Unless you’ve been living under a rock (and if so, I can relate!) you’ve probably heard about all the uproar over President Barack Obama receiving an honorary degree and giving the commencement address at very-catholic (yet neither Big 10 nor Big East) Notre Dame. He isn’t the first sitting president to do this, nor is he the first Liberal or Democrat to receive this honor. The abortion debate is nothing new, but the fuss over this time was unique. Maybe the newer debate over embryonic stem cell research was the straw that broke the Pro-Life camel’s back. I’m not sure, but 27 people were arrested, including Norma McCorvey. Who, you may ask? She is the ‘Roe’ in Roe v Wade and it is seldom reported that she is now in the Pro-Life camp.
But enough about that, the protest shows that we have a long way to go to reach the point where as the President said we would stop “reducing those with differing views to caricature.” And that’s what the abortion debate has become- a war of words, belittling the opinions and convictions of the other side.
If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a hundred times, the Church should not be spending all her resources rallying behind political candidates with the hope of tipping the balance of the Supreme Court. But instead should be pouring her heart into those at-risk of abortions. No, purity balls for teens don’t count. These are young girls, heavily involved in their churches that would be likely to abstain from sex until marriage anyways. No, I’m talking about those impacted by the socio-economic drivers that lead to abortions. You’re not likely to find these women in all-white suburban mega-churches.
I heard an interview with the guys from Audio Adrenaline and they were talking about “orphan prevention” instead of the usual orphan adoption/foster home outreach many churches participate in. In Haiti, with their Hands and Feet Project, they reach out the impoverished to take away the economic incentive to give up a child.
Look out into your community and reach out to the struggling mother. Befriend the single-mom at church that no one else talks to. Embrace the teens in your church to value the blessing of sex in the context of marriage and the sanctity of life developing in a womb. Participate in “abortion prevention”.
“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” James 1:27