Parish Celebrations
Last month Bishop Carmel participated at a Celebration Mass marking Fr. Stuart Chipolina’s 25th Anniversary of his Priestly Ordination.
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t. Paul’s Parish Church was filled to capacity with many priests from the Diocese, Fr. Stuart’s family, well-wishers, friends and those who help him in his Ministry. Each picture represents a thousand words and surely there are thousands of actions made in hope, love and charity that have built 25 years of solid service to the Community. Meanwhile Fr. Stuart, in a short address, was full of gratitude for those who had helped him along the way as far back as when he was only 16 years old, already certain of his vocation, and went to see Bishop Edward Rapallo. In equal measure Fr. Stuart was anxious that his friends should forgive him his shortcomings, and yet both the very building of St. Paul’s Parish Church, expanded and refurbished during his tenure as parish priest, and this long running, Upon This Rock magazine stand as testimony to his gifts. 2 uponthisrock.gi
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25 Years in the Priesthood
Upon this Rock magazine is published monthly by EuropeAxess Media, Gibraltar. Editor: Fr. S. Chipolina: editor@uponthisrock.gi. Production Editor: A. Sargent: angela@europeaxess.com. Upon this Rock magazine is entirely supported by advertising and donations. It is run in liaison with the Catholic Diocese of Gibraltar by EuropeAxess Media Ltd. as a not-for-profit project. For Advertisers: This magazine is handdelivered to homes, churches, hospitals and many businesses around Gibraltar every month. To discuss your advertising requirements, or promote your church group or charity, call Tel: +350 200 79335 email: angela@europeaxess.com. Editorial is selected by EuropeAxess Media in liaison with the Catholic Diocese of Gibraltar. Neither of these parties is responsible for the accuracy of the information contained herein, nor do the views and opinions expressed herein necessarily reflect the views and opinions of either party. Advertisers are not endorsed by virtue of advertising in this magazine. EuropeAxess Media Ltd. reserves the right to refuse space to any submissions or advertisements. Efforts have been made to establish copyright owners of images, but if we have used your material, and have not credited you, please contact us to discuss restoration. The magazine is online at uponthisrock.gi. Cover Photo: Fr. Stuart Addresses the Parish ŠAngela Sargent.
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St.Bernard’s Day
Parish Celebrations
Gibraltar’s Patron Saint
On the 20th August Father Victor Ghio celebrated Mass on the feast of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux.
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t. Bernard of Clairvaux, was a great Doctor of the Church who lived from 1091 to 1153. His example and teachings are proving more useful than ever, even in our time because he taught the primacy of prayer and contemplation and stressed the importance of equilibrium between interiority and necessary work. Silence and Contemplation
Having withdrawn from the world after a period of intense inner travail, he was elected abbot of the Cistercian Monastery of Clairvaux at age 25, remaining its guide for 38 years until his death. His dedication to silence and contemplation did not prevent him from carrying out intense apostolic activity. He was also exemplary in his commitment to battle against his impetuous temperament, as well as his humility by which he recognised his own limitations and shortcomings. The riches and merits of his theology do not lie in having taken new paths, but rather in being able to propose the truths of the faith in a style so dear and incisive that it fascinated those listening and prepared their souls for recollection and prayer. For him, love is the greatest strength of the spiritual life. God, who is love, creates man out of love and out of love redeems him. The salvation of all human beings, mortally wounded by original sin and burdened by personal sins, consists in being firmly attached to divine love which
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was fully revealed to us in Christ Crucified and Risen.
A Propitious Date
We have to look back to another age to find St. Bernard’s link to Gibraltar, when the Rock was ferociously fought over by two powerful Empires, locally administered by Catholic Kings to the North and Arab Princes to the South. Catholic King Henry IV of Castille recovered the Rock for Christianity, on the 20th of
August 1462. He had chosen the date carefully, aligning this action with the feast day of the much revered St. Bernard. Local historian Manolo Galliano tells us that there is documentary evidence the Catholic King returned to Gibraltar where he attended Mass in the Cathedral just 16 months later, that building having by then been converted from a mosque to a place of Christian worship known as ‘The Cathedral of St. Mary the Crowned and St. Bernard.’ This August the parishioners of St. Bernard’s Church
remembered the victims of terrorism in their prayers and we pray that their patron saint might intercede once again to defend Christianity around the world. After Mass the congregation adjourned to the Parish Hall where an abundant feast worthy of Gibraltar’s Patron had been laid out for all to enjoy.
