Auspice Maria: Respect Life Month
October is a month for many things such as baseball playoffs, homecomings, fall foliage, and the diocesan Harvest Ball. October is also the month of the Rosary. In October we recognize World Mission Sunday, and we celebrate Respect Life Month. The United States Catholic Conference of Bishops (USCCB) website states: “Each October the Church in the United States celebrates Respect Life Month, and the first Sunday of October is observed as Respect Life Sunday. As Catholics, we are called to cherish, defend, and protect those who are most vulnerable, from the beginning of life to its end, and at every point in between. During the month of October, the Church asks us to reflect more deeply on the dignity and gift of every human life.”
While reflecting on the “dignity and gift of every human life,” I would like to share some of St. John Paul II’s wisdom as communicated to the Church and the world in his March 25, 1999, encyclical letter The Gospel of Life. In chapter one of the letter subtitled, “Present-day Threats to Human Life,” he presents the reality of what he calls the “culture of death,” that is, a culture that no longer looks upon every human life from the moment of conception to natural death as possessing an inviolable human dignity. In a summary paragraph, he writes,
How did such a situation come about? Many different factors have to be taken into account. In the background there is the profound crisis of culture, which generates skepticism in relation to the very foundations of knowledge and ethics, and which makes it increasingly difficult to grasp clearly the meaning of what man is, the meaning of his rights and his duties. Then there are all kinds of existential and interpersonal difficulties, made worse by the complexity of a society in which individuals, couples and families are often left alone with their problems. There are situations of acute poverty, anxiety or frustration in which the struggle to make ends meet, the presence of unbearable pain, or instances of violence, especially against women, make the choice to defend and promote life so demanding as sometimes to reach the point of heroism. (11)
St. John Paul II is saying that the diminishment of the right to life is due to different realities. It is due to a culture that has lost the meaning of the human person. In other words, we live in a culture that has lost the basic truth of the identity of the human person. With this loss of identity comes the loss of human rights. He writes: Precisely in an age when the inviolable rights of the person are solemnly proclaimed and the value of life is publicly affirmed, the very right to life is being denied or trampled upon, especially at the more significant moments of existence: the moment of birth and the moment of death. (18)
Also, St. John Paul II says that due to the loss of adequate anthropology (the study and understanding of the human person), our culture has lost sight of another important element of human existence, that is, we are by nature social beings. Therefore, realities such as human solidarity, friendship, and community are sacrificed for the rights of the individual. Fierce respect for individual rights and freedoms has created a certain isolationism where we live in a society but experience separation and aloneness. He writes that in our society “individuals, couples, and families are often left alone with their problems.” (11) As a result, people in situations such as facing an unwanted pregnancy or dealing with a terminal illness often need to be heroic when they “make the choice to defend and promote life.” (11) If our culture celebrated every life and that celebration was expressed in unwavering, unconditional support for every human life from the moment of conception to one’s natural death by all members of society, maybe fewer women would elect to abort their babies, and we would help a person die with dignity by surrounding him/her with comfort and support until his/her natural last breath.
Laws usually reflect culture. People build culture. St. John Paul II writes: This situation, with its lights and shadows, ought to make us all fully aware that we are facing an enormous and dramatic clash between good and evil, death and life, the "culture of death" and the "culture of life". We find ourselves not only "faced with" but necessarily "in the midst of" this conflict: we are all involved, and we all share in it the inescapable responsibility of choosing to be unconditionally pro-life. (28) St. John Paul II’s exhortation is timely. If we profess a belief in Christ and his Church, we have a responsibility to form our consciences well so that by the decisions and choices we make we contribute to building a culture of life.
We build a culture of life in various ways. One way is by choosing to be active, faithful citizens who fulfill their civic duties. One important civic duty we have is to vote. The U.S. bishops have again published the election year document, “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship” for Catholics to read and reflect upon as they prepare to vote. The bishops acknowledge the need for Catholic voters to be conscious of pro-life issues and note various “grave threats to the life and dignity of the human person….” (introduction, viii) Interestingly, before listing the various ways that human life and dignity are devalued and endangered, they write, “The threat of abortion remains our pre-eminent priority because it directly attacks our most vulnerable and voiceless brothers and sisters and destroys more than a million lives per year in our country alone.” (viii) This statement reminds us that if we cannot protect the most vulnerable human beings on the planet, we will never have a true culture of life. God bless you.
-Bishop James Ruggieri
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