The Archbishop Did What???

The latest issue (as of 2/5/14) of the Clarion Herald, Archdiocese of New Orleans’s publication, features a very controversial article.  The title, “Planned Parenthood abortion clinic: We cannot cooperate with evil.”  (Hmm…tell us how you really feel)  With this article, the Archbishop of New Orleans, Gregory Aymond, has really put his neck on the line.  In doing so, he has clearly stepped out as the Shepherd of his flock.

News channels have already jumped on the article and are spreading it further and further. As with any controversial topic, the haters and trolls come along with it.  I’ve sifted through about 150 comments from people that subscribe to the “pro-choice” position, and seriously…I fear for the future of the world.  There are so many illogical, hateful, emotional, and outright stupid arguments on the Facebook post from WWL-TV.

(Note that I am speaking of the majority of arguments that I read, which means a limited scope of 150 comments) Many of those arguments are straw-man arguments. Many people point to the child abuse scandal (I know it is a Catholic site, but the authors site sources and quote the people who matter), to the “political church”,  to the “oh they’re a bunch of hypocrites, because of all their sin”, and even to the “what does a celibate man know about being pregnant?”

Don’t get me wrong, one of those arguments is actually a very important topic to address (see link above). That being said, these arguments are ridiculous because they avoid the entire issue of the article and what the Archbishop said.  Here’s a quote for you, “We cannot be silent in view of the grave injustice presented by the abortions that will be performed at the proposed Planned Parenthood facility.”  He then continues, “The archdiocese is obliged to remind every person and organization involved in the acquisition, preparation and construction of this or any abortion facility that they are cooperating with the evil that will take place there.”

And here is the crux of his article, the thing that is being criticized, “For this reason, the archdiocese, including its churches, schools, apartments for the elderly and nursing homes, will strive in its privately funded work not to enter into business relationships with any person or organization that participates in actions that are essential to making this abortion facility a reality.”

Click picture for full article by the Archbishop

Many are crying out that because of this position, the Archbishop is taking a political stance and therefore should no longer receive tax exempt status.  Uh…Wrong!! He is merely stating that an organization, which he leads, will no longer cooperate with any business that knowingly participates in something that the organization disagrees with, i.e. making abortion facilities a reality.  He is completely within his rights to do so.

Tragically though, the point of the article that is being overlooked the most is the fact that 1.2 million children are being aborted each year.  Some people attempt to address this by saying, “oh they are just removing a fetus”, “it’s just a clump of cells”, “it’s a woman’s body”, or other non-scientific arguments about abortion.  The arguments of the pro-choice side are normally based on emotion and biased research, but the pro-life side usually uses science (we do have our crazy weird people too).

Ironically, when some people bring up the conversation of God, many people will argue that you can’t prove his existence using science, therefore you are wrong.  However, when we use science to show that the embryo is a living human organism, like you and I, we are wrong again.  We can’t win whether we use science or not.

It is also really funny how pro-lifers are called uneducated when we are the ones using the scientific arguments.  Don’t believe me?  Look up human embryology.

Embryology is the study of embryos, thus human embryology is the study of human embryos (Yes. There is a distinction).  Every embryologist will agree that human life begins at conception. Yes, it is just a clump of cells, but it is a clump of living human organism cells…just like the rest of us.

So, to take a note from some of the pro-choice comments, “Do your homework.”  While you’re at it, Educate yo’self on Planned Parenthood as well.

Lastly, I want to personally thank Archbishop Aymond for being an amazing shepherd and for calling his flock to not help build evil nor sit idly by and let evil happen.  We as Christians, as Muslims, as whichever religion you are, and even as Secular Pro-Lifers, should come together to stop Planned Parenthood from building a facility in New Orleans.  It is not good for us, it is not good for children, and it will only add to the violence that is already here.

I stand with Archbishop Aymond in not supporting people, companies, or organizations that directly or indirectly aid in the building of the Planned Parenthood facility or any other abortion facility.