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Junno Arocho Esteve writes for the Catholic News Service
Follow Arocho on Twitter: @arochoju
When passing through the storm of life’s difficult moments, Christians must latch on to Christ and not the false sense of security offered by psychics and soothsayers, Pope Francis said.
presence, which pushes us to overcome existential storms, and the assurance of a hand that grabs us to help us face the difficulties, showing us the way even when it is dark.” The image of the boat in troubled waters, he added, also can represent the church, which throughout history has faced storms that “threaten to overwhelm her.” What saves the church is not “courage or the quality of its members,” but rather “faith in Christ and his word.” “In short, faith is not an escape from life’s problems but sustains it along the journey and gives it meaning,” Pope Francis said.
Put your trust in Jesus not horoscopes
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peaking to pilgrims before reciting the Angelus on the 13th of August, Pope Francis talked about the day’s Gospel, the story of Jesus walking on water. Jesus tells St. Peter to come to him, but his lack of faith when walking toward Jesus during a storm leaves him slowly sinking in the sea. Christians today, Pope Francis said, can also doubt the
assurance of Christ’s presence when confronting life’s “turbulent and hostile waters.” “When we do not cling to the word of the Lord, but consult horoscopes and fortune tellers to have more security, we begin to sink,” the pope said. Although most Romans escape the city during the summer, hundreds of pilgrims still made their way to St. Peter’s Square, waving banners and flags while cheering loudly as the pope appeared in the window of the Apostolic Palace. Pope Francis said the Sunday Gospel reading invites all Christians to reflect on their faith “both as individuals and as an ecclesial community, even the faith of all us here today in the square.” St. Peter’s request that Jesus call him, his moment of doubt and his subsequent cry for Jesus to save him, the pope said, “resembles our desire to feel close to the Lord, but also the fear and anguish that accompanies the most difficult moments of our life and of our communities, marked by internal frailty and external difficulty.” “Today’s Gospel reminds us that faith in the Lord and in his word doesn’t open a path where everything is easy and calm; it doesn’t take away life’s storms,” the pope said. “Faith gives us the security of a presence, Jesus’
About the artwork:
Christ and Saint Peter on the Sea of Galilee
This painting depicting the moment when Jesus takes St. Peter’s hand as he feels himself sinking into the sea was painted by Ippolito Scarsellino who was born in Italy in 1550. The painting was completed between 1585 and 1590 and was previously attributed to a follower of Jacopo Tintorettoc. Scarsellino was born and worked in Ferrara but was strongly influenced by Venetian
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art, where he likely trained during the 1570s. This work bears many of the hallmarks of sixteenth-century Venetian painting: a rustic outdoor setting, dramatic contrasts of light and dark, rich colour, and a loose, gestural style of presenting drapery with “lightning bolt” strokes that indicate the rapid movements of the brush. Although the Sea of Galilee gleams placidly in the distance, a gust of wind blows in the foreground, lifting Peter’s cape. According to the book of Matthew, the disciple saw Christ walking on water and tried to swim towards him; but frightened by the strong winds, he began to drown, until Christ saved him. Three other disciples visibly react to the scene from their fishing boat. As dawn breaks on the horizon, light surrounds Christ’s head like an aura. The expressive gestures and luminous seascape lend the scene an urgent, ecstatic quality. Thanks to the Harvard Art Museums’ Fogg Museum, USA, where the painting hangs, a Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop
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Gibraltar Cursillo Team Leaders write part one of a special two part history of the Gibraltar Cursillo Movement.
This year marks the 40th anniversary of Cursillo Movement weekends being held in Gibraltar.
