As Catholics, we condemn outright the taking of human life whenever it is found. We pray for the families who have lost their children to the brutality of man's violence. We condemn utterly the actions of those who have either acquiesced in, or committed by hand, child murder.
Speaking personally as a Catholic, however, it seems to me that there has been much in the news this week about the slaughter of innocent life, of lives whose promise was snuffed out by evil and also by the mental illness of those who have perpetrated the crimes that have been brought to light this week in the news.
What I find frustrating about the news coverage of the horrifying stories of child abuse and murder this week is the complete blindness of those in public office who now, at the despatch box in the House of Commons denounce the taking of innocent human life as if they are moral guardians of the country, while, at the same time, renounce not their endorsement and active support for the existing abortion laws of the UK. The hypocrisy of our leaders is shameful and their words are hollow, for if they cannot condemn and campaign against the horror of abortion then their stand for the protection of innocent life outside of the womb does not hold any credence!
We Catholics know where we stand. We condemn the evil that has been brought to light this week and pray for the victims of the crimes and the repentence and rehabilitation of those who have committed it. However, for Gordon Brown and David Cameron to make political capital out of their 'care' for innocent life is a scandal, because both are in favour of abortion and their voting records are visible for all to see in the HFE Bill.
Is child murder so shocking to the nation?
Is it so shocking in the light of the fact that thousands of innocent children are slaughtered in the womb every year?!
To me, and to most Catholics who are pro-life (for it is not necessarily a given nowadays) it is not shocking, no, because the culture of life has been so eroded that for modern man and modern woman, infanticide is a daily societal norm taking places in buildings in nearly every town.
It would appear, listening to Radio 4 this weekend, that to the panel who unanimously condemned the barbarism that has been inflicted upon innocent life this is a new and deeply disturbing phenomenom. Disturbing it is, but new? No! Not new at all! It is happening every day and I would posit that the very people who condemn the actions of those who inflicted this injustice now still to this very day, many of them, support the right of people to murder children in the womb. I could post up pictures or videos of what takes place in an abortion but they are too horrendous to show.
Instead, I would suggest that a society that has allowed freely and openly for child murder in the womb is one that gradually, little by little, degenerates into a society that cannot see life as sacred or of worth at all. The society that allows, or even worse, promotes the taking of human life before birth will fail to uphold the rights to life of those outside of the womb also, yes even children outside of the womb. I would posit that the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church has been right all along...and yes, the permission and promotion of the one has indeed led to the other.
People are looking desperately to blame social services, to blame the perpetrators of these crimes against children. Blame is surely theirs for their inactions and their actions respectively. But the blame is also ours, because we with our acquiescence in and acceptance of abortion and our subsequent failure to condemn it for what it is, have created what Pope John Paul II rightly called, the 'Culture of Death.'
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