by Denver Archbishop Samuel J. Aquila | January 22, 2013
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I went to college in 1968 with the idea of becoming a doctor, like my
father. College campuses in the late ‘60’s and throughout the 70’s were
places of turmoil. I didn’t practice my faith much in the first three
years of college and I certainly never imagined that the Lord would one
day make me a bishop.
I spent my first three years of college working as a hospital orderly
and assisting in the emergency room, at a university student health
center and in a hospital in California during summer break.
When I began the job, I hadn’t thought much about human suffering, or about human dignity.
But during my employment in hospitals, something changed. At that time,
some states had approved abortion laws that I wasn’t even aware of.
Because of those laws, when I was in college I witnessed the results of
two abortions.
The first was in a surgical unit. I walked into an outer room and in
the sink, unattended, was the body of small unborn child who had been
aborted. I remember being stunned. I remember thinking that I had to
baptize that child.
The second abortion was more shocking. A young woman came into the
emergency room screaming. She explained that she had had an abortion
already. When the doctor sent her home, he told her she would pass the
remains naturally. She was bleeding as the doctor, her boyfriend, the
nurse and I placed her on a table.
I held a basin as the doctor retrieved a tiny arm, a tiny leg and then
the rest of the broken body of a tiny unborn child. I was shocked. I was
saddened for the mother and child, for the doctor and the nurse. None
of us would have participated in such a thing were it not an emergency. I
witnessed a tiny human being destroyed by violence.
The memory haunts me. I will never forget that I stood witness to acts
of unspeakable brutality. In the abortions I witnessed, powerful people
made decisions that ended the lives of small, powerless, children.
Through lies and manipulation, children were seen as objects. Women and
families were convinced that ending a life would be painless, and
forgettable. Experts made seemingly convincing arguments that the unborn
were not people at all, that they could not feel pain, and were better
off dead.
I witnessed the death of two small people who never had the chance to
take a breath. I can never forget that. And I have never been the same.
My faith was weak at the time. But I knew by reason, and by what I saw,
that a human life was destroyed. My conscience awakened to the truth of
the dignity of the human being from the moment of conception. I became
pro-life and eventually returned to my faith.
I learned what human dignity was when I saw it callously disregarded. I
know, without a doubt, that abortion is a violent act of murder and
exploitation. And I know that our responsibility is to work and pray
without ceasing for its end.
Repentance, Prayer, Renewal
At each Mass, before we receive the Eucharist, the Church instructs us
to consider and confess our sinfulness. When we pray the
Confiteor at Mass we proclaim the sins of “what I have done, and what I have failed to do.”
We ask the Lord for mercy. We ask one another for prayers.
At the Penitential Act, we recognize the times we have chosen
sinfulness, and also the times we have chosen to do nothing in the face
of the evil of this world. Our sins of omission permit evil. They permit
injustice. At the Penitential Act, I sometimes think about the
abortions I witnessed and my heart still experiences sadness. I beg
forgiveness for the doctors, nurses, politicians, and others who so
ardently support abortion and pray for their conversion.
Today we recognize the 40th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade—we recognize 40
years of sanctioned killing in our nation. Today we recognize the
impact of those 40 years. Tolerating abortion for 40 years has coarsened
us. We’ve learned to see people as problems and objects. In the four
decades since Roe vs. Wade, our nation has found new ways to weaken the
family, to marginalize the poor, the homeless, the mentally ill—we’ve
found new ways to exploit and abuse.
Today we must recognize that 40 years of sanctioned killing has given
the culture of death a firm footing and foundation in our nation.
We must also recognize our sinfulness. When we survey the damage
abortion has caused in our culture, we must repent for our sins of
omission. We Christians bear some responsibility for our national shame.
Some of us have supported pro-choice positions. Many of us have failed
to change minds or win hearts. We’ve failed to convince the culture that
all life has dignity. In the prospect of unspeakable evil, we’ve done
too little, for too long, with tragic results.
Today is a day to repent. But with repentance comes resolve to start
anew. The 40th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade is a day to commit to a
culture of life. Today the Lord is calling us to stand up.
When I worked in hospitals in college, I didn’t know or understand what
the Church taught about human life. I learned by experience that a
human life is destroyed in every abortion. But I was unprepared to
defend life—unprepared to even see real human dignity, let alone
proclaim it. I pray that none of you, dear brothers and sisters, will
ever find yourselves in the position I was in so many years ago. I pray
that you are prepared to defend the truth about human life.
Life is a Gift From God
The Church’s teaching on the dignity of human life is clear. “Human life” states the
Catechism of the Catholic Church,
“must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of
conception. From the first moment of his existence, a human being must
be recognized as having the rights of a person—among which is the
inviolable right of every innocent being to life.”
[1]
The inviolable right to life is taught in Scripture, Sacred Tradition,
and witnessed to in natural moral law. The Church believes that life is a
God-given right, and a gift. Our very being is an expression of the
love God has for us—the Lord literally loves us into existence, and his
love speaks to the worth of the human person. We take the gift of life
seriously because each human being is a unique creation of God the
Father.
