Position Papers – May 2019 by Position Papers

Number 529 May 2019 €3 · £2.50 · $4

A review of Catholic affairs

The Church and the scandal of sexual abuse BENEDICT XVI GEORGE WEIGEL

Who are Sri Lanka’s Christians? MATHEW SCHMALZ

Films: Unplanned

BISHOP ROBERT BARRON

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Number 529 · May 2019

by Fr Gavan Jennings

In Passing: Out of the crucible of unimaginable sorrow

Editorial

by Michael Kirke

The Church and the scandal of sexual abuse by Benedict XVI

The Catholic Difference: The Ratzinger Diagnosis by George Weigel

Woman of the Eucharist by Rev. Donncha Ó hAodha

Who are Sri Lanka’s Christians? by Mathew Schmalz

Books: Voluntary Organisations and the State by Tim O’Sullivan

Films: Unplanned by Bishop Robert Barron

Editor: Assistant editors: Subscription manager: Secretary: Design:

12 21 24 29 33 37

Rev. Gavan Jennings Michael Kirke, Pat Hanratty, Brenda McGann Liam Ó hAlmhain Dick Kearns Eblana Solutions

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Editorial

had the very good fortune to spend Holy Week in the Eternal City this year, visiting with a group of students for the “UNIV Congress” – an annual Holy Week event in Rome for university students who are receiving formation in centres of Opus Dei. I’ve been on this trip a good few times by now, but for me it never grows stale; I suspect this is the case because it never fails to provide a unique experience of the mystery of the Church itself. Somehow during this week in Rome those four mysterious marks of the Church: its oneness, holiness, catholicity and apostolicity become manifest in a particularly vibrant manner. Her essential qualities seem to shine out through the art, music, and the liturgy of the Church and through the pilgrims themselves. A girl on a previous UNIV trip described to me “an epiphany” of the Church she had had during Easter Sunday Mass in St Peter’s Square: during the Pope’s homily she had looked around her and been struck by all the various ears she could see with their variety of shapes, colours, and ages – all listening intently to the words of one elderly man, the Pope! She saw in this a revelation of the Church itself with its huge diversity centred on the visible point of union, the Holy Father. It is in Rome, and during Holy Week in particular when pilgrims from all around the world are drawn to the Rome, that the “accidents” of the Church seem to fall away: its temporality, its spatiality, and even the defective nature of its members. As one passes from the catacombs – those humble excavations in the tufa of subterranean Rome with their primitive frescoes and carvings, to some of the most magnificent buildings the world has ever seen, you realise that the exact same spirit permeates both. The vast beauty of Michelangelo’s Renaissance dome of St Peter’s basilica takes your breath away, and yet for all that it is in continuity with the slightly faded, humble images of Bible scenes painted on the catacomb walls by anonymous artists of the first years of Christianity. Space like time also fades away there. Pale northern Europeans, dark Hispanics, sallow Asians and ebony Africans, all with their myriad of different languages and

national traits (and personal defects) are united there, consummati in unum. While queueing to enter St Peter’s basilica for the Easter Vigil Mass, I was talking to a young Japanese girl who had come to Rome with a group of UNIV students. A year earlier she had known virtually nothing of the Faith but was so struck by the beauty of St Peter’s basilica on the one hand, and the cheerfulness of Christians on the other hand, that she was certain of one thing about Catholicism: that she wanted to be part of it. Here she was again a year later, queueing to enter that same basilica, and surrounded by a cheerful laughing crowd of fellow queuers; the only difference being that this time she was queuing as a Catholic having been baptised last December. She kept repeating: “How lucky I am to be a Catholic!” The Eucharist in particular was something which caused her particular delight: “I cannot get my head around it” she told me. (In fact she told me that soon after converting she encountered an “ex-Methodist” who when she heard that this girl had converted simply said: “So you discovered the Eucharist then.”). A few hours later, as the Easter Vigil ended I was conversing with another Dublin priest who had ended up sitting next to me. As the trumpets played the jubilant finale he said to me virtually the same thing I’d heard earlier in the queue: “How fortunate we are to be Catholics!” And it did strike me that we were being treated to a beautiful glimpse of the splendour of the Church herself; through the soaring vault over Bernini’s baldaquino, through the stirring music, the nearby presence of the successor of Peter and the joy of the faith which pervaded the whole basilica. Clearly the Church is a wonderful mystery, a mysterium magnum, and we should not be so surprised nor put out when those who do not share the faith exhibit no real understanding of the great mystery which is the Church. Perhaps the depth of ignorance regarding Church matters is baffling. I’m thinking of the recent report in the New York Times that a priest had managed to removed “the statue of Jesus” from the burning Notre Dame cathedral; he had been told that a priest had rescued the Eucharist from the Church – the body of

Christ – for him: a statue! Indeed in the reporting of the burning of the roof of Notre Dame the media in many cases exhibited a tonedeafness (perhaps a voluntary tone-deafness) to the religious dimension and significance of the cathedral. And despite all that it was very clear that the shock generated by the images of the burning roof and falling spire were not the shock of people witnessing a museum on fire; it was something deeper felt than that. It seemed to me that the shock came from a latent nostalgia for the Catholic world. It seemed to resonate from a personal connection with that building; with the woman it honoured and the Christ it housed. Perhaps too we shouldn’t bee surprised that this Church, the mystery of God’s dwelling with mankind, should also at times stir up a truly visceral and diabolical hatred (in the strict sense of the word) of the kind we saw unleashed on hundreds of poor Sri Lankan Christians early on Easter Sunday morning. The devil is far from tone-deaf to the reality of the Catholic Church – he sees clearly that it is the mystery of the Risen Christ still present among his people. Christ having died and risen cannot die again, but it is clear that the forces of evil will try to ensure that Christ dies again in the members of his mystical body. To the degree that we feel ourselves part of that mystical body we will not be indifferent to events such as the fire in Notre Dame or the bombings in Sri Lanka. St Paul himself urged us to rejoice and suffers in the joys and sufferings of one another within the Church: “… that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honoured, all rejoice together with it” (1 Cor. 12: 25-16). We can apply that advice to our concern and prayer for our suffering brothers and sisters in Sri Lanka during these very sad days. And at

the same time, despite the often terrible sufferings of members of the Church throughout the world at any given moment – sufferings we should share in – there is also the experience of the joy – the great good fortune – we should feel, that God has deigned to call us to form part of his mystical body, the Church.

