I just read on Zenit that Pope Benedict XVI and several bishops have requested clemency for a convicted criminal scheduled for execution in a few days. Lots and lots of highly-placed folks are weighing in on behalf of this man. It's not my purpose to comment on the merits or demerits of their actions, but to point out some painful and scandalous dichotomies.
This is one man who will be executed on September 16th. Between then and now over 20,000 babies will be executed in their mothers' wombs. This man has had a trial by peers and has exercised various appeals. These children will have no benefit of trial and no benefit of appeals.
Where are all the bishops, church councils, etc for these babies? Given the concern that they display over this man, is it really too much to ask for commensurate concern and action for each and every one of these babies?
Tomorrow is Saturday, a favorite murder-day of the abortionists. I and others will trudge out to the mills to pray and intercede for the babies. There are all too few of us. Often we are mocked, threatened, attacked, etc - while Church hierarchy looks the other way. Yes, a few good priests do come to join us, but why isn't every single priest out there on a regular basis?
I never could figure out why so many in the "social justice" crowd got so exercised about capital punishment and yet espoused "pro-choice" beliefs. One day it dawned on me. Pro-abortion people are opposed to capital punishment because of self-interest (their prime motivator). They instinctively realize that in a sane world, their aiding and abetting of baby-murder might well make them eligible to receive that punishment.
One life is just as precious as another life. This man, like all humans, was created by God in God's image and likeness. Only God can create a life and only God should end a life. It is a great thing that Pope Benedict XVI is speaking out on this issue. And just because people speak out on the death penalty does not mean that they are ignoring abortion or are proabortion. It simply means that being prolife also includes opposition to the death penalty. Should more be done to end abortions? Absolutely, but we also have to fight other injustices in the world.
ReplyDeleteWe as Christians must defend life in all its stages. We should fight against abortion, the death penalty, euthanasia, hunger, poverty, disease, genocide, unjust wars, racism, sexism, etc. This blog does admirable work trying to bring about an end to abortion, but that seems to be your only concern. More often than not, when an individual or group fights for the poor or oppressed, you critize them for not fighting against abortion.
Both Sacred Scripture and Tradition do make clear that God does delegate authority to governments to execute capital criminals. That apparently doesn't suit too many palates these days, but that still is undeniable. Pope John Paul II recognized that in Evangelium Vitae. He did make plain his belief that modern incarceration should be able to hold capital criminals safely away from the populace at large. Whether or not that can be done in a given situation is subject to evaluation by relevant authorities. That's a long way of saying that captial punishment is not an intrinsic evil. Abortion is always an intrinic evil, as the one being killed cannot be guilty of any crime.
ReplyDeleteYour last sentence is quite inaccurate. My objections to those who might be "fighting for poor and oppressed" is that too often, those very same people also advocate for liberalized abortion. Does it make sense to plead for mercy for a criminal on one hand, yet on the other hand, to work for the murder of tiny babies? Too many people don't seem to have a problem with such hypocrisy; that is one of many sorry results of the "seamless garment" theory that you seem to be espousing.
How many people die each year from capital punishment, which is not an intrinsic evil? 5, or maybe 10? How many babies are murdered each year via abortion? Over 1 million. Do the math! And you question my emphasis on abortion? Please - open your eyes!
My eyes are open, and I see grave injustices in our world. Among them of course is abortion. I am not in any way questioning the intrinsic evil of abortion. The math doesn't matter; every human life is precious. The "5 or 10" who are executed are just as precious as the unborn babies. A good Catholic should oppose both abortion and the death penalty. But if you insist on doing math, what about the millions living in poverty, the millions who go hungry, and the millions who live in countries torn apart by wars?
ReplyDeleteLet's flip your third sentence around. That is, are the millions of unborn babies just as precious as the relatively few executed? That is why I asked for at least commensurate concern for each baby being murdered as for the man in Kentucky. Your next sentence is not accurate with regard to Catholic moral theology, as it implies that abortion and the death penalty are moral equivalents. They aren't; read Evangelium Vitae for evidence. All the attempts to equate the two will not change Church teaching. There are millions living in adverse conditions - but they are living. They haven't been summarily executed in the most brutal means possible, simply because their existences are deemed by some to be inconvenient.
ReplyDeleteYou seem to insist upon trying to divert from another key issue that I raised. Namely, many who engage in "social justice" (laudable though that be) are also involved in promoting abortion. To the extent that the "social justice" organizations give these folks cloaks of respectability, they turn their backs on the most helpless, voiceless and vulnerable of all - the child about to be torn in pieces from his/her mother's womb.
In my third sentence I was not clear. I meant to say that each individual human life, born and unborn, is equally precious to God. Only God can create a life, and only God can take away a life. We are both in agreement about abortion: it is a deplorable, intrinsically evil act. What I am saying is that this blog appears, at first glance, only to be concerned with the lives of babies while they are in the womb. After they are born, many will need help. The sheer fact that those facing adverse conditions are living does not mean that they are not suffering injustices that need to be eliminated from our world. Do millions not die as a result of hunger, malnutrition, war and genocide, the weather stemming from a lack of shelter, and disease?
ReplyDeleteWith regards to the "social justice crowd" there are many individuals and organizations who forget about abortion (or even worse advocate abortion), but there are also numerous people who believe in social justice and are unequivocally prolife.
Do those millions die of hunger, etc as you suggested? Certainly - but they aren't being systematically, deliberately murdered. I believe in putting first things first. Before anyone has the right to food, medical care, shelter, etc, they have the right to draw the breath of life. The aborted babies are stripped of all those other rights as well as their lives. So yes, this blog will be focused on the horrific evil of abortion and other direct sins against life and morality. There are plenty other blogs and sites out there dealing with other matters. When I see inordinate amounts of efforts spent on what the Church itself declares to be of lesser moral imperative, this blog will speak out loudly. I need not repeat myself ad infinitem.
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