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ver these forty years over 3,000 men and women have experienced a beautiful encounter with our Lord during one of these weekend events. Whilst we celebrate our 40th anniversary, the Cursillo Movement has been in existence around the world for many years. 8 uponthisrock.gi
The Cursillo Movement was born during the l940s on the island of Mallorca. The first seeds sprouted from within Catholic Action, a strong movement focussing on young people who realised the need for a new evangelisation following the Spanish Civil war and World War II. During this time the concept of Cursillos in Christianity developed. One must recognise the inspiration
of the Holy Spirit which was received and shared by a group of people, amongst them Eduardo Bonnin, a layman who would play a prominant role in the development of the Movement. There were also Priests who were instrumental in the development of the Movement among them Mgr. Sebastian Gaya and Bishop Juan Hervas, who gave his blessing for Cursillos to start in his Dioceses. Mgr. Gaya was very fond of Gibraltar and visited the Rock on two occasions to run retreats. The causes for the beatification of Eduardo Bonnin and Mgr. Gaya have already commenced. There is a broad consensus that the first Cursillo as we know it today took place from the 7th to the 10th of January l949 in Mallorca and was directed by Eduardo Bonnin. The evangelising potential of Cursillos was soon identified and more were held during the following years. When Bishop Hervas was moved to Valencia, Cursillos started and spread thought the Spanish mainland, then on to Latin America where the first Cursillo was held in l953. The Cursillos in Christianity spread to Europe and other
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parts of the world, including USA, Canada, Australia South Korea to mention a few, and more recently South Africa where the Gibraltar Movement played an important role in the development of Cursillos in this continent. The world Presidency is rotated between the world groups with the country holding the Presidency of each group being elected. Gibraltar was elected to hold the Presidency of the European group from 2006 till 2010. A European Encounter was held in Gibraltar in 1998 and was attended by delegates from many countries.
Bishop Rapallo’s Permission
In order for Cursillos to take place in any territory, approval must first be obtained from the Diocesan Bishop. The Cursillo movement is therefore a movement of the Church and is characterised mainly for its evangelising nature. The Cursillo Movement continues with the blessing of Popes Paul VI, and John Paul II, Benedict XVI and more recently Pope Francis. Canonical Approval by the Holy See was also granted. All of these Pope’s have
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M en & Women
40 attended European and World encounters. During the l960s some men from Gibraltar were invited to participate in Cursillos in Malaga and Tetuan. They returned with great enthusiasm and a desire to launch the Movement in Gibraltar. Being something completely new they had to wait patiently, persevering in their Group reunions until 1976 when Bishop Edward Rapallo gave his blessing for the first Cursillos to be held in Gibraltar.
A ‘Great Family’
One of the attendees to one of the earliest Cursillos commented “Forty years ago a friend invited me to a Cursillo in Christianity. I had never heard of the Cursillos prior to this and it took a while for me to decide, but somehow I felt drawn to it. I decided to go and it was not just a retreat but a profound experience. I was touched, not only by the talks given by Priests but by those given by laymen who spoke about Jesus and His church through
Years in
Gibraltar
the witness of their lives. I had always attended Sunday Mass and took an interest in the Church, but in the Cursillo I discovered the love of God and the working of the Holy Spirit. It was a personal encounter with Jesus Christ. I could say, in a way, that the words of the Father to the elder son, “but my son, everything I have is yours” became a reality. I realised the importance of Holy Scripture, of visiting Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament and appreciate the beauty of the Sacred Liturgy. I also discovered the true meaning of the Church and that I was, though baptism, a member of a great family. I have through the years appreciated all the wonderful people who work for the Church who may not have experienced a Cursillo, people who work in other Church activities and the privilege of working with Priests. I am still the same person, with my joys and also my hardships when they may come along, but strengthened by the knowledge that God is by my side, the “God
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of compassion and love, slow to anger and abounding in mercy”, who will forgive my failings, failings of which I am more conscious than before. I have for many years worked within the Cursillo Movement and realise that this has been a tremendous blessing for which I am forever grateful to God”.
Your Time?
The Cursillo Movement will be celebrating their 40th anniversary at the Catholic Community Centre on the 20th
and 21st October, everyone is invited. Additionally the Movement will be running Cursillo weekends at the Retreat Centre from the 12th till the 15th October for women and from the 9th till the 12th November for men. Please contact us on 58008885 or send us an email on cursillogibraltar@ gmail.com and we’ll send you an enrolment form, we look forward to seeing you there. God Bless Cursillo Team Leaders
FUNDING AVAILABLE
The Christian Mission Trust provides local Christians with donations for evangelistic initiatives and outreaches. The Trust is ecumenical and has provided money to many groups, individuals and churches during the last 12 years. It is run by a Board of Trustees.