In Passing: Out of the crucible of unimaginable sorrow by Michael Kirke

he lives of saints, even the lives of great but ordinary people, who may also be saints without our knowing it – and there is no contradiction between being great and being ordinary – are often marked by tragedy and great suffering. We know, of course, that there is no such thing as holiness without a willingness to identify with Christ’s cross and bear for him whatever share of it he asks us to carry.

On 18 May, this lay woman, a scientist, a teacher, and much more, will be beatified in a stadium, more commonly associated with rock concerts than with displays of religious fervour and devotion. This woman, Guadalupe Ortiz, at the age of nineteen was touched by a tragic event the like of which no one would ever wish to have to bear, that of accompanying her father up to the moment of his death at the hands of a firing squad.

This was certainly a distinguishing characteristic of a woman who, this month, the Catholic Church will declare to be a beatified soul in heaven.

Guadalupe bore this ordeal with exemplary forbearance. Who is to say that the marks of this cross were not part of the foundation on which she later built that life of dedication to

God and service to her fellow human beings, across two continents? If so, this cross is at the heart of the Churchâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s recommendation to us that we may now ask Guadalupe to intercede for us before God.

was arrested and sent to prison to await trial. The trial took place during the first days of September and Ortiz was condemned to be shot. His family, led by his son Eduardo, a young doctor, who was actually a member of the pro-Republic Popular Front, appealed for clemency and for a time it appeared that they might be successful. However, when Ortiz learned that the clemency would only apply to him and not to the condemned junior officers of his unit, he refused to accept. He was faithful to that code of honour among soldiers whereby an officer will not accept clemency not given to his subordinates. Recently deceased US Senator John McCain followed the same code in the Vietnam War, choosing cruel solitary confinement in a Hanoi hell-hole, rather than accept release when his companions remained in prison.

Guadalupe Ortiz was born in 1916. Her father was a military man. Because of that the family had to move around the Spanish territories as military orders dictated. She began her university studies in 1933 in Madrid. When the turmoil within the Spanish Republic erupted into full-scale civil war in the summer of 1936, Guadalupe and her mother were in the northern coastal town of FuenterrabĂa. Her father, Manuel, was in one of the Madrid military installations and in temporary command of a garrison of under 2,000 men. He joined the military rebellion led by General Franco but his post was very quickly overwhelmed by the Madrid militia loyal to the Government.

On 7 September 1936 Guadalupe and her mother arrived in Madrid. At 9.30 p.m. the family received a telephone message that Ortiz would be shot in the morning. At midnight Manuel

After their surrender all the commanders and officers involved were detained. Lieutenant Colonel Manuel Ortiz

Ortiz was given the news, and his family arrived at 12.30 a.m. to find their father in the chapel praying. They remained with him until 4.30 a.m. when the militiaman ordered them to leave. On saying goodbye her father asked Guadalupe for her Rosary beads. They remained in the prison until after the fatal shots were fired. On leaving, they were given the death certificate.

Guadalupe during that horrendous night: “She showed her spiritual fortitude when, at the age of twenty, she accompanied her father on 7 September until the early morning of the day of Our Lady – the Nativity of Our Lady – when he was shot in the Modelo Prison in Madrid.” From her family, Guadalupe had absorbed by osmosis the faith and moral virtues that she cultivated throughout her life. Both in her personal conduct and in her role as teacher, she transmitted her faith, her values and her strength of character. She graduated and then began teaching, for a time in a convent school in Madrid run by Loreto sisters, known as “las damas irlandeses,” because many of them came from Loreto Abbey in Rathfarnham, Dublin.

In the message he scribbled to them, standing up, just before the execution, he wrote: I repeat: be strong at heart. Being united, defend yourselves in the tempests of life. I ask for forgiveness if at times I have needed it. Pray for me every day. Continue being dignified, honourable and good as you have always been and remember that God knows why he has wanted things in this way.

By this time she was searching for something which would give a fuller meaning to her life. What this might be she did not know – but when she met Fr Josemaría Escrivá, the founder of Opus Dei in 1944, she found it, taking very much to heart

None of them ever forgot Manuel, and that last night from 7 to 8 September 1936 would remain a constant present in time for the family. Eduardo later recalled the composure of

those words of his, “Don’t let your life be barren. Be useful. Make yourself felt. Shine forth with the torch of your faith and your love.” Guadalupe requested admission to Opus Dei that same year, 1944.

Economics” in the United States. In 1972, this became the Centre for Study and Research in Domestic Sciences which was the origin of the Nutrition and Dietetics degree courses at the Faculty of Sciences in the University of Navarre.

She then embarked on doctoral studies in Chemistry but after a time took leave of absence to go to Mexico to help launch the work of Opus Dei there – the country whose patron was also her patron, Our Lady of Guadalupe. She returned to Europe after six years and resumed her academic work, completed her doctorate which was rated with an outstanding cum laude, and won the Juan de la Cierva research prize. The press at the time commented on the novelty and importance of the practical applications of her research for increasing energy savings and maximising the utility of recyclable materials.

In the early 1970s Guadalupe was diagnosed with heart failure. In April 1975, she had to stop giving classes. Nevertheless she commented, “I have to be happy, because it’s good to recognise that one is not irreplaceable, and I need to let the doctors do their work.” A few months later her health took a sharp turn for the worse and her doctors decided to operate. The operation seemed to be successful but in mid-July she suffered a grave relapse. She went into a coma and died at 6.30 a.m. on 16th July, the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Guadalupe was a distinguished scientist and by all accounts a wonderful human being. Was she a saint as well? All who knew her had no doubt but that she was, and began immediately to pray through her intercession, and then ask that the cause of

In 1968, after some years working in Rome, she returned to Madrid to teach. That same year, she helped found an innovative School of Domestic Sciences, similar to what at that time was called “Home

her canonisation be opened by the Church.

confronted the problems of her time in a Christian way. She cared for the educational and spiritual needs of those around her, always with a friendly touch. In everything, her reasons for acting were love for God and neighbour.

Her process of canonisation was formally opened on 18 November, 2001, with the Cardinal-Archbishop of Madrid presiding. He said in his opening address: We are presented with a Christian life of great appeal and great depth. In the midst of simplicity, which was not simply a matter of public appearance, there is a human life with a rich trajectory, with decisive features and key moments, such as her encounter with the founder of Opus Dei, Josemaría Escrivá, which would open the path to her secular vocation to be a contemplative in the middle of the world.

