Bishop: On life, let us be guided by God’s mercy

The Catholic standpoint on life is grounded in a simple truth — that all human beings are made in the image and likeness of God.

Our Church professes that human life is sacred from the moment of conception until natural death.

While our faith sometimes challenges us to grapple with difficult concepts, our teaching on life is both clear and precise.

It is also consistent. The Church has always taught the moral necessity of treating the unborn child in the womb as a unique “somebody,” even though small.

What we know from science today only reinforces our understanding of the unborn baby as a genetically unique human being, even though directly dependent upon a mother for survival.

Because abortion is the direct killing of this innocent human being, both natural reason and our faith tell us it is wrong.

Yet, even with this clarity and consistency of our teaching, the issues surrounding life continue to present a monumental challenge in society today.

Personal beliefs on life are like fault lines dividing our country, our state and our communities. They can cause division even among the closest families and friends.

Few issues are this divisive. People’s views can often seem hard as stone and immovable as mountains. Yet, as Christians we know that even stone and mountains are not impervious to change.

Faith can move mountains.

So how are we to move forward together when faced with this kind of painful division and societal discord?

Jesus tells us, “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.”

Mercy is the answer. It’s one of the messages Jesus proclaimed in his Beatitudes. That’s how we must begin to approach each other on this difficult topic and on others like it.

We must pray that God will guide us to be examples of his mercy during this time, because the need for mercy is everywhere in our world today.

The unborn children who are already present in our world need our mercy.

Soon, Missourians will vote on Amendment 3, which would end our state’s ban on direct abortion. This would be a tragic step backward in our work to protect all human life.

This is not merely a policy issue. It is a profound moral question that touches upon who we are as humans.

Legalizing abortion procedures — and removing any genuine possibility of regulating its practice in Missouri — would not only disregard the rights of the unborn but also continue the societal erosion of the respect for life at all stages.

Whenever we disregard the dignity of any class of human beings, we impoverish our own dignity and increase the possibility of disregarding the humanity of others whom we find difficult, undesirable, inconvenient, or not needed.

The bonds that hold us together suffer.

At the same time, our Church must always champion the dignity and equality of women in society.

While some reduce the matter of abortion solely to a question of the rights of women, the Church cannot support this view, as the right to life is fundamental to all other rights we share as human beings.

For these reasons, our Church speaks against Amendment 3. The unborn deserve our recognition of them as human beings and therefore our mercy.

Reflecting God’s mercy also means, however, that we have the responsibility to be present with mothers and fathers who are facing unforeseen, or even unwanted, pregnancies.

Expecting parents need our compassion during this anxious time.

It is very good that many organizations in our diocese are already working to address this need. A completely pro-life culture is one in which every social pressure for a woman to choose an abortion is eliminated.

Sadly, these pressures are still very present and touch upon many areas of our Catholic social teaching regarding poverty, including lack of access to adequate healthcare, education, employment, housing and nutrition, as well as the psychological, emotional, familial and spiritual supports every mother should experience.

There is more work to be done beyond protecting the dignity of the human life of the unborn in our state laws.

How can we do more to show our mercy and support to the women and families who are struggling through hardships?

We must also freely show mercy to everyone who is in pain following an abortion. The path to healing begins with a community that welcomes without judgement and guides those to God’s mercy.

This, too, is part of what it means to have a culture of life.

Finally, it is very important today that we show mercy to each other as we open ourselves to conversations on these difficult issues.

There are people — people close to us — who genuinely do not think of abortion like we do. But God chose for us to be in this life together.

We are imperfect missionaries, each of us desiring the ability to move forward along a path of growth and transformation into the Kingdom sought by our Father in Heaven.

By approaching each other with mercy, may we help one another along this path of life as God intended when He chose to give us life.

“... The Church must look more closely and sympathetically at others whenever necessary. In our world, ordained ministers and other pastoral workers can make present the fragrance of Christ’s closeness and his personal gaze. The Church will have to initiate everyone — priests, religious and laity — into this ‘art of accompaniment’ which teaches us to remove our sandals before the sacred ground of the other (cf. Ex. 3:5).

“The pace of this accompaniment must be steady and reassuring, reflecting our closeness and our compassionate gaze which also heals, liberates and encourages growth in the Christian life” (Pope Francis, “Evangelii Gaudium,” 2013).