Abortion and Why it Survives: Forsaking Reason for Madness

Tolkien fans might recognize the subtitle of this post as coming from the mouth of Gandalf to Saruman after he discovers that his once mentor and master has turned to the “dark side.” I find these words most fitting for the content of this post, especially given the recent public trial of Kermit Gosnells in the States, since it would seem that common sense and reason began losing some of their authority many years ago in our world. The Perth abortion debate in 1998 was, and continues to be a prime example of this trendy embrace of modern day madness, as society turns away from protecting the most innocent of its citizens. The Perth law demonstrated one of the key reasons why abortion still survives today: propaganda in the Mass Media. 

In the small hours of May 21, 1998, the Davenport Bill passed through the Western Australian parliament effectively making abortion legal and on demand in this state. At the time, this bill made Perth’s abortion laws some of the most liberal in the world, surpassed now by the law in Victoria which may be considered even more heinous and a blight on Australia’s conscience.  As a young teacher present at the pro-life rally at the time, I was struck deeply by the divide between truth and convenience as this reflection will reveal. Neither many parliamentarians nor the media appeared very interested in truth; instead they seemed more interested in protecting the work of certain people whom they were defending: abortionists and their accomplices committing what until 1998 had been, even by the standards at the time “illegal.”

In this post I give witness to what I myself saw happen.

Creative Commons License image 

Switching on to YouTube

Well I have finally done it - as with all technology I am a few years behind but YouTube and I have just become friends. 

Probably not a surprise that the music my friends and I have produced would be the first to feature. Please check the music videos for Amazing Grace (You Found Me) and His Grace is Enough, at http://www.youtube.com/user/renatobonasera/videos

For the story behind the music please see my earlier post here - 
http://alegacyofgrace.blogspot.com.au/2013/03/the-story-behind-music-his-grace-is.html

So just how human was he?

Christians know that the mystery of Christ took centuries to settle. It wasn’t until the Council of Chalcedon (451) that the two natures of Jesus were defined. But dogma or not, the truth of Christ’s two natures remains a mystery to fathom. And, while we remain this side of Heaven, the mystery of Christ’s humanity is perhaps the most amazing one for me. That the Creator of the Universe would literally “materialise” inside his Creation, empty himself of his divinity and experience death is mind boggling.

But just how human was Jesus apart from in his death? How can a Christian, who is not perfect and not God, find in Jesus’ humanity a realistic model for living?  

Opening a spiritual can of worms: Treasures of Lectio Divina

All of us were thinking the same thing. Should we miss it? It would be so much easier to stay at home on this wintery night. In fact one of us had to move some debris off his driveway just to make it out of his property. But each of us overcame the temptation and made our monthly men’s faith sharing group earlier this week. We were very glad we did.   

We normally have some routine to the evening: general chit chat, a few snacks, a question or two posed and answered, faith sharing, perhaps an audio-visual stimuli and a short prayer. This night we focused on the ancient practice of Lectio Divina, or prayerful reading of a particular scripture passage, using the very helpful website by Soul Shepherding[1] as an aid. The four of us agreed to meditate on the passage in Acts 16: 22-24.

If you are familiar with the steps in a Lectio Divina please skip this section and scroll down to the “Story in Brief” or “What we discovered.”

Pilgrimage and the continuing Legacy of John Paul II.

In July this year the newly elected Pope Francis will find himself in the most Catholic country in the world, Brazil, for his first World Youth Day. I would not be surprised if he is joined by millions of youth rather than hundreds of thousands of them. Such has been the charisma of Pope Francis to this date, which I believe has been due to some extent because of his similarity to Blessed John Paul II.

One legacy of John Paul II is without a doubt the renewal of the notion of pilgrimage; the spiritual journey taken in a very physical way, at times initiating a journey of thousands of miles from home.  One  might be forgiven for believing that the popularity of pilgrimages was due to the pull of the Great Jubilee in 2000 when millions visited pilgrimage sites around the world. [1] Since that period it could be argued that Catholic pilgrimages have not declined at all. [2] 

Yet the Jubilee Year has only continued a tradition which John Paul II noted as having begun much earlier, despite the strength of post-Vatican II ‘cerebral’ Catholicism. As John Paul II stated in 1994, “Until fairly recently there was a tendency to look down on popular piety. In our time, however, some of its expressions are experiencing a true rebirth – for example the revival of former pilgrimages and the establishment of new ones.” [3]