In Rome, on 9 June 2018, Pope Francis authorised the Congregation for the Causes of Saints to issue the decree approving a miracle attributed to Guadalupe Ortiz . Upon hearing the news, Monsignor Fernando Ocáriz, prelate of Opus Dei, commented,

The Postulator of the Cause, Rev. Benito Badrinas, affirmed: Now that John Paul II wishes to show models of holiness that are closer to our own time, we consider how Guadalupe presents a lovable model close at hand. She was an indefatigable worker who

The life of Guadalupe helps us see how giving oneself entirely to the Lord, responding with generosity to what God asks of us in each moment, allows us to be very happy here on earth and later in Heaven, where we will be happy forever. I ask the Lord that the example of Guadalupe will encourage us to be courageous so as to face the big and small things of daily life with enthusiasm and a spirit of initiative, to serve God and others with love and joy.

The miracle consists of the instantaneous cure, in 2002, of Antonio JesĂşs Sedano, who at seventy-six years old was suffering from a malignant skin tumour next to his right eye. One night, a few days before an operation was to remove the tumour, Antonio prayed to Guadalupe, asking with faith that the surgery might be avoided. The next morning, the tumour had completely disappeared. Subsequent medical examinations confirmed the cure. Antonio died twelve years later, in 2014, of heart disease. He was eighty-eight years old. The skin cancer never appeared again.

Some months after the approval of the miracle, the Holy See decreed that Guadalupe Ortiz would be beatified in Madrid on Saturday 18 May 2019. the ceremony will take place in the Vistalegre Stadium. Here, for more than a hundred years, people have been attending concerts, bullfights, political campaigns, video game conferences... and also beatification ceremonies. Guadalupe, who lived with and for young people all her life, will be very much at home on this common ground.

ABOUT THEâ&#x20AC;¨ AUTHOR

Michael Kirke is a freelance writer, a regular contributor to Position Papers, and a widely read blogger at Garvan Hill (www.garvan.wordpress.com). His views can be responded to at mjgkirke@gmail.com.

The Church and the scandal of sexual abuse by Benedict XVI The following is an abridged version of a recent essay from Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI in which he examines the root causes of the sexual abuse scandals in the Church with special reference to priestly formation. I. The wider social context In the 1960s an egregious event occurred, on a scale unprecedented in history. It could be said that in the twenty years from 1960 to 1980, the previously normative standards regarding sexuality collapsed entirely, and a new normalcy arose that has by now been the subject of laborious attempts at disruptionâ&#x20AC;Ś. Sexual and

pornographic movies became a common occurrence, to the point that they were screened at cinemas at railway stations. I still remember seeing, as I was walking through the city of Regensburg one day, crowds of people queueing in front of a large cinema, something we had previously only seen in times of war, when some special allocation was to be hoped for. I also remember arriving in the city on Good Friday in 1970 and seeing all the billboards plastered with a large poster of two completely naked people in a close embrace. Among the freedoms that the Revolution of 1968 sought was all-out sexual freedom, one which no longer conceded any restraintsâ&#x20AC;Ś. That

pedophilia was deemed allowable and appropriate formed part of the physiognomy of the revolution of 1968. For the young people in the Church, but not only for them, this was in many ways a very difficult time. I have always wondered how young people in this situation could embrace the priesthood with all its ramifications. The extensive collapse of the succeeding generation of priests and the very high number of laicizations were a consequence of all these developments. At the same time but independently, Catholic moral theology suffered a collapse that rendered the Church defenseless against these societal changes. Until the Second Vatican Council, Catholic moral theology was largely founded on natural law, while Sacred Scripture was only cited as background or for substantiation. In the Council’s struggle for a new understanding of Revelation, the natural law option was largely abandoned in favour of an entirely Bible-based moral

theology…. In the end, the hypothesis that morality was to be exclusively determined by the ends of human action chiefly prevailed, without actually using the old phrase: “the end justifies the means”. Consequently, there could no longer be anything that constituted an absolute good, any more than anything fundamentally evil; only relative value judgments. There no longer was an (absolute) good, but only the relatively better, contingent on the moment and on circumstances. The crisis of the justification and presentation of Catholic morality reached dramatic proportions in the late ’80s and ’90s…. Pope John Paul II, who knew the situation of moral theology very well and followed it closely, commissioned work on an encyclical that would set these things right again. It was published under the title Veritatis splendor on August 6, 1993, and it triggered vehement backlashes on the part of moral theologians. Before it, the Catechism of the Catholic Church already had persuasively presented, in a systematic

fashion, morality as proclaimed by the Church….

rather to be recognized in its claim to concrete life….

The Pope knew that he must leave no doubt that the the moral calculus involved in balancing goods must respect a final limit. There are goods that are never subject to tradeoffs.There are values which must never be abandoned for a greater value and even surpass the preservation of physical life.…

The uniqueness of the moral teaching of Holy Scripture is ultimately predicated on its cleaving to the image of God, in faith in the one God who showed himself in Jesus Christ and who lived as a human being. The Decalogue is an application of the biblical faith in God to human life. The image of God and morality belong together and thus result in the particular change of the Christian attitude towards the world and human life. Moreover, Christianity has been described from the beginning with the word hodós [Greek for a road, in the New Testament often used in the sense of a path of progress]. Faith is a journey and a way of life. In the old Church, the catechumenate was created as a habitat against an increasingly demoralized culture, in which the distinctive and fresh aspects of the Christian way of life were practiced and at the same time protected from the common way of life. I think that even today something like catechumenal communities are necessary so

In moral theology, however, another question had meanwhile become pressing: the hypothesis that the Magisterium of the Church should be infallible only in matters concerning the faith itself gained widespread acceptance; (in this view) questions concerning morality should not fall within the scope of infallible decisions of the Magisterium of the Church. There is probably something correct about this hypothesis that warrants further discussion, but there is a minimum set of morals which is indissolubly linked to the foundational principle of faith and which must be defended if faith is not to be reduced to a theory but

that Christian life can assert itself in its own way. II. The effects of this situation on the formation and lives of priests The long-prepared and ongoing process of dissolution of the Christian concept of morality was, as I have tried to show, marked by an unprecedented radicalism in the 1960s. This dissolution of the moral teaching authority of the Church necessarily had to have an effect on the diverse areas of the Church…. As regards the problem of preparation for priestly ministry in seminaries, there is in fact a far-reaching breakdown of the previous form of this preparation. In various seminaries homosexual cliques were established, which acted more or less openly and significantly changed the climate in the seminaries. In one seminary in southern Germany, candidates for the priesthood and candidates for the lay pastoral ministry lived together. At meals, seminarians and pastoral