We invite applications for funding from anyone who wishes to launch an evangelistic initiative or who needs support for an existing Christian missionary activity. Please write to: The Chairman, Christian Mission Trust, 4 South Pavilion Road, Gibraltar.
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The Pontifical Academy for Life:
Edited clarifications and considerations on the subject, reaffirming already well-known
Why you don’t want to
‘Morning-After Pill’
As is commonly known, the so-called ‘morning-after pill’ went on sale in pharmacies in Gibraltar last month, but why is it a bad idea to use it? What is the ‘morning-after pill’?
It is a well-known chemical product (of the hormonal type) which has frequently been presented by many in the field and by the mass media as a mere contraceptive or, more precisely, as an “emergency contraceptive”, which can be used within a short time after a presumably fertile act of sexual intercourse,
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should one wish to prevent the continuation of an unwanted pregnancy.
Why is there such a bad reaction?
The inevitable critical reactions of those who have raised serious doubts about how this product works, namely, that its action is not merely “contraceptive” but “abortifacient”, have received the very hasty
reply that such concerns appear unfounded, since the morning-after pill has an “anti-implantation” effect, thus implicitly suggesting a clear distinction between abortion and interception (preventing the implantation of the fertilized ovum, i.e., the embryo, in the uterine wall).
Does it affect the rights of the unborn child?
Considering that the use of this product concerns fundamental human rights and values, to the point of involving the origins of human life itself, the Pontifical Academy for Life feels the pressing duty and definite need to offer some clarifications and considerations on the subject, reaffirming moreover already wellknown ethical positions supported by precise scientific data and reinforced by Catholic doctrine.
How Does it Work?
The morning-after pill is a hormone-based preparation (it can contain oestrogens, oestrogen/progestogens or only progestogens) which, within and no later than 72 hours after a presumably fertile act of sexual intercourse, has a predominantly “antiimplantation” function, i.e., it prevents a possible fertilized ovum (which is a human embryo), by now in the blastocyst stage of its
development (fifth to sixth day after fertilization), from being implanted in the uterine wall by a process of altering the wall itself.
What does it do?
The final result will thus be the expulsion and loss of this embryo. Only if this pill were to be taken several days before the moment of ovulation could it sometimes act to prevent the latter (in this case it would function as a typical “contraceptive”).
Does the time the pill is taken make a difference to the outcome?
The woman who uses this kind of pill does so in the fear that she may be in her fertile period and therefore intends to cause the expulsion of a possible new conceptus; above all, it would be unrealistic to think that a woman, finding herself in the situation of wanting to use an emergency contraceptive, would be able to know exactly and opportunely her current state of fertility.
Why do scientists use complex terms for different phases of the baby’s development?
The decision to use the term “fertilized ovum” to indicate the earliest phases of embryonic development can
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ethical positions supported by precise scientific data and reinforced by Catholic doctrine.
o be taking the so-called
Does the morningafter pill cause an abortion?
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consistent nor scientifically justifiable to say that we are not dealing with the same thing.
The Sacred Moment of Conception The beginning of a new life, when the mother’s egg is fertilized by the father’s sperm. The baby continues the journey down the fallopian tube to the womb.
When does pregnancy begin?
Implantation
Seven to ten days after ovulation the rapidly growing baby reaches the wall of the mother’s womb where it obtains sustenance until birth. It is clear, that the proven “anti-implantation” action of the morning-after pill is
Moreover, it seems sufficiently clear that those who ask for or offer this pill are seeking the direct termination of a possible pregnancy already in progress, just as in the case of abortion. Pregnancy, in fact, begins with fertilization and not with the implantation of the blastocyst in the uterine wall, which is what is being implicitly suggested.
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in no way lead to an artificial value distinction between different moments in the development of the same human individual. In other words, if it can be useful, for reasons of scientific description, to distinguish with conventional terms (fertilized ovum, embryo, fetus, etc.) different moments in a single growth process, it can never be legitimate to decide arbitrarily that the human individual has greater or lesser value (with the resulting variation in the duty to protect it) according to its stage of development.
really nothing other than a chemically induced abortion. It is neither intellectually
Is it against God’s will?
