A Letter to CUSANs

Rev. Jerry Bracken, C.P. CUSA National Chaplain

Dear CUSANs,

In thinking about my letter for this issue of The CUSAN, what came to mind was the homily I gave Sunday, May 15, just after the two events of May 14. I offer it to you because I think you as CUSANs are particularly apt to respond to what I preached.

Unusual for me, I based my homily on the psalm response—Psalm 145. I began saying: There are a lot of things going on in our times that can affect us deeply. Two of them happened yesterday. There was the mass shooting in Buffalo, New York, and there were the abortion-rights protests.

Of the mass shooting, CBS reported the following: “The 18-year-old suspect was arraigned within hours of the shooting. He faces first-degree murder charges and has pleaded not guilty. Police said he was motivated by hate.” CBS’s Kevin Rincon reported, “Investigators are looking through a hate-filled manifesto that’s laced with racist language.”

Of the abortion-rights protests, CBS reported, “Supporters of abortion rights took to the streets across America on Saturday to voice their anger over a leaked majority draft opinion by the Supreme Court that could overturn Roe v. Wade. Cries of ‘My body,

my choice’ rang out [from] activists committed to fighting for what they called reproductive freedom.”

What are we to make of this?

The Buffalo shooting is obviously a murderous killing of innocent people done out of hate, and against black people, as 11 of the 13 shot were black, 10 of whom died. As for the abortion-rights’ protests, many have seen a possible change of the Supreme Court’s decision about Roe vs. Wade as an attack on a woman’s body and her freedom of choice. Back-alley abortions have indeed been attacks on a woman’s body, but what about abortion itself? What should we think? What should our attitude be?

I think that Psalm 145 gives us guidance in both what to think and what our attitude should be. Take these verses: “Let all your works give you thanks, O Lord, and let your faithful ones bless you.” What are all the works of God? Everything he created from the stars in the heaven shining at night to the baby in the womb invisible to our sight.

I went to the Internet to find out about the baby in the womb. This is what I read:

The first of the four main stages of pregnancy occurs from the first to the sixth week. In this stage, the head starts to differentiate, the eyes appear distinctly. In the sixth week the heart can be seen and heard pulsating using Ultrasound.

The second stage starts from the beginning of the seventh week and goes until the end of the twelfth week. In this stage, the facial features can be distinguished, the genital organs start to develop, and there is the appearance of digits in the limbs.

The third stage starts from the beginning of the thirteenth week and goes until the end of the twentysecond week. In this stage, the bones start to develop, as well as the circulatory system; the sex of the embryo can be distinguished, and the mother can feel the movement of her fetus due to the strength of the embryo’s muscles.

The fourth stage starts from the beginning of the twenty-third week until the delivery and birth of the baby. In this stage, the development of all body systems is completed; the embryo can move its hands and feet.

Before the delivery, the embryo’s position changes gradually until its head is directed towards the cervix and vagina of the mother. The baby can be born in the twenty-eighth week, with all systems completely developed. Knowing this, what should be our attitude both toward those who protest to prevent an attack on a woman’s body and her freedom of choice and those who see abortion as an attack on the baby in the womb and its freedom of choice?

I think these verses of Psalm 145 tell us: “The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness. The Lord is good to all and compassionate toward all his works.”

We must be gracious and merciful towards those who are pro-choice and those who are pro-life. We cannot deny that an attack on a woman’s body and the baby’s body is wrong. But we can be merciful to both the woman and the baby.

So I ended my homily with the last two verses above.

Not too long after I gave the homily, I talked to two friends. Both are Catholic, and both have given birth— one boy and one girl for each. One mother said to me, “I can understand why someone could contemplate abortion. Pregnancy affects you profoundly, not just positively but also negatively.” She was glad to be pregnant, but both times she had morning sickness every day and both times a caesarean. The other mother said that no more than two years after her first child was born, she was pregnant again, but this time her husband left, leaving her without any money. She was afraid, not knowing what to do. Only by God’s grace could she pray for help and resist an abortion. Others helped, and welfare.

They helped me to better understand the need to be kind and merciful. Both the mother and the baby are in serious need—the baby whose physical needs