specialists ate together, the married alongside the laymen sometimes accompanied by their wives and children, and on occasion by their girlfriends. The climate in this seminary could not provide support for preparation to the priestly vocation.… As the criteria for the selection and appointment of bishops had also been changed after the Second Vatican Council, the relationship of bishops to their seminaries was very different, too. Above all, a criterion for the appointment of new bishops was now their “conciliarity,” which of course could be understood to mean rather different things. Indeed, in many parts of the Church, conciliar attitudes were understood to mean having a critical or negative attitude towards the hitherto existing tradition, which was now to be replaced by a new, radically open relationship with the world. One bishop, who had previously been seminary rector, had arranged for the seminarians to be shown pornographic films, allegedly with the intention of thus

making them resistant to behaviour contrary to the faith…. Perhaps it is worth mentioning that in not a few seminaries, students caught reading my books were considered unsuitable for the priesthood. My books were hidden away, like bad literature, and only read under the desk…. The question of pedophilia, as I recall, did not become acute until the second half of the 1980s. In the meantime, it had already become a public issue in the USA, and the bishops in Rome sought help, due to the apparent insufficiency of the new (1983) Code of Canon Law…. There was a fundamental problem in the perception of criminal law [within Canon Law] whereby only so-called “guarantorism”, [a kind of procedural protectionism] was regarded as truly “conciliar.” This means that the rights of the accused had to be guaranteed above all, to an extent that de facto excluded the possibility of conviction at all…. I would now like to add, to the brief notes on the situation of

priestly formation at the time of the public outbreak of the crisis, a few remarks regarding the development of Canon Law in this matter. In principle, the Congregation of the Clergy is responsible for dealing with crimes committed by priests. But since guarantorism dominated the situation to a large extent at the time, I agreed with Pope John Paul II that it was appropriate to assign the competence for these offences to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, under the title Delicta maiora contra fidem. This arrangement also made it possible to impose the maximum penalty, i.e., expulsion from the clergy, which could not have been imposed under other legal provisions. This was not a trick to be able to impose the maximum penalty, but is a consequence of the importance of the Faith for the Church. In fact, it is important to see that such misconduct by clerics ultimately damages the Faith. Only where faith no longer determines the actions of man are such offenses possible. The severity of the punishment, however, also presupposes a

clear proof of the offense — this aspect of guarantorism remains in force…. III. Some perspectives for a proper response on the part of the Church What is to be done? Perhaps we should create another Church in which everything works out well? Well, that experiment has already been undertaken and has already failed. Only obedience and love for our Lord Jesus Christ can point the way…. Firstly, I would suggest the following: If we really wanted to summarize very briefly the content of the Faith as laid down in the Bible, we might do so by saying that the Lord has initiated a narrative of love with us and wants to subsume all creation in it. The response to the evil which threatens us and the whole world can ultimately only consist in our entering into this love. …. The power of evil arises from our refusal to love God.…We might then say that the first fundamental gift that Faith offers us is the certainty that God exists. A world without

God can only be a world without meaning. For where, then, does everything that is come from? In any case, it has no spiritual purpose. It is somehow simply there and has neither any goal nor any sense. Then there are no standards of good or evil. Then only the stronger can assert itself. Power is then the only reality. Truth does not count; it actually does not exist. Only if things have a spiritual reason, are intended and conceived — only if there is a Creator God who is good and wants the good — can the life of man also have meaning. That there is God as creator and as the measure of all things is first and foremost a primordial need….Western society is a society in which God is absent from the public sphere and has nothing left to offer it. And that is why it is a society in which the measure of humanity is increasingly lost.… Why did pedophilia reach such proportions? Ultimately, the reason is the absence of God. We Christians, and priests too, prefer not to talk about God,

because such speech does not seem to be practical. After the upheaval of the Second World War, we in Germany had expressly held responsibility before God as a guiding principle in our Constitution. Half a century later, it is no longer possible to include responsibility before God as a guiding principle in the European Constitution. God is regarded as the party concern of a small group and can no longer stand as the guiding principle for the community as a whole. This decision reflects the situation in the West, where God has become the private affair of a minority. A paramount task, which must result from the moral upheavals of our time, is that we ourselves once again begin to live by God and unto him. Above all, we ourselves must learn again to recognize God as the foundation of our lives instead of leaving him aside as a somehow ineffectual phrase.…. Our handling of the Eucharist can only arouse concern. The Second Vatican Council was

rightly focused on returning this sacrament of the presence of the body and blood of Christ, of the presence of his Person, of his passion, death and resurrection, to the center of Christian life and the very existence of the Church. In part, this really has come about, and we should be most grateful to the Lord for it. And yet a rather different attitude is prevalent. What predominates is not a new reverence for the presence of Christ’s death and resurrection, but a way of dealing with him that destroys the greatness of the mystery. …. In conversations with victims of pedophilia, I have been made acutely aware of this first and foremost requirement. A young woman who was a [former] altar server told me that the chaplain, her superior as an altar server, always introduced the sexual abuse he was committing against her with the words: “This is my body which will be given up for you.” It is obvious that this woman can no longer hear the very words of consecration without experiencing again all the

horrific distress of her abuse. Yes, we must urgently implore the Lord for forgiveness, and first and foremost we must swear by him and ask him to teach us all anew to understand the greatness of His suffering, his sacrifice. And we must do all we can to protect the gift of the holy Eucharist from abuse. And finally, there is the mystery of the Church. The sentence with which Romano Guardini, almost one hundred years ago, expressed the joyful hope that was instilled in him and many others: “An event of incalculable importance has begun; the Church is awakening in souls.” He meant to say that no longer was the Church experienced and perceived as merely an external system entering our lives, as a kind of authority, but rather it began to be perceived as being present within people’s hearts — as something not merely external, but internally moving us. About half a century later, in reconsidering this process and looking at what had been happening, I felt tempted to reverse the sentence: “The Church is dying in souls.”

Indeed, the Church today is widely regarded as just some kind of political apparatus. One speaks of it almost exclusively in political categories, and this applies even to bishops, who formulate their conception of the Church of tomorrow almost exclusively in political terms. The crisis, caused by the many cases of clerical abuse, urges us to regard the Church as something almost unacceptable, which we must now take into our own hands and redesign. But a self-made Church cannot constitute hope…. In this context it is necessary to refer to an important text in the Revelation of St. John. The devil is identified as the accuser who accuses our brothers before God day and night (Revelation 12:10) …. The Creator God is confronted with the devil who speaks ill of all mankind and all creation. He says, not only to God but above all to people: Look at what this God has done. Supposedly a good creation, but in reality full of misery and disgust. That disparagement of creation is really a disparagement of God. It wants

to prove that God Himself is not good, and thus to turn us away from Him…. It is very important to oppose the lies and half-truths of the devil with the whole truth: Yes, there is sin in the Church and evil. But even today there exists the holy Church, which is indestructible. Today there are many people who humbly believe, suffer and love, in whom the real God, the loving God, shows himself to us. Today God also has His witnesses (martyres) in the world. We just have to be vigilant in order to see and hear them….

