By Larry Peterson
I usually walk 45 minutes to an hour before dawn. A
black sky, splattered endlessly with twinkling stars (sometimes accented by a
full moon) allows a person to witness the handiwork of God’s creation up close
and personal. It is (for me anyway) a magnificent and humbling sight.
Perfection just does not happen. You know God is. The proof is right above you.
I get home and it is 5:40 and still black outside. I
clean up, pour some coffee and open the newspaper. This is “my” time. I am
seizing the moment. Today, staring at me is a full page, color ad from an
organization called “Catholic for Choice”. The site is called, “Abortion in
Good Faith”. The site wants you to “take the pledge”. I breathe in, sip the coffee, and read on.
The banner proclaims;
Public Funding for
abortion is a Catholic social justice value.
Equal access to
comprehensive healthcare, including reproductive health services, is a moral
imperative.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The funny thing was, I was not appalled or even
angry. Instead, I found myself actually shocked and scared. I was shocked at
the seemingly Catholic nature of this ad and because I knew it was not. I was
scared because it was so well done. Never doubt for a moment that the devil is
the master of deceit and deception. He had prompted some fine work with this
ad. It appeared to be, more or less, “Catholic”.
Pope Francis has said, “The right to life is the first among human rights. To abort a child is
to kill
someone who cannot defend himself.”
St. John Paul II said, “The cemetery of the victims of human cruelty in our century is
extended to include yet another vast cemetery, that of the unborn.”
 |
| This tiny baby has a Right to Life |
The preceding two quotes are from two Popes, one a
canonized saint. They both were chosen to occupy the Chair of Peter and were
entrusted with the Keys to the Kingdom. Their words express the teaching of
Holy Mother Church, the Bride of Christ. We cannot claim to be Catholics and
reject or ignore the teaching of the Church. We cannot be “cafeteria
catholics”, picking and choosing what suits us. It is not about us. It is about
following Christ and His teachings.
The Right to Life is our most basic and fundamental
right as children of God and human beings. The miracles of science have shown
us that a child is functioning in the womb at six weeks of development (I hate
the word gestation). Usually, at that point, most women are just acknowledging
what could be happening inside their womb. That is when testing begins.
Now is when the smooth pitch for “Abortion in Good
Faith” kicks in. Here is the pledge:
The
harsh restrictions on public funding for abortion mean that lower-income women
don’t have access to abortion when they need it. Women who are dependent on
Medicaid, employees of the federal and state governments, military members, and
millions of others who are dependent on public funding simply don’t get the
same kind of care as women with money. That is not Catholic.
Our
campaign tells the stories of Catholics across the country who want meaningful,
accessible reproductive healthcare choices for everyone, no matter how much
money they have, where they live or what they believe.
We
believe that everyone deserves access to abortion.
Join
us. Sign the Pledge
Pledge
Now
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A young man named, John, who describes himself as a
student community organizer and a Catholic says, “Denying someone abortion care, or any healthcare, simply because they
cannot afford the procedure is an assault on their God-given dignity.” He
never mentions that Planned Parenthood receives more than a half-BILLION
dollars a year in taxpayer money and is the biggest abortion provider in the
country.
“Abortion in Good faith”, “Abortion care”, “and an
assault on our God- given dignity” are terms and phrases that do not even make
any sense. Whatever is “abortion care”?
Emergency health care to save a life of a woman after a botched abortion
would be “abortion care”. The sentence suggesting that denying someone an
abortion is an “assault on their God-given dignity” is so far-fetched it
rejects simple common sense.
Catholics who follow the tenets of their faith and
all those who respect life are under serious attack in today’s secular driven
environment. For some inexplicable reason many in today’s world have gone
“meistic” (my word). Self-gratification
dominates the landscape. Self-sacrifice and saying no to one’s impulses and
desires is mocked. We have heard the anti-Gods sing the song of, “Don’t worry-be
happy, God loves you, wants you to enjoy yourself and would never punish you.”
God certainly does love us all and He wants us to
enjoy eternity with Him in His home. But to get to His home there are rules to
follow and consequences for not doing so. The “Abortion in Good Faith” ad is
dangerous because so many Catholics are faith-deprived. They are easy prey to
this genteel persuasion. They have lost the fortifications of a faith filled
existence.
In today’s politically correct environment talking
about our faith and Jesus and His church is not an easy thing to do. But those of us who do believe and follow the
guidance of Christ’s church have to somehow reach outside the doors of the
church and grab some of those just looking in.
If all else fails maybe we could just get them to
look up at a black, starlit sky. The proof is in the perfection right above
them. Going back to basics may be a start.
Copyright ©Larry Peterson 2016 All Rights Reserved
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