From the ethical standpoint
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Catholic Doctrine the same absolute unlawfulness of abortifacient procedures also applies to distributing, prescribing and taking the morningafter pill. All who, whether sharing the intention or not, directly co-operate with this procedure are also morally responsible for it.
What is the position of the Catholic Church in Gibraltar
A further consideration should be made by Catholics in Gibraltar regarding the use of the morning-after pill. In Gibraltar the Bishop of Gibraltar, Carmel Zammit, has described the use, prescription and dispensing of the morningafter pill as “morally wrong” in a statement published by The Gibraltar Chronicle last month. This came after the Gibraltar Government announced that the morning-after pill would be available over the counter as from last August 3. Previously, the morning-after pill was only available on prescription at the Primary Care Centre. Wading into the debate, Bishop Zammit flagged the teachings of the Catholic Church on the subject and described the drug as an “abortifacient”, stating that it “causes the chemically induced abortion of a life that already exists”. In a statement the Bishop acknowledged that it is up to the authorities to decide what they consider is best for the ‘Common Good’, adding that in a democratic society anyone may welcome or disagree with what the authorities decide. “That said, it is my duty as the Bishop of the Catholic Church in Gibraltar to draw attention, particularly to those who profess the Catholic faith,
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to what the Church’s position is and what it teaches about the morning-after pill,” he said. The Church holds that human life begins from the moment of fertilization and not with the implantation of the fertilized ovum. “The morning-after pill is a drug which prevents implantation in the womb of the fertilized egg.” “In other words, the drug interferes with human life that already exists before implantation.” “The morning-after pill is therefore not like a contraceptive which prevents the creation of a human life, which the Church also opposes.”
How can we help prevent these attacks on human life in its most vulnerable form?
These procedures are becoming more widespread, the Pontifical Academy for Life strongly urges everyone to make a firm objection of moral conscience, which will bear courageous and practical witness to the inalienable value of human life, especially these new hidden forms of aggression against the weakest and most defenceless individuals, as is the case with a human embryo.
Debunking the Is the world really overpopulated? Could we not cure countless social problems if we stabilized or curbed the rate of population growth?
No
The claims of the Zero Population Growth lobby crumble in any encounter with the facts. Proponents of population control argue that the earth has too fragile an environment and too limited space and resources to sustain population growth. Historic and scientific facts prove these arguments false. More importantly, Sacred Scripture and the teachings of the Catholic Church on man’s nature and the purpose of the earth provide a proper understanding of the issues involved, and offer just solutions for the social problems of our day.
Article largely taken from previously published material by Vatican City, 31 October 2000, and The Gibraltar Chronicle, August 2017
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An article by Helen M. Valois from the Catholics United for the Faith website
OVERPOPULATION MYTH
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ehind the movement for contraception, abortion, and sterilization lies the allegation of overpopulation. It is said that poverty, crime, hunger, pollution, and a host of other evils stem from having too many people in the world. This world view is treated as fact by many educational programs in public and private schools. US foreign policy often makes aid to developing nations dependent on their acceptance of population control measures. Antinatalists—those who oppose population growth—promote abortion, contraception, sterilization, euthanasia, and other means to regulate and curb population growth. Because of the gravity of these issues, they deserve separate consideration.1 Therefore, it is not our purpose here to evaluate these means of population control, but rather to examine the allegations used to promote them—namely, that the world contains, or will soon
contain, too many people—and refute these allegations with the truth. Concerns about the number of people on our planet date back to ancient times. Plato, Aristotle, and St. Jerome are among those who voiced opinions on the subject.
Conserving Room and Resources?