At the end of my reflections I would like to thank Pope Francis for everything he does to show us, again and again, the light of God, which has not disappeared, even today. Thank you, Holy Father!

Today’s Church is more than ever a “Church of the Martyrs” and thus a witness to the living God.… I live in a house, in a small community of people who discover such witnesses of the living God again and again in everyday life and who joyfully point this out to me as well. To see and find the living Church is a wonderful task which strengthens us and makes us joyful in our Faith time and again.

The Catholic Difference: The Ratzinger Diagnosis by George Weigel

ublished a week short of his 92nd birthday, Joseph Ratzinger’s essay on the epidemiology of the clergy sexabuse crisis vividly illustrated his still-unparalleled capacity to incinerate the brain-circuits of various Catholic progressives. The origins of the text written by the Pope Emeritus remain unclear: Did he initially write it to assist the bishops who met in Rome this past February to address the abuse crisis? But whatever its history, the Ratzingerian diagnosis is well worth considering. In Benedict XVI’s view, the Catholic crisis of clerical sexual abuse was, in the main, an ecclesiastical by-product of the “sexual revolution:” a tsunami of

cultural deconstruction that hit the Church in a moment of doctrinal and moral confusion, lax clerical discipline, poor seminary formation, and weak episcopal oversight, all of which combined to produce many of the scandals with which we’re painfully familiar today. This diagnosis does not explain everything about the abuse crisis, of course. It does not explain psychopaths like Marcial Maciel and Theodore McCarrick. It does not explain the abusive behavior by clergy and religious in pre-conciliar Ireland and Quebec. It does not explain the challenges the Church faces from clerical concubinage (and worse) in Africa today. But Ratzinger’s epidemiology does

address, pointedly, the sharp spike in clerical sexual abuse that began in the late 1960s and peaked in the 1980s, before the reforms of the priesthood and seminaries initiated by Pope John Paul II began to take hold. As it happens, I have been making virtually the same argument since the publication of The Courage To Be Catholic: Crisis, Reform, and the Future of the Church in 2002. There, I suggested that the clerical selfdeception and duplicity that accompanied widespread dissent from Pope Paul VI’s 1968 encyclical on family planning, Humanae Vitae, created an environment in which abusive sexual behavior intensified. Men who persuaded themselves that they need not believe or teach what the Church professed to be true (especially about the ethics of human love) were especially vulnerable to the tidal wave of the sexual revolution; and in short order intellectual duplicity led to behavioral duplicity — and abuse. That seminaries were in intellectual and disciplinary meltdown in this same period compounded the crisis. So did Rome’s failure to promote

ecclesiastical discipline in the face of blatant dissent. It was, in brief, a perfect storm, one in which the dark forces that are always trying to destroy the Church and impede its evangelical mission could wreak terrible damage. For this analysis, I was duly bludgeoned by a portside Catholic commentariat that seemed locked into denial in 2002. Judging from the immediate, volatile, and sometime vicious responses to Ratzinger’s memorandum from the same quarters two weeks ago, too many on the Catholic Left remain in denial about the link between doctrinal and moral dissent and clerical wickedness. Thus, the Pope Emeritus was deemed senile by some, imprudent by others, and disloyal to his successor by the critics. One of these frothing pundits (many of whom are progressive ultramontanists for whom Pope Francis’s infallibility is virtually boundless) even went so far as to charge Benedict with being, in effect, a schismatic. But did any of these critics engage Ratzinger’s argument?

No. Did any of the critics offer a different, more plausible explanation for the spike in clerical sexual abuse that followed the penetration of the Church by the sexual revolution, the Humanae Vitae controversy, the breakdown of discipline in seminary formation, and the evolution of moral theologies that deconstructed the notion that some acts are always and everywhere wrong? No. As in 2002, there was lots of vitriol; but no serious alternative diagnosis was offered. And as I’ve noted before, “clericalism” is not a serious explanation for the sin and crime of clerical sexual abuse. Clericalism facilitates abuse, in

that abusers prey on those who rightly hold the priesthood in esteem. But “clericalism” does not explain sexual predation, which has other, deeper causes and is in fact a global plague. The Pope Emeritus did the Church a service by offering a diagnosis of the abuse crisis that should be taken seriously by anyone serious about healing the wounds inflicted on the Body of Christ by the abuse of Holy Orders for wicked, self-indulgent purposes. Those who cannot or will not discuss the Ratzinger diagnosis with the seriousness it deserves thereby brand themselves as unserious about resolving the abuse crisis.

ABOUT THE  AUTHOR George Weigel is Distinguished Senior Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C. His column is distributed by the Denver Catholic, the official newspaper for the Archdiocese of Denver.

Woman of the Eucharist by Rev. Donncha Ó hAodha

The greatest event in the world

words. “Indeed” as St John Paul II affirmed, “the Eucharist is the ineffable sacrament!”1

The greatest event that happens each day in this world is the Mass. No prayer can compare in power and beauty to the celebration of the Eucharist. Here Christ becomes really, truly and substantially with us as the sacrifice he offered on the Cross “once for all” (Heb 10:10) is made present anew on the altar. Because the Mass is the selfoffering or oblation of the GodMan to the Father in the Holy Spirit, its mystery can never be adequately expressed in human 1

A human being can do many important things in the course of a life-time, achieving ambitious goals and making a lasting impact, and sometimes even taking part in great historical events. Nothing however can remotely compare with the value and reach of a single Mass “in which Christ is consumed, the mind is filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory is given to us”.2

St John Paul II, Encyclical, Redemptor Hominis, 4 March 1979, 20.

Cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church 1323, quoting from the hymn O Sacrum Convivium, attributed to St Thomas Aquinas.

