We Cannot Surrender

     “I read it on the internet,” and, “That is what they are saying at school.” How many parents have heard this from your children? Information is everywhere. Some of it is true. We must be wise in order to find truth.

     Young people often refer to what they are hearing and learning in school as the reason they no longer accept church teachings. For example, they tell us that “other people” do not think that abortion is wrong in all circumstances. Or, perhaps they tell us that in their science courses they studied evolution and so now they think that God did not create everything as we taught them.

     What is true is that the Church teaches that every life is valuable and sacred. Regarding our own life, we like that teaching! We like to say, “My life is sacred.” Moreover, this applies to the other as well, including expectant mothers and their unborn babies. A mother and her child are not enemies. Each is oriented toward surviving and living! Their lives are sacred. For this reason the Church begins with the teaching that abortion is morally wrong. The first point in the debate is not about “rights” and “privacy,” but rather the sacredness of life.

     A key point in the abortion debate is whether a person intends to become pregnant or not, however, this does not change the fact that, when she does become pregnant, she immediately has responsibility for another sacred life. In a world in which a mother may become pregnant under many conditions: wanted/not wanted; ready/not ready; free/forced; supported by the father/not supported; etc. the whole community into which the child may be born must be ready!

     Another truth is that the Church teaches that science and reason are not opposed. Evolution “is not opposed to the notion of Creation, because evolution presupposes the creation of beings that evolve.” That is a quote from Pope Francis, as is the following: “The Big-Bang, that is placed today at the origin of the world, does not contradict the divine intervention but exacts it,” (U.S. News and World Report, Oct. 28, 2014). By these statements, the Pope is inviting us to enter the discussion, not fear it. The biblical creation stories convey the truth about God’s loving intentions from the beginning. The biblical stories are not intended as detailed, scientific explanations about how creation happened.

     We must not fear the issues that our children bring us. We cannot surrender. We have the chance to learn and converse with our children. If we surrender, then we have not fulfilled the promises we made when we baptized them, nor the promises we made at the time of our Confirmation.

Peace, Fr. Andy