We are nowhere near running out of anything.2 In fact, the vast majority of the planet’s inhabitable surface is uninhabited. There are approximately 52.5 million square miles of land in the world, not including Antarctica. In 1997, the world’s population was 5.9 billion. By allowing 3.5 square feet per person, all the people in the world could be brought together in an area the size of the city of Jacksonville, Florida. While everyone would admittedly be cramped in Jacksonville, it would be possible to allot each individual
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person 1,000 square feet (4,000 square feet of living space for a family of four) and still fit the entire world’s population in the states of Nebraska, Kansas, and South Dakota, leaving the rest of the United States, plus Canada, Mexico, Central and South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Australian South Pacific areas completely uninhabited by man.3 See illustration overleaf. “The impression of the typical air passenger, that he is looking down on a mostly empty earth, is correct.”4 Furthermore, there is little evidence that our resources are running out. Marshalling the available data, Kasun concludes that “there is very little probability of running out of anything essential to the industrial process at any time in the foreseeable future.”5 In fact, most of the depletion deadlines predicted by Zero Population Growth (ZPG) alarmists of the 60s and 70s
have already passed. Where is the threatened global collapse? Evidently, the “population bomb” was a dud.
Ruining the Environment?
Another favourite tactic of the ZPG lobby is to pit population against the environment. They allege that the global ecosystem is fragile and irreplaceable. Billions of people being born will be the undoing of the very matrix of biological life itself. This is the thinking behind abortion patriarch Lawrence Lader. In his book Breeding Ourselves to Death, he chronicles the efforts of Hugh Moore, zealous promoter of both the disposable Dixie Cup and the original “population bomb” concept. Anyone who has ever been to Fresh Kills, New Jersey, where piles of refuse stretch from horizon to horizon, will readily concede that pollution is a serious problem. While man has
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An article by Helen M. Valois from the Catholics United for the Faith website existed for thousands of years, industrialization has had a more harmful effect on the earth than earlier lifestyles. However, industrialization itself, and not the number of people per se, is responsible for environmental degradation. It is up to the beneficiaries of the Industrial Revolution, namely, all of us, to see to it that advances are preserved and harmful effects are controlled and even eliminated. Perhaps it would be more to the point, in other words, to use fewer plastic bags rather than more condoms. Concurring with the antinatalists, many animal rights lobbyists argue that human beings are the dangerous foreign element to be purged from, or at least contained upon, an otherwise pristine planet. They insist that some day humans and wildlife may be able to coexist in a peaceful balance, but that day has not yet arrived. Stabilizing the human population is essential if we are to achieve that balance (original emphasis).6 This argument not only denies the privileged position man has over the lower creatures, it places him at a lower level of importance. While defining the human being as “the only animal that practices birth control,”7 many groups such as NWF contend that this one “animal” has no business thriving and surviving in this world. Do human beings belong exclusively to the natural world, or do they also belong to the supernatural? If we belong exclusively to the natural world, we have just as much right to exist as do snail darters and seals. The case is even more compelling when we consider man’s supernatural calling.
Consummate Consumer
For the overpopulation alarmist, the child is the consummate consumer. As one antinatalist ad of the 1970s put it, “Every 8 seconds a new American is born. He is a disarming little thing, but he will consume 56,000,000 gallons of water, 21,000 gallons of gasoline, 150 pounds of meat, 28,000 pounds of milk and cream, 9,000 pounds of wheat, and great storehouses of all other foods, drinks, and
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tobaccos.”8 No mention is made of the fact that this same child will also grow up to be a producer, contributing to society in tangible and intangible ways.
Reducing World Hunger?
Although the “eliminating useless eaters” strategy was tried in this century by the Nazis and judged a crime against humanity, the antinatalists continue to advocate it when they address the problem of world hunger. They argue that to reduce world hunger we must reduce the numbers of the hungry. “Pope Denounces Birth Control as Millions Starve,” trumpets an ad placed in The New York Times by the Campaign to Check the Population Explosion.9 The ad was placed in response to the promulgation of Pope Paul VI’s courageous encyclical, Humanae Vitae. In a world where there is plenty of food poorly distributed— and the potential of producing many times more food than we have already—shouldn’t we feed people rather than eliminate them? Pope Paul VI called for increased economic development while rejecting contraception. There is an old story about a ZPG zealot attending a penthouse cocktail party. Holding forth at eloquent length on the need to reduce the number of people in the world, he was interrupted in his monologue by the hostess, who graciously ushered him to a nearby window. “If there are too many people in the world,” she smiled, “why don’t you go first?” Proponents of population control are not arguing that there are too many people in the world. They are arguing that there are too many other people in the world. True to their eugenic roots, population alarmists divide the human race into the valuable part, which deserves to live, and the worthless part, which doesn’t. The first tenet of their creed is that they themselves belong to the valuable, “good genes” group. In pitting population against natural resources, the environment, room on the planet, and available food, they
If all the humanity lived in one city...