“Woman of the Eucharist” In our weekly and daily routine there is nothing more valuable, effective, significant or meaningful than to take part in the holy Mass. “Here is the Church’s treasure, the heart of the world, the pledge of the fulfilment for which each man and woman, even unconsciously, yearns”.3 There are many ways to increase our knowledge and love for this, the greatest of all the sacraments. Among the most powerful ways is to “live” the Lord’s sacrifice in communion of mind, heart and soul with Mary, the Lord’s Mother, and “Woman of the Eucharist”.4 As St John Paul II taught: “Mary can guide us towards this most holy sacrament, because she herself has a profound relationship with it”.5

The Eucharist is “at one and the same time a SacrificeSacrament, a CommunionSacrament and a PresenceSacrament”.6 No one like his Mother can show us how to offer ourselves in union with Jesus, how to adore him with the loving gaze of contemplation, and how to receive him with gratitude and joy. Sacrifice-Sacrament Before all else the Eucharist is the sacrament of the Passion of Jesus. “When we go to Mass it is as if we were going to Calvary itself”, as the Holy Father recently reminded us. “The Mass is experiencing Calvary”.7 Our Lady is personally involved in this oblation. Just as she offered her infant Son in the temple (cf. Lk 2:22-40), so too Mary consents to the offering of her

St John Paul II, Encyclical, Ecclesia de Eucharistia, 17 April 2003, 59.

4 The

final chapter of St John Paul’s encyclical Ecclesia de Eucharistia, 17 April 2003, is entitled: “At the school of Mary, ‘Woman of the Eucharist’”. 5

St John Paul II, Encyclical, Ecclesia de Eucharistia, 17 April 2003, 53.

St John Paul II, Encyclical, Redemptor Hominis, 4 March 1979, 20.

Francis, Audience, 22 November 2017.

crucified Son on the Cross. As Co-redemptrix, the Blessed Virgin cooperates in a “totally singular” way in Christ’s sacrifice.8

flesh” and thus “became in a way a ‘tabernacle’ – the first ‘tabernacle’ in history”.10 The prophet Isaiah had foretold that a virgin would “conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Immanuel”, which means, God with us (Is 7:14; Mt 1:23). This same Saviour is the God who is with us, really, truly and substantially present in the Eucharist.

In the words of Benedict XVI, “Mary, present on Calvary beneath the Cross, is also present with the Church and as Mother of the Church in each one of our Eucharistic celebrations. No one better than she, therefore can teach us to understand and live Holy Mass with faith and love, uniting ourselves with Christ’s redeeming sacrifice”.9 Presence-Sacrament The Body and Blood of Jesus Christ which become present on the altar under the appearances or “species” of bread and wine, are the Body and Blood the Lord received from Mary his evervirgin mother. St John Paul II points out that Our Lady “bore in her womb the Word made

The Body offered on the altar of the Cross and made present in every Mass is the Body Christ received from his virgin-mother by the power of the Holy Spirit (cf. Lk 1:35). As Venerable Fulton Sheen has written: “When the Divine Child was conceived, Mary’s humanity gave him hands and feet, eyes and ears, and a body with which to suffer. Just as the petals of a rose after a dew close on the dew as if to absorb its energies, so too, Mary as the Mystical Rose closed upon him whom the Old Testament had described as a

Second Vatican Council, Lumen Gentium, 21 November 1964, 61.

Benedict XVI, Angelus, 11 September 2005.

St John Paul II, Encyclical, Ecclesia de Eucharistia, 17 April 2003, 55.

dew descending upon the earth”.11 Catholics often appeal to Mary: “Show unto us the blessed fruit of your womb”. This prayer can take on a Eucharistic meaning as we ask the one most intimately united to Jesus to help us recognise, love and adore him in the sacrament of his Real Presence. In fact true devotion to Our Lady always leads to love for the Eucharist. Time and again the history of the Church has shown that “Mary guides the faithful to the Eucharist”.12 Communion-Sacrament Mary also teaches us how to receive Christ into our body and soul. At the moment of the Annunciation she welcomed the Saviour into her virginal womb. Our Lady freely accepted her vocation to become the Mother of God, and thus “the Word became flesh and dwelt amongst us” (cf. Jn 1:14). She teaches us how to receive the Lord with unconditional love and openness 11 Venerable 12

to his will: “Let it be to me according to your word” (Lk 1:38). The presence of Christ in the body and soul of Mary increased her holiness. Learning from her, we can seek to welcome all the graces arising from Eucharistic Communion with her divine Son. St Josemaría was prepared for his first holy Communion by a Piarist priest, Fr Manuel Laborda de la Virgen del Carmen, affectionately known as “Padre Manolé”. To help the young Josemaría prepare to receive our Lord, Padre Manolé taught him this spiritual communion prayer: “I wish Lord to receive you, with the purity, humility and devotion, with which your most holy Mother received you, and with the spirit and fervour of the saints”. The prayer is simple and very deep. It expresses the desire to welcome Jesus with the loving dispositions with which his mother Mary embraced him in

Fulton Sheen, Life of Christ, McGraw-Hill, New York 1958, p. 18.

St John Paul II, Encyclical, Redemptoris Mater, 25 March 1987, 44.

body and soul. There is no better way to desire to receive Christ. The relationship between Mary and the Bread of Life is beautifully expressed by St Peter Chrysologus, the “Doctor of Homilies” (+ c. 450): “Christ himself is the bread who, sown in the Virgin, raised up in the flesh, kneaded in the Passion, baked in the oven of the tomb, reserved in churches, brought to altars, furnishes the faithful each day with food from heaven” (Homily 67).

ABOUT THE  AUTHOR Rev. Donncha Ó hAodha is a priest of the Opus Dei Prelature, author of several CTS booklets and a regular contributor to Position Papers.

Who are Sri Lanka’s Christians? by Mathew Schmalz

t least 290 people have been killed in several coordinated bomb attacks on churches and hotels in Sri Lanka on Easter. Several Christian communities spread across the island nation were targeted in the attack: Suicide bombers detonated one set of bombs at churches in the cities of Colombo and Negomboon on the western coast, home to many Sinhalese-speaking Catholics. Another was detonated in a Protestant church 200 miles away – in Batticaloa, a city in the Tamil majority eastern side of the island. As a Catholic religious studies researcher and professor, I lived in Sri Lanka in the fall of 2013

and did research on Catholicism in both the southwest and northern parts of the country. Approximately, 7% of Sri Lanka’s 21 million are Christian. The majority of them are Roman Catholic. Sri Lanka’s Christians have a long history that reflects the dynamics of colonialism as well as present-day ethnic and religious tensions. Entry of Catholicism It was Portuguese colonialism that opened the door for Roman Catholicism into the island nation. In 1505, the Portuguese came to Ceylon, as Sri Lanka was then called, in a trade agreement with King Vira Parakramabahu VII and later

intervened in succession struggles in local kingdoms. Among those converted included Don Juan Dharmapala, the king of Kotte, a small kingdom near present-day Colombo on Sri Lanka’s southwestern coast. Later, when the Dutch and the Dutch East India Company displaced the Portuguese, Roman Catholicism was revived through the efforts of St. Joseph Vaz. Vaz was a priest from Goa, Portugal’s colony in India, and arrived in Sri Lanka in 1687. Popular folklore credits Vaz with a number of miracles, such as bringing rain during a drought and taming a rogue elephant. Pope Francis made Joseph Vaz a saint in 2015. By 1948, when Sri Lanka gained independence from Great Britain, Catholics had established a distinct identity. For example, Catholics would display the papal flag along with Sri Lanka’s national flag during independence day celebrations.

