The Happy Priest on Building a Culture of Life and a Civilization of Love

More than 53,908,072 children have been murdered through abortion since January 22, 1973. If we can kill inside of the womb, what is to keep us from killing outside of the womb? If abortion does not shock us, nothing will.  Unborn babies have human rights which give rise to civil rights - because they are human persons and have a right to the equal protection of the law as guaranteed by the 14th amendment to the United States Constitution. 

CORPUS CHRISTI, TX (Catholic Online) - Most people are appalled by the continuous slaughter of innocent children through the horrible scourge of abortion.  Abortion is a horrendous menace and tragedy, but it is the manifestation of an anti-child, contraceptive mentality.  Contraception is the gateway to the culture of death. 

In their revision of the Pastoral Plan for Pro-Life Activities A Campaign in Support of Life, the United States Catholic Bishops speak of the connection between abortion and contraception when they write: "It is noteworthy that as acceptance and use of contraception have increased in our society, so have acceptance and use of abortion.

"Couples who unintentionally conceive a child while using contraception are far more likely to resort to abortion than others. Tragically, our society has fallen into a mentality that views children as a burden and invites many to consider abortion as a 'backup' to contraceptive failure. This is most obvious in efforts to promote as 'emergency contraception' drugs that really act as early abortifacients."
 
The practice of abortion is a socially destructive force.  This practice countenances the murder of innocent children and destroys the lives of the women who succumb to abortion.

Blessed Mother Teresa once said: "But I feel that the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a war against the child - a direct killing of the innocent child - murder by the mother herself." 

"And if we accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another?"

"How do we persuade a woman not to have an abortion? As always, we must persuade her with love, and we remind ourselves that love means to be willing to give until it hurts. Jesus gave even his life to love us. So the mother who is thinking of abortion, should be helped to love - that is, to give until it hurts her plans, or her free time, to respect the life of her child. The father of that child, whoever he is, must also give until it hurts".

"By abortion, the mother does not learn to love, but kills even her own child to solve her problems. And by abortion, the father is told that he does not have to take any responsibility at all for the child he has brought into the world. That father is likely to put other women into the same trouble. So abortion just leads to more abortion."

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"Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching the people to love, but to use any violence to get what they want. That is why the greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion. "

More than 53,908,072 children have been murdered through abortion since January 22, 1973.

If we can kill inside of the womb, what is to keep us from killing outside of the womb? If abortion does not shock us, nothing will. 

There is a direct connection between the civil rights movement and the pro-life movement.  Unborn babies have human rights which give rise to civil rights - because they are human persons. They have a right to the equal protection of the law as guaranteed by the 14th amendment to the United States Constitution. 

"All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."

If laws are permitted to exist that do not give equal protection to all citizens, what will keep the worse kind of tyranny from trying to emerge in our country?
 
"The moment a positive law deprives a category of human beings of the protection which civil legislation ought to accord them, the state is denying the equality of all before the law.  When the state does not place its power at the service of the rights of each citizen, and in particular of the more vulnerable, the very foundations of a state based on law are undermined.  As a consequence of the respect and protection which must be ensured for the unborn child from the moment of conception, the law must provide appropriate penal sanctions for every deliberate violation of the child's rights" (Catechism of the Catholic Church #2273).
 
It is important that we commemorate the life, legacy and struggle of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  Since the civil rights movement of the 1960's much has been accomplished in order to guarantee civil liberties for all Americans.  Unfortunately, there is still much to be done. 

Nevertheless, the noble desire for true civil rights for all will never bear fruit in producing true social and cultural change unless we understand the fundamental right to life. All human beings have a right to life from the moment of conception until the moment of natural death.All other rights are dependent upon it. 

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Alveda King, Martin Luther King's niece and pro-life advocate stated in a recent LifeNews.com article by Andrew Bair, that her uncle was strongly pro-life.  "Were he alive today, he would be working to secure peace and justice for those in the womb and healing for a nation that is still pained by over 53 million missing lives," King says.  "The toll abortion has taken on the African American community is enough to shock the conscience of every American."

Bair reports that "according to the US Census Bureau, African Americans comprise 12.4% of the American population; however, over 30% of the nation's abortions are done on black women. Recently released data from the New York City Department of Health shows the Big Apple hitting a 40% abortion rate. As if that number wasn't appalling enough, when the data is broken down all racial lines, around 60% percent of New York City's abortions are done on black women. In other words, 1,448 African American babies are aborted for every 1,000 born. Among black teens in New York City, that number jumps to a staggering 72% abortion rate or 2,360 abortions for every 1,000 babies born."

Bair also reports that "the Department of Health has reported that in the city of Philadelphia nearly half of all black babies are aborted."

Blessed John Paul II warned us that "A nation that kills its own children has no future."

As we mark another sad anniversary of the "legalization" of abortion in our nation, let us not be discouraged.  Look at those who gather at pro-life rallies all around the country; the majority of the participants are young people.

According to an article from LifeNews.com, a 2011 poll "finds a majority of Americans still consider themselves pro-life when it comes to the issue of abortion compared to those who say they're pro-choice."

In his encyclical letter Evangelium Vitae, Blessed Pope John Paul II urged us to build a culture of life.  Parents and the clergy need to teach young people about chastity.  The intimate sexual life of a man and woman, which is a beautiful gift from God, only takes place within the beauty and sacredness of the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony.  The Church is right when it declares that contraception is intrinsically evil and that it is gateway to the culture of death. 

Chastity; sacramental marriage; openness to life:  these are the key components of the culture of life and the key elements that we must teach, cherish and protect in our homes, in our schools and in our parishes. 

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Let us continue to stand together at local abortion clinics with love.  Yes, it is true that our God is an awesome God and that people do change.  Let us continue to witness and to pray.  Let us also continue our work at the homes for unwed mothers and the crisis pregnancy centers.  Let us be witnesses of hope and joy. 

There is never a need for abortion.  There are plenty of people that will adopt any child. 

The souls of more than 53,908,072 aborted children in this country alone since January 22, 1973, cry out to you never to cease with your efforts to end the horrors of abortion in our nation.  Let us not forget.  Let us not be discouraged.

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Father James Farfaglia is the Pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in Corpus Christi, TX.  Click here and listen to Father's Sunday homily on iTunes.  Visit Father on the web and check out his book Get Serious - A Survival Guide for Serious Catholics.

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