Pro-Life & Other Human Dignity Issues
"Our Lady of Guadalupe, through your intercession, please ask Jesus to help us embrace a Culture of Life. Amen."
On September 11, 2001, America spoke in disgust when approximately 3,000 innocent people were murdered by Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda, while on January 22, 1973, America celebrated the right to murder babies through the ROE v. WADE decision. Since the 1973 decision, approximately 3,000 innocent babies are murdered every day through surgical abortions, and unknown number of babies are killed regularly through abortifacient contraception! The number of surgical abortions, and abortifacient contraception deaths, doesn't include the millions of babies prevented from being conceived by non-abortifacient contraception! Think of it, the numbers of babies lost through abortion and contraception in America is in the millions, which is greater than the lives lost by Americans in the wars she has fought in! [To understand the huge loss of life due to abortion, check out the US Abortion Map].
America was founded in 1776 on the principles that all men (people) are created equal, and are endowed by their Creator with the unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. America sadly went against its foundation centuries ago, when it decided that enslaving and discriminating African Americans was a right, because those in power at the time, believed African Americans to be non-human. The elite in government centuries ago, even believed women to be unworthy of full constitutional protection, such as denying women the right to vote. Many years ago, when it was unpopular, we Catholics were at the forefront in declaring racism and sexism as attacks to the dignity of the human person; declaring it as evil. The American elite in power centuries ago, eventually saw what the Church saw; repented, and returned the nation to its foundational principles.
America sadly has fallen again, and today's elite in power has repackaged elements of her past errors, into the evil ideologies of today (e.g., IVF, sterilization, abortion, euthanasia, contraception, cloning, and embryonic stem cell research). This time, instead of degrading the human dignity of a specific group of people, all races and genders are being degraded! The radical left feminists cloak the evils of today, into euphemisms, such as choice, and reproductive rights. History repeats itself; with the Church condemning evil, while the elite in power force America to once again embrace evil. It must be emphasized that even though the toxins of the Culture of Death can be seen throughout American history, this Anti-Life America is not the real America. The real America can be seen in the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution. Hopefully, America can remove the Anti-Life ideologies of today, by peacefully returning to its foundational principles; without another civil war.
So how do we peacefully remove the evils of today? To accomplish this task, we will need a massive number of people to change the hearts and minds of mankind (people) in a loving way, by becoming active in the Pro-Life movement. You see, when we have a large number of people active in the Pro-Life movement, a Culture of Life will be constructed, and our society will become Pro-Life.
It is important to mention that the construction of a Culture of Life is not an American or Catholic issue alone, but is an issue that affects all of humanity. We can never solve the problems in the world today, without first solving the most important issue of all; the protection of the human person from conception to natural death. So every human being throughout the globe must become active in the Pro-Life cause. The first step of becoming active in the Pro-Life cause is to become educated in the field. In this way, we develop the skills to choose the best tools to respond to the attacks against humanity.
To assist in this education process, I have prepared some Pro-Life resources. It must be said that even though a majority of the resources has an American and Catholic flavor, I have done my best to provide when possible, international and interreligious resources. It is my hope that the information I have collected will not only motivate Americans to construct a Culture of Life in their nation and in the world, but will also inspire Catholics across the globe to participate in Christ's mission of constructing a global Culture of Life, and enter into dialogue (partnership) with non-Catholics who embrace the Pro-Life movement. It is my wish that this partnership with non-Catholics will not only assist Catholics in building a global Culture of Life, but that it will also help non-Catholics to recognize the richness of the Catholic faith, and desire conversion to Catholicism.
Once we have an understanding of the Pro-Life issues, we will be able to act on them. Before I begin to lay out a Pro-Life plan of action, it is important to mention that even though this plan is directed towards Catholics, it affects non-Catholics as well. With this understanding, here is a list of examples of being active in the Pro-Life cause:
In addition, I would like to outline how praying for the continued holiness of the clergy is connected to building a global Culture of Life. As I have previously emphasized, the clergy are called by God to feed His Church. One of the major roles of the clergy in feeding His Church, is to provide spiritual guidance to the laity (Catholic and non-Catholic).
So what kind of guidance can the clergy give to the laity? The guidance that the clergy can provide includes the following:
Since one of the most important pillars of the Pro-Life cause is for the laity (Catholic and non-Catholic) to have children through the Sacred Bond of Marriage between one man and one woman; the Domestic Church can not build a just society without the spiritual guidance of the clergy. This makes praying unceasingly for the continued holiness of the clergy by Catholics to be of grave importance.
Finally, since protecting human life is an issue that has no boundaries, let every person across the world work together to construct a global Culture of Life, so that one day, all of humanity may be united in the peace of Christ!
Resources
(Note to Viewers: The
mentioning of a specific politician, statesman, political party, and judge, listed in the following resources
and tweets on the "Pro-Life" page,
doesn't mean an endorsement by LPCA to those in government, nor political realm
organizations. LPCA is not
responsible for the views expressed in the following resources or tweets, especially the
views expressed by commentators and journalists. LPCA does
however endorse the Culture of Life teachings from the popes, and the bishops who are in
communion
with the Holy Father. A good number of these
resources come from secular and non-Catholic sources. Although there are
imperfections in the secular and non-Catholic resources, they are still of great
benefit. The resources and tweets are posted
as a service.)
