April 6, 2018 at 1:53 p.m.
REFLECTION
Independence Day 2013: freedom to choose life
Independence Day is supposed to commemorate the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, a formal explanation of why Congress had voted to declare independence from Great Britain. The Declaration of Independence has become a major statement on human rights, particularly its second sentence: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
That sentence has been the moral standard our nation has tried to live up to ever since - but as we blow out the 237 candles on our nation's birthday cake, these foundational rights are being challenged.
LIFE
In New York, we already have the distinction of being the "abortion capital of the nation," with the highest abortion rate of any state. Every three pregnancies here end in abortion.
Nevertheless, we have a governor who included practically unlimited, unrestricted rights to abortion as part of his 10-point "Women's Equality Agenda." He was willing to hold the other nine points of the agenda - positions with which the Catholic Church agreed - hostage unless abortion was included.
While there was a time when abortion supporters claimed they wanted to make abortion "safe, legal and rare," Gov. Andrew Cuomo and his supporters backed a measure that is designed to do the contrary.
Elsewhere was the May 13 conviction of Dr. Kermit Gosnell, an isolated, out-of-control abortionist. Is this just the tip of a gory iceberg? Only time can tell.
Cardinal Sean O'Malley of Boston, who chairs the U.S. bishops' Committee on Pro-Life Activities, has warned of an "alarming trend nationwide" after Vermont legalized physician-assisted suicide on May 20: There are now three states where physician-assisted suicide is now legal.
If this trend continues, it will present a moral and ethical threat to society, the medical profession, the disabilities community and the common good. It brings spiritual death, a cheapening of human life and a corrupting of the medical profession.
LIBERTY
Pope Francis says we're not called to be "part-time Christians," but "to live our faith at every moment of every day." We know that religious freedom protects more than the freedom to worship on Sunday; it also protects our ability to live out our faith the other six days of the week.
Yet, our government now seems to think otherwise: The federal Health and Human Services mandate requires religious employers to cover abortion and contraception in employees' health coverage.
The debate over the HHS mandate isn't about the Catholic Church trying to force its beliefs on others. It's about the government trying to force its beliefs on our Church! It's not about access to contraception, which is widely available already. It's about a government regulation forcing Catholics and those of other faiths to act against their moral beliefs.
Illinois, Boston, San Francisco and Washington, D.C., have driven local Catholic Charities out of adoption or foster care services because they wouldn't violate their beliefs by placing children with same-sex couples or unmarried, cohabiting opposite-sex couples. Several states have passed laws to forbid what they see as the "harboring" of undocumented immigrants, and which the Church sees as its duty to Christian charity and pastoral care.
Despite the Church's great track record of helping victims of human trafficking, the federal government sought to require the U.S. bishops' Migration and Refugee Services to provide or refer for contraceptive and abortion services as a condition of receiving government contracts. And in one of the most surprising attacks in recent weeks, on June 17 President Obama described religious education, especially Catholic schools, as a source of conflict while speaking in Northern Ireland.
CHOOSE LIFE
It seems many of these challenges to our religious freedom are rooted in what Pope John Paul II described as "the culture of death." While some pro-life adherents may be single-issue advocates, Church teaching calls on us to have what Cardinal Joseph Bernardin of Chicago described as a "consistent ethic of life."
All human life is sacred and should be protected by law. We must be equally opposed to abortion, capital punishment, assisted suicide, economic injustice and euthanasia.
Some people who call themselves "pro-life" have been criticized as simply "pro-fetus." But purveyors of the culture of death hide behind such euphemisms as "pro-choice" or "euthanasia" to obscure the reality of what they are actually supporting: anticipated murder to prevent someone from being born (abortion) and what John Paul II referred to as "a disturbing perversion of mercy" (physician-assisted suicide).
We choose life! We choose the life of the unborn child, the youngster, the teen, the senior citizen. We stand with the oppressed, the unjustly accused or imprisoned. We choose the poor and the lame and are in solidarity with the anawim of today - the poor of every sort, the vulnerable, the marginalized, the lowly ones.
But, as we observe Independence Day 2013, the disturbing question is: How much longer will we be allowed to make that choice?
(Mr. Mawn is associate director for catechist formation and respect life issues for the Albany diocesan Office of Evangelization, Catechesis and Family Life.)[[In-content Ad]]
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