Why We March

So…there I was, sitting in an airport, about to leave for Washington DC for the Geaux Forth Youth Rally and other March for Life events. I was soo super pumped!! But preparing for this trip called me to reflect on something very important. The question, “Why do we march?” Seriously!! What is the purpose of hundreds of thousands of people traveling to our nation’s Capital to “March for Life”? Does it really make a difference?  Will this annual gathering just continue to happen?

This one question, “Why do we march?” brings so many other questions along with it. But while I was being bombarded by my brain with all of these questions, 3 things came to mind. 1) Letter from a Birmingham Jail. 2) Evangelium Vitae. 3) 1 Peter 3:14-16.

1) Letter from a Birmingham Jail

In this letter, written by Martin Luther King Jr., he responds to a number of pastors that have questioned his purpose of traveling to Birmingham to march for civil rights. As a quick aside, we must recognize that the civil rights movement, at it’s very heart, was a movement and fight for the acknowledgement of the equal and unchanging value of every human person.

Now, while MLK Jr. was sitting in jail, he decided that he had nothing better to do than to respond to the letters from the pastors. In response to his presence in Birmingham, King writes, “…I am in Birmingham because injustice is here“(emphasis mine).  He continues, “Moreover, I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states, I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.  We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.  Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”(emphasis mine)

These words ring true today as well.  This “inescapable network of mutuality” ties together people of all races, genders, beliefs, and even ages.  This “mutuality” that Dr. King speaks of is the bond of the living human organism.  He speaks of the fact that we are all tied together and knows that when we devalue one, we can devalue others.  Also, he speaks to the fact that the betterment of the living human organism is better for society, whereas when the living human organism is made to be less than what he/she is, society suffers.

Just as Dr. King was in Birmingham because injustice was there, we are here in our nation’s Capital because injustice is here.  We have been fighting this injustice for 41 years.  This March for Life has been happening for 41 years.  But why march?  Why this direct action of marching at our nation’s Capital?  Dr. King says, “You may well ask: ‘Why direct action? Why sit ins, marches and so forth? Isn’t negotiation a better path?’  You are quite right in calling for negotiation.  Indeed, this is the very purpose of direct action.  Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue.  It seeks to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored.”

Well what’s the problem?  We’ve been marching and taking direct action for 41 years, but for some reason the injustice of abortion is still being ignored.  I think it is because we lack the ability to “create a crisis and foster such a tension”.  Each year, hundreds of thousand of people from around the country travel to DC and put their money in the nations Capital to march for 2 hours.  How is this going to change the governments mind.  Few if any of the elected officials will even be in the DC area for the March this year.  How will this have any impact on them? How will they hear about it?  The media won’t help.  They pretend that we don’t exist.

We have to act outside of just being here at the March.  We have to push for acknowledgement.  We have to do something different.  One definition I’ve heard for insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting a different result.  I know that each year the March adds new and exciting things, and hey, I’m here in DC right now, but do we really expect a different result.  We must do something differently.  I’m not saying that I know what we can do differently, but I am acknowledging that something different must happen if we are expecting different results.  Maybe bring on a few famous people that happen to be pro-life. Give them some material, put them in the front of the March.  Maybe we can garnish some recognition from news sources besides FOX News or EWTN. Granted, maybe the leaders have tried that before, and again, I humbly say that I don’t know the solution, but there has to be something we can do besides pouring millions of dollars into the Capital’s tourism funds.

Now, at the same time, I want to encourage more and more people to come together to show the nation and the world that we are Pro-Life and that we will not be silent, but something must be done in order to actually show the nation that we even exist.  If we are not here to “create such a crisis and foster such a tension” as to move us into negotiation, then why are we here?

