Ignorant of the Truth

“Pontifical Academy for Life Member Defends Abortion in US” (Vatican, Nov. 6, 2022, edition) left me shocked and very disturbed; specifically, academy member Roberto Dell’Oro’s statement attacking the Dobbs decision for “failing to uphold democracy, which maximizes rather than restricts a space of personal freedom for all citizens, including women.” 

I find this statement to be fundamentally ignorant of the truth and of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. 

Additionally, the story noted the recent appointment of Mariana Mazzucato to the academy. A separate story in the same edition about Mazzucato’s pro-abortion, ruling-class background (“Pontifical Academy for Life Tabs Pro-Abortion Member”) further disturbed me.

My confidence in the current Vatican leadership has been shaken and makes me question their deeper motivations as the temporary custodians of the Church.

 Bill Bond

 Myersville, Maryland

 

Rediscovering Wonder

This is in response to the wonderful column “Children Help Us Rediscover Wonder” (Culture of Life, Dec. 4 issue) by Regis Martin.

Professor Martin, you are in a special profession where repetition is so common and maybe why you are more in tune to the everyday occurrences like the sun rising and sun setting. 

Many teachers present the same subject matter day after day, but to different students. 

Those teachers, like you Regis, should be aware of repetition in their everyday life. 

Maybe we adults, in our fear of doing the same things day after day, try to pass on to our children much variety, like many toys and other activities, reflecting our boredom.

 Instead, we should observe our children’s repetitive actions and see how secure and joyful they are performing them. Would we not be very insecure if the sun refused to rise or that spring refused to come? So let us continue to give thanks to the everyday events in our lives and the love our Father gives to us, especially in his creation.

 Norman Cookson

 Milford, New Hampshire

 

Day of Prayer

Reflecting on “Pro-Life Heroes: The Road That Led to the End of Roe” (page one, Jan. 1 issue): The article focuses on “almost 50 years of work by pro-life advocates.” 

On Jan. 22, our country marked 50 years since the devastating Roe v. Wade decision. 

To memorialize the day, the national March for Life rallied once again in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 20. Jeanne Mancini, president for March for Life, said, “I can’t think of a more powerful statement that Roe wasn’t settled law other than the marchers literally going past the Supreme Court every single year.” The March for Life is a national day of prayer to God for a change of heart for all Americans. While abortion is no longer a constitutional right, pro-life witness is still needed to encourage states to pass laws to restrict and/or ban abortion.

During the season of Advent, the angel Gabriel told Mary she would conceive a child by the Holy Spirit. Was not Jesus present in Mary’s womb from the time he was conceived? We, too, were present, body and soul, in our mother’s womb at the time we were conceived. As Mother Teresa said, “The greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a war against the child, a direct killing of the innocent child.”

As the article says, “there is more work than ever before for the pro-life movement.” 

Pro-abortion politicians can undo every pro-life law in every state if they succeed in passing the Women’s Health Protection Act, which would codify abortion into federal law.

The March for Life is a plea to God, that he opens our minds, especially our leader’s minds, to the truth of what abortion is. St. Paul tells us to pray unceasingly. The March for Life is exactly that, an unceasing prayer that all come to believe that every life, from conception to natural death, is valuable, just as how God meant it to be.

 Ken Sims

 Moorhead, Minnesota

 

Signs of the Times

Many thanks to Jennifer Roback Morse for stating so clearly and succinctly the tsunami of problems that faithful Catholics will have to confront in American society today (“Clarity for the Future of Life and Family,” In Depth, Jan. 1 edition). What began as a whisper of anti-family initiatives and protests and public policy merely a generation ago has become a runaway train that seeks in “creating a new social-sexual regime.” 

Don’t forget that Satan is a liar from the beginning. And as Morse so astutely identifies the crux [of the anti-family forces], “They cannot win on the evidence and the truth of things,” so they obfuscate, deny, lie, and “we now know, beyond any shadow of a doubt, what manner of people we are dealing with.” Virtually anyone, even remotely paying attention, has to recognize this harbinger and the signs of the times, this wrecking ball aimed at the nuclear family, the consequences of which will affect everyone. Stand tall, and don’t blink, faithful Catholic men and women, for we know that the Lamb wins. 

And God “did not give us a spirit of timidity, but of power, and love and self-control” (1 Timothy 2:7). St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle, and pray for us.

Mike Acheson

Port Angeles, Washington