Lent Begins

This coming week we will give a survey to the young people in eighth grade who are preparing for confirmation.  It is a survey I used in my last parish and helps us to see what these young people know and think about sexual morality.  Today they have many more sources of information than we did as young people.  All they have to do is to go on the internet and there are countless sites that will give them information and misinformation.  We as a church have a wealth of teachings from our tradition that will help our young people form a solid basis for understanding and forming their consciences.  In preparation for this survey I met with their parents last week and showed them the questions.  In order for us to truly help our young people we need to work together for their good. 

One of the things I speak to the young people about is abortion.  In past years it is very clear that most of them know that abortion is murder.  But they really do not know exactly what happens when an abortion is performed.  One of the issues that those seeking to run for president of our nation take sides on is abortion, or as the pro-abortion proponents call it, preserving the right to choose (pro-choice).  With the young people I show a presentation of a child growing in the womb from twelve weeks to about twenty weeks.  In that progression it shows how the child continues to grow and develop.  There is no question that the child looks like a human being.  Then I tell them the truth about exactly what happens when an abortion is performed.  Some of the parents gasped when I spoke about it in the meeting with them.  It is a harsh description, but one that we don’t see publicized in the media, especially by those who support pro-abortion candidates and rights.  One of the methods involves going into the womb, cutting up the baby and then cleaning out the womb.  That is certainly horrid and violent.  Another procedure involves injecting a saline solution into the womb of the mother which burns the baby to death.  Then the baby is ejected from the womb.  The third method in the news concerns partial birth abortion.  That procedure pulls the baby out of the womb feet first, opens the head while it is still in the mother, sucks out the brain, and then pulls the dead baby out the rest of the way.

Yes, these are horrible things to write and read.  But they are the facts.  This is what our politicians who are pro-choice are trying to protect.  This is what the right to an abortion does to the child growing in the womb.  History has recorded the evil of Adolf Hitler who was responsible for the deaths of twelve million people in World War II.  The concentration camps were death camps.  He is not a man who is admired, but looked at with disdain and the most extreme sadness.  Then there were the pogroms of Stalin who killed millions of his own people.  He too has gone down in history as one who did great evil.  Since the legalization of abortion more than 40 million children have lost their lives through this "choice" that is so vile and violent.  Yet we do not call those politicians who promote it and promise to defend it evil, we are calling some of them presidential candidates.  Abortion is only one issue, but the attitude of those who promote it does not bode well for the history of our nation or for the moral fiber of our country.  Where will their place in history be?  More importantly for them, where will their place in eternity be?

It was disturbing to read in The New York Times last week that the Catholic vote is a harbinger of success for one of the democratic candidates seeking the presidential nomination.  How can we as followers of Jesus, as Catholics support those who are pro-abortion?  In his book, "Go in Peace," Pope John Paul II says: "The Church asks us to go, in the power of the Holy Spirit, to those who are near and those who are far away.&nxbsp; Share with them the freedom we have found in Christ.  People thirst for genuine inner freedom.They yearn for the life that Christ came to give in abundance.  The world of the new millennium is like a field ready for the harvest.  Christ needs laborers ready to work in His vineyard.  May we not fail Him.  In our hands, let us carry the Cross of Christ.  On our lips, let us speak the words of life.  And in our hearts, let us share the saving grace of the Lord." Our words and attitudes influence our young people.  Our hands pull the levers in the voting booths and so give power to our fellow human beings to govern our nation.  Let us carry the Cross of Christ in our hands and speak his words of truth with love and conviction.  We are his laborers today.  To truly be Catholic is a gift, and like any other gift, brings responsibility.  Jesus has faith that we will be his presence today, especially for those who cannot speak for themselves. 

Father Walden