Be more pro-life

Three statements strike me as non-controversial: being pro-life is bigger than one issue; when you take Church teaching on life in its totality, it becomes clear that both major political parties in the U.S. fall short of being pro-life; opposing abortion is a necessary but not sufficient for being pro-life. As a Christian, I always try to be more pro-life.

In my view, the best way to prevent abortions is by supporting public policies that have been empirically shown to decrease abortions and materially assisting women in crisis pregnancies. Of those two, the most important, it seems to me, is the latter. It's difficult because it requires you to do something more than just take a political position. It is a powerful way of preaching the Gospel without using words.

When I look across the issues that impact human life and dignity, at least in the United States, abortion is the issue that voting has the least impact on. This remains true, I think, even taking into account the chimera of Supreme Court appointments. When one considers other life issues, which include but are not limited to physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia, the death penalty, suicide, access to health care, firearms violence, domestic violence, racial injustice (it can be deadly being black in America), the humane treatment of immigrants and refugees, meaning opposing things like family separation and inhumane conditions, it becomes clear that voting has a more direct impact on these issues.

I understand that addressing these things at all, no matter what your perspective, is likely to stir people up. Being stirred up is not always a bad thing. When done too often it is exhausting. I certainly don't expect everyone to agree with me and I am interested in hearing other peoples' perspectives, especially when they are offered constructively and respectfully. Of the feedback I've received concerning my homily last Sunday, the majority has been positive and encouraging. Those who have taken some exception to it have been reasonably charitable. I am grateful for that.

Anyone who wishes to provide me "feedback" is free to do so. Doing that is easy enough. I think it's important to provide your feedback publicly and with your name on it. If you leave a critical comment anonymously, I will delete it. I take responsibility for what I write and say. I preach publicly. I post my homilies here, linking to them from Facebook, Twitter, and MeWe. You may leave a comment here or make a comment on any of those social media platforms- Twitter is the easiest.

Making sound prudential judgments by the use of proportional reasoning is the best way to form our consciences and a good way to decide for whom to vote. I don't tell anyone who to vote for and I don't reveal my vote to anyone. We've sort of lost track of how important secret balloting is for a healthy democracy. I certainly try to respect the consciences of others. I would never ask anyone to tell me for whom they cast their vote for any office, including my wife. If someone chooses to tell me and it turns out they voted for someone different than me that is fine.

This past Sunday was Respect Life Sunday. The whole purpose of Respect Life Sunday is to bring to the fore how important it is to safeguard human life and dignity. At root, this means standing up for the most vulnerable members of our society. The unborn certainly count as vulnerable people who need protection but others are vulnerable to the culture of death as well. No matter what their personal views might be, I think most Mass-attending Catholics understand very well what the Church teaches concerning abortion. Non-Mass-attending Catholics are a different story but they are not listening to my homilies. I can think of few things more useless than preaching to the choir. I felt that mentioning what it means to be pro-life in toto was very important.

I am sure members of the clergy who preached last Sunday covered the depth, width, and height of pro-life issues. I am also sure some didn't really give it any heed in their homilies (they're either the wise or the timid ones- I can't decide). I've been pondering something a priest whom I respect mentioned recently: perhaps having Respect for Life Sunday a month before the election isn't very prudent. But, then, that isn't my call.

Feel free to disagree with any or all of the above. Do not accuse me of failing to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Do not accuse of me ignoring or failing to adhere to Church teaching on the importance of protecting human life and dignity. Do not accuse me of being pro-abortion. Do not accuse me of furthering a partisan agenda. Do not treat me like my views on this issue were formed overnight. If that is not how you would've treated Respect Life Sunday, fair enough. I urge you find a way to articulate your own views on the broad and relatively complex matter of being pro-life in the U.S.