2. Evangelium Vitae

Soon to be St. Pope John Paul the II wrote this beautiful encyclical on the “Value and Inviolability of Human Life” titled Evangelium Vitae.  This masterpiece calls and further explains “the Gospel of life” which “is at the heart of Jesus’ message.”  I want to call attention to one paragraph in particular.  It reads, “To all the members of the Church, the people of life and for life, I make this most urgent appeal, that together we may offer this world of ours new signs of hope, and work to ensure that justice and solidarity will increase and that a new culture of human life will be affirmed, for the building of an authentic civilization of truth and love.”(emphasis mine)

This “urgent appeal” to “all the members of the Church” and to “the people of life and for life” is a call for “new signs of hope”.  How do we offer these “new signs of hope” in order to ensure the increase of justice and solidarity?  Well, I think that the March for Life is one way to do that. Year after year the number of young Pro-Lifers at the March increases.  From Louisiana in the past 4 years, we have gone from 400 to 1400 just on the known Youth Pilgrimages (not including any Lafayette groups).  A growth of an average of 250 students per year.  That may not seem like a whole lot, but if there is growth like that across the country, then things start to heat up.  If we continue to grow, and being Pro-Life becomes more of a thing for young people to get involved in, then these new signs of hope will bring an end to the injustice of abortion.

The March for Life is the perfect place for these students to come and be inspired by the number of people, touched by the powerful testimonies, and educated by the phenomenal speakers.  However, I have heard of too many groups that come to check out the sights and do the March and then they are done.  Do those groups even know what they participated in?  We must strive harder to reach these young people’s hearts and minds the very minute they sign up for this March.  We must educate them on the issues and teach them the facts, but we must also teach them compassion and love.  If we give them tons of information, without teaching them first how to love, they will push away more people than they will convince of the truth.

Again, I think that the March for Life is the perfect place for these students to come, however the trips must be done appropriately.  If they come and just pour money into the area without understanding why they are here, then we have failed them.  If they come and check out the sights, but do not see the injustice that is occurring in our nation, then we have failed them.  If they come and do not go back home with an intensity and passion for life, but had a fun trip, then we have failed them.  We cannot, we must not fail our young people.  We need more ways to reach out to their hearts and their minds so that we can show them what it means to be passionately Pro-Life.

This is one purpose of Geaux Forth.  Geaux Forth is an event that is run by Louisiana Right to Life.  The goal is to educate, motivate, and activate students that have made their way here from Louisiana, and send them home with this new passion and spirit to fight for life.  We have great speakers from across the nation and Canada, who come to share, with our students, their passion and knowledge in order that the students hearts and minds be better formed and they become more edified.  Honestly, I do not know about every single event that happens in the DC area, during the March for Life, but from my experience, this is one of few that actually seek to educate the students (please note that this is from my own personal experience).

Education is a very powerful tool.  If the truth is taught, it is difficult to refute.  Many people try to water down the situation for our young people.  I’m not entirely sure why.  They are the ones that have been denied friends and family members because of this.  They are the ones that are the survivors.  They are the ones that will fill the shoes of the heroes that have gone before us, but how can they fill those shoes without knowing the gravity of the situation.  Too many hearts and lives are being lost to this.  We must act now.

3. 1 Peter 3:14-16

This brings me to the last thing that came to my mind.  1 Peter 3:14-16 “14 But even if you do suffer for doing what is right, you are blessed.  Do not fear what they fear, and do not be intimidated, 15 but in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord.  Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you; 16 yet do it with gentleness and reverence.”

Particular emphasis on the second half. “Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you.” I want to encourage you to become educated so that you can make that defense to anyone. It is not enough to say, “God doesn’t like abortion.” We have to be able to talk with people and use facts. Scientific facts and philosophical discussion is how we are to talk with people. Why? Because meeting people where they are is what Jesus did. We need to take the time to learn the facts and arguments, of both sides, so that we can understand our position better.

Now I want to focus on the very end of the verse. It says, “yet do it with gentleness and reverence.” I think a lot of times, people forget this part. Gentleness and reverence are extremely important and you cannot let it fall by the wayside. We must treat people with the respect and dignity that they deserve. The respect and dignity that each person deserves is not based on what they have done or will do with their lives, but rather that they are living human organisms, and because of that, deserve equality.

So…yeah, that’s where my brain takes me sometimes. I don’t want to claim that everything I said is 100% Gospel truth, but rather just what I was thinking about different things. Please feel free to discuss with me. I do not claim to know everything and truly enjoy intellectual discussion.

In God’s Infinite and Eternal Love,