At the moment of conception we receive the gift of life, and lay claim
to the right of life. “Before I formed you in the womb,” says the Lord
to the prophet Jeremiah, “I knew you. Before you were born, I
consecrated you.”
[2]
Human dignity begins with the divine gift of life. But our dignity is
enriched because Jesus Christ, the Son of God, chose to live among us as
a human being. Because of the Incarnation, all humans can share not
only human dignity, but divine dignity. Our human life allows us to
share in God’s own life—to share the inner life of the Trinity. “Life is
sacred” the Church teaches, “because… it remains forever in a special
relationship with the Creator, who is its sole end.”
[3]
The dignity and sacredness of human life have very clear moral
implications: innocent human life is absolutely inviolable. “The direct
and voluntary killing of an innocent human being,” teaches the Church,
“is always gravely immoral.”
[4]
“It makes no difference,” Blessed John Paul II taught in 1993, “whether
one is the master of the world or the ‘poorest of the poor’ on the face
of the earth. Before the demands of morality we are all absolutely
equal”
[5].
The Church unequivocally condemns abortion, euthanasia,
embryo-destructive experimentation, and the targeting of civilians in
war.
The Church takes human dignity so seriously that she even teaches that
in all but “cases of absolute necessity” capital punishment is immoral.
[6]
Unjust killing is a rejection of the gift of God.
Abortion is always wrong
This letter wishes to reflect particularly on the Church’s teaching regarding abortion.
In 1974, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith reflected that
“in the course of history, the Fathers of the Church, her Pastors and
her Doctors have taught the same doctrine,” namely that abortion is an
“objectively grave fault.”
[7] In 1972, Pope Paul VI declared that “this doctrine has not changed and is unchangeable.”
[8]
Today many Catholics seem to believe that while abortion is
unfortunate, it is not always a moral evil. Secular arguments to justify
abortion abound. New life often represents difficulty. When pregnancy
seems to threaten health or life, or poverty, or when a child may be
born with grave disabilities, abortion is often the secular solution.
But, as the Holy See noted in 1974, “none of these reasons can ever
objectively confer the right to dispose of another's life, even when
that life is only beginning. With regard to the future unhappiness of
the child, no one, not even the father or mother, can act as its
substitute… to choose in the child's name, life or death…Life is too
fundamental a value to be weighed against even very serious
disadvantages.”
[9]
Though abortion is never a justifiable action, the response of the
Church to women who have undergone abortions should be one of
compassion, of solidarity, and of mercy. Abortion is a sinful act, and a
tragedy. The fathers and mothers of aborted children are beloved by
God, and in need of the mercy and healing of Jesus Christ. Programs like
Project Rachel exist to help women who have had abortions encounter the
merciful and forgiving love of God, our Father.
Just Law Protects All Life
Because life is a fundamental value, we have a duty to proclaim its
goodness, and its dignity. We also have a duty to protect it in law. The
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith observed in 1987 that “the
inalienable rights of the person must be recognized and respected by
civil society and the political authority. These human rights depend
neither on single individuals nor on parents; nor do they represent a
concession made by society and the State: they pertain to human nature
and are inherent in the person by virtue of the creative act from which
the person took his or her origin.”
[10]
Clearly, just laws should respect the dignity of the unborn, and their
right to life. Laws which fail to do so should be defeated. And it is
the vocation of all Catholics, most especially lay Catholics, to work to
change unjust laws which allow for the destruction of human life. The
Second Vatican Council decreed that “since laity are tightly bound up in
all types of temporal affairs, it is their special task to order and to
throw light upon these affairs in such a way that they may come into
being and then continually increase according to Christ to the praise of
the Creator and the Redeemer.”
[11]
Despite the clear teaching of the Church, many Catholics, and
especially Catholic politicians, maintain that their personal opposition
to abortion should not affect their participation in civic life. These
arguments are unreasonable, and disingenuous. No one, especially a
person in public office, is exempt from the duty to defend the common
good. And the first and indispensable condition for the common good is
respect for the right to life. Our
Declaration of Independence begins with an argument that all men should protect the inalienable rights granted them by God—among them, the right to life.
At the basis of arguments which recognize abortion’s immorality, but
support its legal protection, is relativism, and cowardice: a refusal to
stand for basic and fundamental truth. Law does nothing more important
than protect the right to life.
The fathers of the Second Vatican Council reminded Catholics, “Nor,…are
they [the faithful] any less wide of the mark who think that religion
consists in acts of worship alone and in the discharge of certain moral
obligations, and who imagine they can plunge themselves into earthly
affairs in such a way as to imply that these are altogether divorced
from the religious life. This split between the faith which many profess
and their daily lives deserves to be counted among the more serious
errors of our age. …Therefore, let there be no false opposition between
professional and social activities on the one part, and religious life
on the other. The Christian who neglects his temporal duties, neglects
his duties toward his neighbor and even God, and jeopardizes his eternal
salvation”
[12]
This statement resonates even more true today, as many Catholics have
withdrawn their faith from the world and public square.