But tensions rose in 1960 when the Sri Lankan government compromised the Catholic Church’s independence by taking over church schools. In 1962, there was an attempted coup by Catholic and Protestant Sri Lankan army officers to overthrow the government of then prime minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike, allegedly in response to increased Buddhist presence in the military. Ethnic and religious divides The 25-year-long Sri Lankan Civil War, starting in 1983, divided the Catholic community. The war was fought against the government by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, or LTTE, who sought a separate state for Sri Lanka’s Tamil community in the northern and eastern parts of the island. The rebels included Catholics in military positions. But, the Sri Lankan army also had Christian members holding leadership ranks. Catholic bishops from Tamil and Sinhalese areas could not develop a coherent response

to the conflict. They would not even agree on recommending a ceasefire during the Christmas season. Recent years have seen the rise of militant forms of Buddhism in Sri Lanka and Christians have been among its targets. For example, the ultra-nationalist Buddhist organization, the Bodu Bala Sena (also known as Buddhist Power Force) demanded that Pope Francis apologize for the “atrocities” committed by colonial powers. While being Catholic and being Sri Lankan are not considered to be contradictions, Catholicism in Sri Lanka still struggles with its colonial past. Part of global Catholicism At the same time, Catholicism has a strong cultural presence in the country. For example, in the North, there is a large pilgrimage site, Madhu, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, which Pope Francis visited in 2015. There is also an internationally known

healing and prayer center, Kudagama, northwest of the Buddhist holy city of Kandy. Sri Lankan Catholics have also become prominent in global Catholicism. The cardinal archbishop of the capital Colombo, Malcolm Ranjith, was mentioned as papabile, or candidate for pope, prior to the conclave that eventually elected Pope Francis. Protestants of Sri Lanka Sri Lanka’s Protestant community is quite small, constituting only 1% of Sri Lanka’s population. Like Catholicism, it was through colonialism that Protestant Christianity gained a foothold on the island. With Dutch traders and governmental officers came Calvinism and Protestant missionaries who worked in Sri Lanka’s coastal areas. While Calvinist Protestantism declined under British colonial rule, there was a revival in the Tamil-speaking northern areas of the island. The American Ceylon Mission began in 1813 and established a number of

medical dispensaries and schools. Jaffna College, opened in 1872, remains an important Protestant educational institution that still has ties to America. The churches in Negombo, where I did research work and where one of the attacks took place, are beautiful Renaissance and Baroque-style structures that are centers of activity throughout the day. Not only are there daily masses, but Catholics often come to light candles and pray to the saints. During worship ceremonies, women wear veils as was the Catholic tradition in the West until the mid-twentieth century. Shrines to the Virgin Mary are a

common sight on Negombo’s roads along with arches decorated with coconuts, which are the usual markers of a parish festival and procession. In honor of this Catholic culture, Negombo is popularly called “Little Rome.” But now this “Little Rome” – with its beautiful churches, beaches, and lagoon – will also be known as the site of a horrific act of antiChristian violence.

ABOUT THE  AUTHOR Mathew Schmalz is associate professor of religious studies at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, USA. This article is reprinted from MercatorNet under a Creative Commons license.

BOOKS

Voluntary Organisations and the State by Tim O’Sullivan

epartment of Health, Report of the Independent Review Group established to examine the role of voluntary organisations in publicly funded health and personal social services, Dublin, 2019. (Authors: Catherine Day, chairperson, Jane Grimson and Deirdre Madden). This report, chaired by the former EU official Catherine Day, is an important document on the future of voluntary organisations in the healthcare system. It was commissioned by the Minister for Health in the aftermath of public controversy in 2017 about the role of the Sisters of Charity in the governance of the proposed new maternity hospital on the St

Vincent’s hospital site, and was published in 2019. Some of the report’s ideas and recommendations have proved controversial. Thus, it received considerable media attention for its comments on the “décor” of faith-based facilities. It should be acknowledged that the report’s recommendation here was expressed in a nuanced way: “voluntary organisations in receipt of state funding should be cognisant of the impact of décor on patients/service users and strive to ensure that their personal preferences in this regard are met to the greatest extent possible” (Recommendation 7.2). Nevertheless, this recommendation seems reductive.

One might question whether, for example, a crucifix recalling the death of Christ for humanity, and reflecting the founding inspiration of a hospital, can be equated with the design features or “décor” of such a hospital. One might also question the report’s approach to the interaction between the State and faith-based bodies. The report declines to recommend – as many in Government appear to believe – that faith-based voluntary bodies in receipt of public funding should simply be compelled to provide services contrary to their ethos. However, the reasons it gives for this approach are pragmatic rather than rooted in the rights of voluntary bodies to

follow their fundamental ethical principles. The report argues instead that such efforts at compulsion could lead to considerable disruption in a context where the faith-based component of the health sector remains substantial and thus suggests other ways in which the State could ensure “access to lawful services by all its citizens” (Par. 2.1). These reservations aside, this is a significant report that shows a welcome respect for the historical and contemporary contribution of voluntary organisations in Irish healthcare. It draws attention to the “debt of gratitude” that the country owes

to voluntary organisations in healthcare, praises them for their innovation, flexibility, independence and strong commitment to delivery of health and social care and highlights the requirement for such bodies to collaborate in an accountable way with the State. It points out that the faith-based element of the voluntary sector, while declining, remains substantial.

Advocates of the subsidiarity principle – a key principle of Catholic social thought – argue that, before devising ambitious plans for health or other services, policy-makers ought to start by looking at the services that are already there, at what has been developed by civil society, and then build on that rather than try to establish new systems entirely from scratch.

Its many important recommendations cover areas such as protection for State investment in capital assets, multi-annual budgets, the public recognition of voluntary bodies through a charter and the establishment of a Forum to facilitate State/voluntary dialogue. The report also acknowledges tensions in the HSE/voluntary relationship and calls for a new relationship based on trust, partnership and mutual recognition of need. It also includes valuable information on trends in other countries, even if its comparison with England is somewhat questionable, given that the voluntary sector has had, for many decades, a much stronger role in Ireland than in England.

