Letters

Abortion (letter)

George F. Simpson

Contents - Jul 2002 - Buy a copy now Editorial: Archbishop Pell: the '60 Minutes' beat-up - Michael Gilchrist Saints: Padre Pio canonised: "a model of the priesthood" (John Paul II) - Paul MacLeod News: The Church Around the World - AD2000 '60 Minutes': Archbishop George Pell puts the record straight - Archbishop George Pell Tablet article prompts critical response from Archbishop Pell - Michael Gilchrist Interview: George Weigel: the impact of John Paul II's pontificate - Zenit News Service Chavagnes International College for boys - Paul Russell Cardinal Avery Dulles: US Jesuits need 'wake-up call' - Michael Gilchrist Events: The Italians: Three Centuries of Italian Art 1500-1800 - Francis Young Vatican II, church architecture and "reform of the reform" - Sidney Rofe Letters: Zero tolerance (letter) - Alan A. Hoysted Letters: 60 Minutes attack (letter) - Sam Lynch Letters: Beat-up (letter) - Frank Bellet Letters: Short-changed (letter) - Mrs Carol V. Phillips Poetry: It Is (The Alternative to 'Star Wars') - Andrew Huntley Letters: Teaching the faith (letter) - Fr James Brasier Letters: Catholic chaplains (letter) - Charles G. Jarrells Letters: Women's Commission (letter) - Gillian Gonzalez Letters: Missal translation (letter) - Philip Robinson Letters: Accuracy (letter) - Fr Austin Kenny CP Letters: Vatican II (letter) - Peter D. Howard Letters: Abortion (letter) - George F. Simpson Letters: Obituary - Fr Patrick Cosgrove, South Africa (letter) - Fr E. Lumley-Holmes CSsR Letters: Fr Des Jenkins Golden Jubilee (letter) - Gordon R. Coomber Events: Cathedral painting - Hollywood Ball - Josie di Mauro Catholic Truth Society in Brisbane - B. Massey Books: A Pope and a Council on the Sacred Liturgy, by Aidan Nichols OP - Msgr Peter J. Elliott (reviewer) Books: The Greatest Marvel of All, by Pierre-Marie Emonet OP - Michael Casanova (reviewer) Books: The Modern Rite, by Mgr Klaus Gamber - Fr Peter Joseph (reviewer) Books: New Titles from AD Books Reflection: John Paul II clarifies Vatican II teaching on lay and priestly roles - Pope John Paul II

In her excellent article on post-abortion trauma (June AD 2000) Anne Lastman shows how suffering can lead to repentance. In his encyclical, The Gospel of Life, the Pope says that these women have a very special role in spreading the pro-life message. These women, therefore, themselves victims of the death culture, should not bear the entire blame for the crime of abortion.

Every hour, on average, at least eleven Australian babies are aborted. This does not include the 70,000 lives discarded annually in the in vitro fertilisation programs. Who is responsible for this barbarous slaughter?

Although they must bear much of the guilt, abortionists can act only because of public apathy. Ordinary people like you and I are ultimately responsible. If the bulk of people were actively pro-life, no government would dare countenance such wholesale slaughter.

Abortion and euthanasia would then become so risky that few doctors would dare practise them. It is our Christian duty to challenge this community mind-set.

Around 1500 years ago, Pope St Felix III wrote: "An error which is not resisted is approved, a truth which is not defended is suppressed ... He who does not oppose an evident crime is open to the suspicion of secret complicity." Today, crimes against the innocent are all but unopposed.

The Gospel of Life further tells us that life is good because in man there shines forth a reflection of God himself. The life which God offers to man is a gift by which God shares something of himself with his creature. Do not the Pope's words tell us that the destruction of the innocent, among other things, is an act of gravest sacrilege, because it profanes the living image of God. Is it any wonder, therefore, that we will be judged with the words: "As you treated the least of these my little ones so also you treated me"?

To be totally indifferent to the slaughter of the innocent is, therefore, to be on Calvary hammering the nails into the hands and feet of Christ. We all have the obligation to help the pro- life movement by offering our time, financial assistance and, most importantly of all, our prayers.

George Simpson
North Blackburn, Vic

Reprinted from AD2000 Vol 15 No 6 (July 2002), p. 15