Preaching and practicing a consistent ethic of life

The Catholic Church in America, or at least much of it, is tending to become a single-issue entity in terms of public policy to the detriment of the church, of the Gospel that we proclaim, and to society in general. Before I go one word further, let me state up front that I am opposed to abortion, that it is the taking of the life of one who cannot speak for himself or herself. Morality is central to legislation. I have been involved in the legislative process over the years and have always held that morality and the public good are at the core of sound legislation.

It is on pragmatic, pastoral, and maybe even theological grounds that I differ with the single-issue approach. Let us look at the three fundamental options (though actually there are many permutations of the outcomes I am putting forth). We can revoke Roe v. Wade. Then the decision is returned to the states. Half the states may pass laws forbidding abortion and the other may do the opposite. The number of babies killed prior to birth will continue to be high. Mothers desiring abortions will simply cross state lines with transportation provided by pro-choice organizations if needed. The ideological divide will be just as great as it is today. And we will be no further ahead in achieving moral clarity than we are now.

The second option is to pass national legislation that forbids abortion. This will return us to the day when the rich went to countries where it was feasible to have abortions, even though sometimes not legal. The poor will go to the back alley shop or use unsavory means, again what occurred in earlier years. Under the prohibit abortion option, the total number of abortions would probably go down, but the ideological divide would remain and the health, well-being, and quality of life of some of the babies that survived and their mothers would probably be less than optimal.

The third option is to wholeheartedly embrace the consistent ethic of life as championed by the late Cardinal Joseph Bernardin of Chicago. Some right to life organizations have rejected this approach because it loses the single-issue focus on abortion. This is too bad. It is possible that millions of unborn children have died because of their rigid stance, though, of course, this has not been their intent.

The consistent ethic of life emphasizes the sacredness of life from conception to natural death. Under this concept, abortion of an unborn child, child abuse, spouse abuse, sexual abuse, unjust war, torture, the sex trade, capital punishment, stoning of rape victims, the refusal to provide health care, especially pre- and post natal care, or shelter or economic assistance to those in need, and assisted suicide, among other human actions, all violate the sacredness of life.

In fact, we will find that the Obama administration and much of the public agree on most of these issues. Under the consistent ethic of life we have to be equally concerned with the life of a child blown apart by a suicide bomber or a stray bomb of our own as the unborn child aborted in a medical facility. “Respect life” becomes respect for all God-given life.

If we as church would put our energy into preaching, teaching, supporting and implementing the consistent ethic of life, we would do more to reduce the number of aborted unborn babies than we are achieving by focusing all our effort on a single aspect of the life continuum. If we really live the social gospel, including greater access to health care, poverty reduction, and adequate pre- and post-natal care, we will save the lives of thousands and thousands of unborn children likely to be aborted.

If we as a church live, breathe, preach and practice the consistent ethic of life (and many Catholics and Catholic organizations are already addressing portions of that continuum), we will find ourselves not only evangelizing our own people but people who never before have been touched by the church or worked with the church or even known the church. It won’t be just 20, or 100, or 1,000 missionaries for the Gospel as preached by Jesus, but all of us.

I fear, as you can gather, that we are boxing ourselves in when we should be expanding our vision and our leadership so as to give life to the Gospel to the very ends of the earth. In the process we will dramatically reduce the number of abortions. Admittedly some abortions will still occur, as will other abuses of the consistent ethic of life, in spite of our best efforts and those who think and believe as we do. We in the church have a great future before us as the Body of Christ that proclaims and lives the Gospel if only we will grasp it.