In 2013, if all 6.9 billion people had lived in one city in the US with a similar density as for instance in London, they would use up 553,745 square miles, shown above. Even if that pink area were redrawn for a population of 7.5 billion, as at August 2017, the rest of World would be uninhabited by humans.
simultaneously pit humanity against itself.
Catholic Objections to the Overpopulation Myth
The means and goal of population control proponents contradict the Catholic faith. The overpopulation myth we have been describing fails to recognize these fundamental truths: (1) the priceless value of each person, who is an immortal being made in the image and likeness of God (cf. Gen. 1:26-28); (2) the universal destination of goods; and (3) the preferential option for the poor. While the antinatalists see and analyse a “population,” the Christian knows that a population is a group—however large—of individual human beings. Each of us is endowed by God with an immortal soul. We are made in His image and likeness. Therefore, each person is not only more valuable than any earthly thing, but is valued on an entirely different scale. This truth makes population suppression repugnant, even if the claims of earthly amelioration were
proven to be true. It would not be a Pyrrhic victory but a hellish defeat to wipe out world hunger by wiping out the hungry, to eradicate poverty by eradicating the poor. The hungry and poor are worth more than both their afflictions and the resources necessary to sustain them. Indeed, it is their own inestimable worth that makes their afflictions worth addressing in the first place. Individuals are equally valuable in the sight of God. Eugenic thinking is racist and directly opposed to the teachings of Christ. While the antinatalists regard a baby as a way of wasting good food and resources, the Christian knows that sustaining human life is what food and resources are for. The notion that sustenance and raw materials should be hoarded for the privileged few by denying existence to the underprivileged, contradicts the universal destination of goods. God intends this world’s resources to be used by all people and not just by some. As the Catechism explains, “The goods of creation are destined for the whole human race” (no.
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2402). The Catechism further provides: “Goods of production . . . oblige their possessors to employ them in ways that will benefit the greatest number” (no. 2405, emphasis added). When the antinatalists urge us to curb the births of less privileged humanity, they preach against every admonition of the Old and New Testaments on the subject of the poor. For the poor are the apple of God’s eye and the proper object of our charity. The phrase “preferential option for the poor” points to a real facet of Christian teaching. In the Gospel sense, the antinatalist could be described as having a “preferential option for the rich.” Paganism generally views new life with a critical eye, while the Judeo-Christian ethic sees children as a blessing from the Lord. As Psalm 128:3-4 attests: “Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your children will be like olive shoots around your table. Lo, thus shall the man be blessed who fears the LORD.” God Himself took flesh as a poor baby—bound to consume tons
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and tons of food, but also bound to set us free. Christianity alone can debunk the overpopulation myth. Therefore the answer to this problem, as to the other problems of the modern world, is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Spreading this Gospel is a vigorous and necessary task of the new evangelization, a task which our Holy Father so often urges us to undertake. This article is has been edited and shortened, the full text with the same title is available as a PDF download from Catholics United for the Faith website www.cuf.org
subscribes to their magazines to withdraw support. 7 Paul R. Ehrlich, Anne H. Ehrlich, and Gretchen C. Daily, The Stork and the Plow: The Equity Answer to the Human Dilemma (New York: Putnam, 1995), 33. 8 Lawrence Lader, Breeding Ourselves to Death (New York: Ballantine, 1971), 82. 9 Ibid.
Recommended Reading Humanae Vitae: Encyclical Letter of His Holiness Pope Paul VI
Footnotes
See CUF’s FAITH FACTs on these issues 2 Jacqueline Kasun, The War Against Population (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1988), 37-38. 3 Rick and Jan Hess, A Full Quiver (Brentwood, TN: Wolgemuth & Hyatt, Publishers, Inc., 1989), 7277. 4 Kasun, 38. 5 Ibid., 39. 6 Long before June 1997, the NWF had promoted population control measures, including abortions and sterilizations. CUF recommends anyone who supports NWF or 1
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