In 1987, Blessed John Paul II said to Americans that “every human
person -- no matter how vulnerable or helpless, no matter how young or
how old, no matter how healthy, handicapped or sick, no matter how
useful or productive for society -- is a being of inestimable worth,
created in the image and likeness of God. This is the dignity of
America, the reason she exists, the condition for her survival -- yes
the ultimate test of her greatness -- to respect every human person,
especially the weakest and the most defenseless ones, those as yet
unborn.”
[13]
The legacy of America is respect for human dignity—most especially respect for the innocent, vulnerable, and marginalized.
Catholic political leaders who claim that they can separate the truths
of faith from their political lives are choosing to separate themselves
from truth, from Christ, and from the communion of the Catholic Church.
On the contrary, Catholic political leaders who truly understand the
teachings of the Church and who use their creativity and initiative to
develop new and creative ways to end the legal protection for abortion
deserve the praise and support of the Church, and of the lay faithful.
All of us must put our energy and effort into ending the legal
protection for abortion. It is, and must be, the primary political
objective of American Catholics—it is difficult to imagine any political
issue with the same significance as the sanctioned killing of children.
Building a Culture of Life
Protecting life is our duty as Catholics, and ending legal protection
for abortion is imperative. 40 years have passed and still we have not
found a successful strategy to end the legally protected killing of the
unborn. But we have also failed to win public opinion. Polling today
suggests that 63% of Americans support legal protection for abortion.
[14] This is where change must begin.
Although we must continue legal efforts, we must also recognize that
law follows culture—when we live in a culture which respects the dignity
of all human life, we will easily pass laws which do the same.
Our task, said Blessed John Paul II in 1995, is “to love and honor the
life of every man and woman and to work with perseverance and courage so
that our time, marked by all too many signs of death, may at last
witness the establishment of a new culture of life, the fruit of the
culture of truth and of love.”
[15]
A culture of life, quite simply, is one which joyfully receives and
celebrates the divine gift of life. A culture of life recognizes human
dignity not as an academic or theological concept, but as an animating
principle—as a measure of the activity of the family and the community. A
culture of life supports most especially the life of the family. It
supports and celebrates the dignity of the disabled, the unborn, and the
aged. A culture of life seeks to live in gratitude for the gift of life
God has given us.
If we want to build a culture of life, we need to begin with charity.
Social charity, or solidarity, is the hallmark of a culture of life and a
civilization of love. It allows us to see one another through the eyes
of God, and therefore to see the unique and personal worth of one
another. Charity allows us to treat one another with justice not because
of our obligations, but because of our desire to love as God loves.
This charity must begin in the family. Our families are the first place
where those who are marginalized, and whose dignity is forgotten, can
be supported. To build a culture of life we must commit to strengthening
our own families, and to supporting the families of our community.
Strong families beget the strong ties which allow us to love those most
in danger of being lost to the culture of death.
The charity of the culture of life also supports works of mercy,
apostolates of social justice and support. Families impacted by the
culture of death are often broken. Supporting adoption, marriage,
responsible programs of social welfare and healthcare, and responsible
immigration policy all speak to a culture which embraces and supports
the dignity of life.
A true culture of life is infectious. The joy which comes from living
in gratitude for the gift of life—and treating all life as gift—effects
change. When Christians begin to live with real regard for human
dignity, our nation will awaken to the tragedy of abortion, and she will
begin to change.
Finally, dear brothers and sisters, I wish to remind you of the power
of prayer. Our prayer and sacrifice for an end to abortion, united with
Christ on the cross, will transform hearts and renew minds. In prayer we
entrust our nation to Jesus Christ. In doing so, we can be assured of
his victory.
Today I ask you to join me in a new resolve to build a culture which
sees with the eyes of God—which sees the dignity of the unborn, of women
and men, of the poor, the elderly, the mentally ill and the disabled.
Our forefathers saw with the eyes of God when they recognized in the
Declaration of Independence
that “we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created
equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable
Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of
Happiness.”
I ask you, dear brothers and sisters, to join me in building a culture
of life which ends the brutal killing of the unborn—the smallest and
least among us. There is no greater task we can undertake. I pray that
the words of Scripture may burn within our hearts, “You formed my inmost
being; you knit me in my mother’s womb. I praise you, because I am
wonderfully made; wonderful are your works!”
[16]
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Most Reverend Samuel J. Aquila, STL
Archbishop of Denver
[4] Evangelium Vitae, 57.
[5] Veritatis Splendor, 97
[7] Declaration on Procured Abortion, Congregation of the Doctrine for the Faith, 1974.
[8] "Salutiamo con paterna effusione," December 9, 1972, AAS 64 (1972), p. 737.
[9] Declaration on Procured Abortion, Congregation of the Doctrine for the Faith, 1974.
[10]
Instruction on respect for human life in its origin and on the dignity
of procreation., Congregation of the Doctrine for the Faith, 1987.
[12] Gaudium et Spes, 43.
[13] John Paul II, Farewell Ceremony, Apostolic Visit to the United States and Canada, September 19, 1987
[14] Roe v. Wade at 40: Most Oppose Overturning Abortion Decision, Pew Research Center, 2013
[15] Evangelium Vitae, 77.