths as an impoverished response to disability".   Professor Gastmans said, "Is this the only humane response that we can offer in such situations? I feel uncomfortable here as an ethicist....  In a society as wealthy as ours, we must find another, caring way to deal with human frailty."

It seems to me that our view of what human life is and what makes it worth living has become so diminished that we no longer have any way to offer hope in suffering.  And that's bad news, because not only will suffering inevitably makes its presence felt to some degree or another in all our lives, but the degree of suffering considered bearable will likely diminish in a worldview that has less and less to offer to balance it.

Chris' courageous decision

Group member Chris writes about a recent ethical dilemma she had to tackle (posted up on her behalf by Anneli due to technical issues!).

 I recently went to France for the weekend with my son and we came across a large charity event, where you could pay for a ride in a Ferrari. My son is car mad, so, as an early Christmas present,  I said that he could have a go.

It seemed to be a national event as there was also a telethon taking place. The charity's leaflets showed a photo of a young girl, so I presumed it was a children's charity and didn't think any more about it.

It was only later, when I read the leaflet, that I found out it was a charity dedicated to genetic research. My heart sank, as I could imagine that they used human embryos. Shamefully, I was also a little glad I hadn't known beforehand, as my son would have been so upset if I had promised him a ride and had then said he couldn't have it.

I thought some more about how most pro-lifers would refuse treatment for themselves or for their children if the treatment was a result of genetic research on embryos, and then I realised I'd done something far worse by helping fund it!

I decided in the end to contact the charity and ask them to give my money to another children's charity. I explained in my email the reasons behind my request. I just hope they understand. Some people can't see a problem with using aborted embryos for genetic results, as they see it as something good coming out of something bad. I do understand their point of view but it also feels wrong to benefit from something so tragic and so fundamentally wrong.

* * * * * * *

Whilst she's posting Chris' words up, Anneli adds, "Thanks for sharing your experience, Chris, and well done for sticking to your principles.  It can't have been easy to write that email.  I think this is a situation more and more of us will be coming across these days with regards to medical research.  I myself came across something similar with regard to a charity that's been supporting my daughter (see previous blog post - unfortunately we've never received a reply from the charity in question).

"St John's Pro Life Group has been having the very discussion Chris alludes to recently with regard to the morality of using vaccines, like the rubella vaccine, which are developed using a cell line derived from an aborted foetus.  We will post more about this dilemma soon!"

Mary, Mother of God, pray for us in 2013

We wish our readers a very Happy New Year and simultaneously make a resolution to update this blog a little more often...

Today, of course, is the Solemnity of Mary, Holy Mother of God.  Could there be a better day on which to pray for pro-life causes; for a change in the modern world's attitude to the dignity and sanctity of human life from conception to natural death and to its approach to human sexuality?

Today many hold very different concepts of "human rights" and "self-fulfilment" to those proposed by Christianity.  Crucially, they also hold different concepts of "compassion" and "solidarity".  For Christians, all the aforementioned are found in obedience, humility, self-sacrifice and carrying the Cross. They are also found in the true love of neighbour which walks with others and supports them in challenging circumstances, rather than encouraging them to simply opt out - an option which may seem the easy solve-all, but which rarely is and often brings ultimately more destructive consequences in its wake.

It is all about Love which is linked to Truth, because without this essential link Love becomes denatured and no longer allows us to help others towards what is truly best for them.

Our Lady in her motherhood is, with Christ Himself, our ultimate model of these virtues and in a way which speaks particularly obviously to those facing the challenge of unplanned pregnancy.  At the same time she is our ultimate model of strength combined with gentleness and kindness, qualities needed not only by every parent but by those who seek to support them.  As "pro-lifers" let us ask Our Mother's intercession for all those facing difficult situations with regard to pregnancy, fertility, disability, illness and old age, and for ourselves that we may have the self-sacrificial courage to be with them all the way in helping them choose and carry through the life-affirming options amongst the many they will be presented with.

Our Lady, Mother of God and Queen of the Family, pray for us!

Blessing of the Graves

November is the month when, in the tradition of the Church, we remember the deceased and those who have died before birth are no exception.  Group member Stella Walls writes about St John's service of the Blessing of the Graves earlier this month, at which the Memorial to the Unborn Child also received a blessing.
 

"On November 4th it was the Sunday of the Blessing of the Graves at Hills Cemetery. I had been up to the Memorial for the Unborn Child the day before, trimmed the surrounding grass, deadheaded the roses and pruned them for next Spring. It was a reasonably pleasant day - but not so on Sunday! The rain fell in torrents all morning but thank goodness stopped by lunchtime, enabling me to place fresh flowers in the vases; but as usual it was so cold.

"Our Deacon Tom and Deacon Seamus from West Grinstead braved the weather and came up for the service and blessings.  Tom Kent, our young aspirant seminarian, accompanied Deacon Tom who was incredibly good and thoughtful explaining to him who the deceased Sisters of the Holy Family were when blessing their graves and telling him about their past role in the Parish.  Deacon Tom also explained about the Memorial and how it wasn't just for us but for unborn children worldwide and that we just tended it. His prayers were beautiful and I felt honoured to be present at the ceremony to represent Pro Life and the Lay Holy Family.

"A thought came to me as I stood amongst the graves of so many dearly loved ones that afternoon. I KNOW that to Jesus all children are precious and I believe those who depart this world early become the cherubs in Heaven."