In many respects, this report could be seen as adopting an approach that is in harmony with such thinking. Thus, it examined the voluntary organisations that exist at the moment in Ireland, consulted in detail with them and highlighted their “added value”, provided valuable information on their ownership and governance arrangements, and offered various ideas for integrating their work and that of the State. This approach is somewhat at odds with that of the current allparty plan for the health services, Sláintecare, which was published in 2017. Sláintecare provided a very thorough reflection on the Irish healthcare system and sought to respond effectively to major problems and inequalities

in that system. It developed an ambitious plan based broadly on socialist principles but expressed unease that much of the Irish public health service was in “private ownership” and had a somewhat dismissive attitude to publicly funded voluntary bodies. Thus, while it did recognise the important advocacy role of many charities, it also called for a detailed plan to provide for the divestment” of Section 38 and 39 healthcare voluntary bodies “over a reasonable period” (Section 3.8). Some other statutory publications have suffered from a similar lack of due regard for the contribution of voluntary organisations. Such bodies were not included, for example, in the list of key

healthcare stakeholders set out some years ago in the strategy document, Future Health. While the State has a critical role in healthcare, the Day report may represent a welcome turning away from excessively State-oriented perspectives. It will be of interest to those with a specialist interest in health policy but could be read with profit by any interested citizen and its data on the current ownership and governance arrangements of voluntary bodies are of particular value. It is accessible on the publications section of the Department of Health website, at health.gov.ie.

ABOUT THE  AUTHOR

Tim O’Sullivan has degrees in arts and social policy and completed a doctorate on the subsidiarity principle. He is a regular contributor to Position Papers.

FILMS

Unplanned

by Bishop Robert Barron

e stand at a pivotal point in the great moral debate over abortion in our country – not because new arguments have emerged, but rather because laws so breathtaking in their barbarism have been passed, and a film so visceral in its presentation of the reality of abortion has found a wide audience. As John Henry Newman reminded us, assent to a proposition is rarely a matter of acquiescing to rational demonstration alone; instead, it often has to do with the accumulation of argument, image, impression, experience, and witness. The legal protocols now in effect in New York, Delaware, and a

number of other states allowing for the butchering of a child in the womb at any point in his or her nine-month gestation – and indeed, on the clinic or hospital table, should the child by some miracle survive the abortion – have sickened much of the country. And they have allowed people to see, in unmistakably clear terms, the full implications of the twisted “pro-choice” ideology. If a mother chooses to bring her baby to term and to be born, that child is, somehow by that choice, the subject of dignity and worthy of the full protection of the law; and if a mother chooses otherwise, even a newborn baby struggling to breathe on an operating table can be murdered and discarded

like so much garbage. Biology and metaphysics be damned: our subjective decisions determine reality – and the result is state-sanctioned infanticide. So obviously insane, so clearly dangerous, so unmistakably wicked are these laws that they are causing many people to reconsider their position on abortion. Unplanned, the story of Abby Johnson’s wrenching transition from director of a Planned Parenthood clinic to vocal opponent of abortion, has proven to be a surprisingly popular film, despite its rather grim theme and despite considerable institutional opposition. As many have

pointed out, Mrs Johnson is playing a role analogous to that played by Harriet Beecher Stowe in the nineteenth century. While there were plenty of arguments on both sides of the slavery debate at the time, many advocates of slavery underwent a conversion to abolitionism, not because of rational demonstrations but precisely through the influence of Stowe’s vivid presentation of the concrete reality of slavery in Uncle Tom’s Cabin. So today, arguments and slogans on both sides of the abortion controversy are well known, and most people seem more or less locked in their respective camps. But Unplanned doesn’t so much argue as show. “Abortion”

becomes, accordingly, not an abstract issue, but an in-yourface, real, and bloody fact. The film opens with the event that proved decisive for Abby Johnson herself. As director and administrator of a Planned Parenthood clinic, she was certainly aware of what was happening on the premises, but she had rarely been involved in an actual abortion. One afternoon, she was summoned to the operating room and asked to hold the device that allowed the doctor to see the ultrasound image of the child in the womb. As the physician went about his work, Abby could clearly see the child resting comfortably and then reacting violently as a suctioning device was inserted into the womb. To her horror, she then saw a tiny arm sucked off, only to reappear, moments later, as a bloody soup in a catheter next to her. As she watched, unable to take her eyes off of the horrific display, she saw the severely wounded baby continuing to evade the device, until a leg disappeared, then another arm, and finally the baby’s head. And again, the

remains of the living child surged like slush into the catheter. With that, she ran from the room, vomited in the bathroom, and resolved to dissociate herself forever from Planned Parenthood. The film makes clear that she had heard arguments against abortion all of her life, for her parents and husband were ardently and vocally pro-life, but she made the decision after she saw what it meant to end the life of an unborn child. Her hope, obviously, is that her film will have a similar effect on many others. One of the most memorable scenes in Unplanned deals with an odd little party that took place at the clinic after hours. Abby, it turns out, was pregnant, and her colleagues, all female, gathered to give her a baby shower. Out came the balloons, the thoughtful presents, the encouraging hugs – all meant to show their joy at the birth of a new baby. But then we realize that these medical professionals, these good friends of Abby, have spent their entire day killing the babies of other women. Indeed,

the blood of those procedures is on their shoes and scrubs. How is this scene possible? The condition for its possibility is the lunatic ideology of “choice” referenced above: if the baby is desired, let’s have a party; if the baby is unwanted, kill him and cast his remains in a dumpster. Pro-choice advocates must know that this is the implication of their philosophy, but Unplanned makes them see it.

these recent laws, and this viscerally disturbing film, will hasten the day when only insane people would.

In 1850, lots of good and thoughtful people defended the institution of slavery. Now, only insane people would. In 2019, lots of decent and thoughtful people defend the pro-choice position. One can only hope that

ABOUT THE  AUTHOR This article is taken from the archives of: www.wordonfire.org. Bishop Robert Barron is an author, speaker, theologian, and founder of Word on Fire, a global media ministry. This article has been reprinted with the kind permission of the editors.

LEARN TO COMMUNICATE IN YOUR MARRIAGE Next Programme: 4-6 October 2019

Minds & Muscles for Africa! ELY UNIVERSITY CENTRE

Workcamp in Kenya, June 2019

This summer a group of Dublin based students (with mentors and chaplain) will put their minds and muscles at the service of Kenyan children. They will give classes to young school children in the rural Machakos region, and will build latrines there. But we need €8000 to make it happen… we’ve raised €4000.

Please donate, even a small amount! See www.locallives.org for details on how to donate, or post a cheque to:

Kenya summer project Ely University centre 10 Hume Street Dublin 2