Spirituality is what a person or community believes and how they act on that belief. As Catholics we believe that God is the Author, Sustainer and Goal of every human life, thus, every human life should be protected at conception. Science teaches us that 23 chromosomes from him unites with 23 chromosomes within her to make up a new, unique human life, and that baby girl or boy is alive because God has directly created their everlasting soul.
We believe that a reasonable person can discover this God-given basic dignity of every human being by the natural light of reason. The Founders of our country did just that.
They knew that God established the “natural law” for the protection of each individual and all people. They enshrined this truth in the Declaration of Independence, which states that the colonists would take their “separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature’s God entitle them…
“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.” Our country was founded on the principle that the right to “life” is the most fundamental right, without which “liberty and the pursuit of happiness” has no meaning.
The pilgrims of the thirteen original colonies came to America mostly to be free from tyrannical officials who oppressed those less powerful. Some rulers, Catholic as well as Protestant, ignored God’s natural law and gravely oppressed the less powerful. This is mortally sinful and it becomes “institutional sin” for a society when it legalizes this oppression, like slavery, until Christians and people of good will stood up and made it illegal. Abortion is the worst kind of oppression because it is direct and intentional murder of an innocent, un-born baby.
We Catholics and people of good will need to make abortion illegal in order to protect the most fundamental human right – the right to life for the most innocent – and we do that by following the principles of our faith and of our country.
Natural law reflects that God is the Creator of natural rights and responsibilities of which the entire human family is called to participate. The Declaration also states that God is the “Supreme Judge of the world”, not the imperfect courts of man, including the Supreme Court which failed to protect black people in the Dredd Scott decision, nor has it protected unborn babies since 1973, striking down the prolife laws of various states.
The U.S. President is the one to nominate a Supreme Court Justice when there is a vacancy, and the Senate confirms or denies that nominee. All civil servants have a pro-life role to play, that is why it is important to vote for pro-life politicians, judges, school board members and sheriffs, since protecting unborn babies is the “preeminent issue” confronting our society, as stated by our Catholic bishops, and affirmed by our well-formed consciences.
The Founders relied on God to provide for the victory of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”, but not with-out their sacrifices. The last sentence of the Declaration reads: “And, for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.”
To be pro-life as God intended, we must measure party delegates and candidates for public office with this essential standard and participate in God’s will by uphold-ing the principles of our country. To do less is to watch our country sink further into sin and thus jeopardize our salvation.
The beginning of endorsing a candidate for political office and establishing goals and values (called “party platforms”) starts at the precinct caucus which is run by the political parties, and will be held throughout our state of MN on Tuesday, February 1, 7:00 p.m. You can call the political party with which you affiliate or go online to MNvotes.org and look under “caucus finder” to discover the location of your local caucus.
Let us be active Catholics and good citizens by uphold-ing the most fundamental human right – the right to life. And let us pray for and support Rachel’s Vineyard Retreats, which bring healing to those affected by abortion, for Christ wants all to be saved.
Sincerely in Christ, Fr. Thomas McCabe