Amy Welborn of – well I guess that isn’t really necessary given her fame – offers her thoughts on creating a pro-life parish in the wake of the election of Obama. I’ll let her doing the talking and offer my own thoughts.
…Some of those who voted for Obama probably are opposed to abortion but feel that the legal ship has gone too far to come back anyway, but many are simply not bothered by abortion – even the churchgoers.
There’s where the work needs to begin, as I have said many, many times before -to stop treating abortion simply as a “social issue,” but as a reality among Catholics themselves. To have every Catholic parish in the United States be a pro-life place, not just because there is educational material in the back but because it is a place where:
1) Children are welcomed and prayed for – as in the prayer for “a respect for life in our nation” will be supplemented by a prayer “in thanksgiving for the children of our parish and in hopes that God will bless the families of our parish with more children.”
This would be nice on several scales. While abortion is primarily an injustice against the sanctity of life today, it has also been and traces its condemnation to being an offense against the family and the procreative union we are called to in marriage. Perhaps if this were emphasized I wouldn’t have had the opportunity of hearing two people discuss their sterilizations when we were in the back of the church attending our respective boisterous children.
2) It is stated bluntly and directly in every way possible: “If your teenager gets pregnant or fathers a child, please don’t be ashamed. We’re with you. Let us know what we can do to help, and let us pray for the young parents.”
This is an area where I simply disagree. This seems to play off boomer nostalgia for a lot of problems being because their parents would be upset so it was their fault that they did some inexcusable act. One can still feel shame for doing wrong and not kill her baby. What does need to be done is to push people into marriage when this happens. Of course if he beats her or is unstable then you obviously don’t have them wed. Very real and tangible harm is done to a child not raised with both parents. Telling them they should be thankful they weren’t killed isn’t a remedy.
3) It is stated bluntly and directly in every way possible: “We’re rejoicing in the birth of the special-needs children in our parish. Here’s the assistance we give parents of special-needs kids. There’s lots of it.”
I really wish this pop psychology would end. The problem with special needs children isn’t that people just aren’t happy enough about having them. Special needs children as the euphemism states plainly are more challenging and place greater stress on a parent. Certainly the rewards can be just as great as having non-special needs child. If a parent of a non-special needs child can have mornings where they ponder what they got themselves into, special needs parents certainly have the same right. Certainly the parish can offer assistance.
4) In which foster parenting is promoted and regular workshops and training on fostering are presented.
We’ll probably have to save this for another day, but I’m of the opinion the foster care system should be scrapped. I guess there is nothing wrong with promoting it though.
5) In which adoption is promoted and the parish participates in funds that financially assist adoptive families.
I have completely soured on adoption. It seems to be a greater benefit to the parents than the children. As RCM pointed out a while ago, widespread encouragement of adoption only dates itself to about World War II. I think though, we have the start of a discussion.
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