The manifest evil of abortion
On Meet the Press, 24 August 2008, Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, was asked about her divergence from the Catholic Church on the issue of when life begins. She responded that “as an ardent, practicing Catholic, this is an issue that I have studied for a long time. And what I know is, over the centuries, the doctors of the church have not been able to make that definition. And Senator—St. Augustine said at three months. We don’t know. The point is, is that it shouldn’t have an impact on the woman’s right to choose.”1. Bishops Respond to House Speaker Pelosi’s Misrepresentation of Church Teaching - Cardinal Justin F. Rigali and Bishop William E. Lori
Cardinal Rigali, chairman of the U. Committee on Pro-Life Activities, and Bishop Lori, chairman of the Committee on Doctrine, responded to Speaker Pelosi, saying that she “misrepresented the history and nature of the authentic teaching of the Catholic Church against abortion.”
2. Statement on the Unborn - Cardinal Edward Egan
A statement by Cardinal Egan of New York, released on 26 August 2008, in response to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s remarks on Meet the Press, 24 August 2008, regarding the impact of the Church’s historic uncertainty about when life begins in the womb on a “woman’s right to choose.”
3. On the Separation of Sense and State: A Clarification for the People of the Church in Northern Colorado - Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap.
In an address to Catholics of the Archdiocese of Denver, Colorado, dated 25 August 2008, Archbishop Charles Chaput took exception to Speaker Pelosi’s implication that the Church’s teaching was ever unclear on the impermissibility of abortion.
4. On the Church and Abortion - Archbishop Donald Wuerl
In a statement released on 25 August, Archbishop Wuerl, of the Diocese of Washington, D.C., made clear that when life begins in the womb is not an issue of controversy in the Church, as Speaker Pelosi asserted, and he cited the Catechism of the Catholic Church to that effect.
5. In Response to House Speaker Pelosi’s Remarks Concerning Abortion - Archbishop Jose H. Gomez, S.T.D., and Bishop Oscar Cantú, D.D.
Archbishop Gomez and Bishop Cantu, of San Antonio, Texas, join the bishops of the United States in response to House Speaker Pelosi’s remarks concerning abortion.
6. Statement Challenging Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s Statement On Abortion - Archbishop John C. Nienstedt
Archbishop Nienstedt reinforced the statements by Cardinal Rigali, Bishop Lori, and Archbishop Chaput against Speaker Pelosi’s misrepresentation of when life begins.
7. Nancy Pelosi’s Misinformed Comments - Bishop Samuel Aquila
Bishop Aquila, of Fargo, North Dakota, in an Aug. 26 letter to priests, deacons, seminarians and others, noted that Pelosi’s comments on abortion and Catholic teaching, were misinformed and likely to lead to confusion on Catholic teaching.
8. Regarding the Evil of Procured Abortion - Bishop Michael J. Sheridan
The Bishop of the Diocese of Colorado Springs observes that, from the first century, “the Church has taught that abortion is gravely immoral.” Those who take a public stance contrary to this teaching “should not present themselves for the reception of Holy Communion.”
9. Response to Remarks of U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi - Bishop Jerome E. Listecki
The Bishop of the Diocese of LaCrosse, Wisconsin, drew attention to the irony of Pelosi’s recourse to theology, in order to throw doubt on the findings of science, that life begins in the womb at conception.
New wine must be put into fresh skins.
Reading 1
1 Cor 4:1-5
Brothers and sisters:
Thus should one regard us: as servants of Christ
and stewards of the mysteries of God.
Now it is of course required of stewards
that they be found trustworthy.
It does not concern me in the least
that I be judged by you or any human tribunal;
I do not even pass judgment on myself;
I am not conscious of anything against me,
but I do not thereby stand acquitted;
the one who judges me is the Lord.
Therefore, do not make any judgment before the appointed time,
until the Lord comes,
for he will bring to light what is hidden in darkness
and will manifest the motives of our hearts,
and then everyone will receive praise from God.
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 37:3-4, 5-6, 27-28, 39-40
R. (39a) The salvation of the just comes from the Lord.
Trust in the LORD and do good,
that you may dwell in the land and be fed in security.
Take delight in the LORD,
and he will grant you your heart’s requests.
R. The salvation of the just comes from the Lord.
Commit to the LORD your way;
trust in him, and he will act.
He will make justice dawn for you like the light;
bright as the noonday shall be your vindication.
R. The salvation of the just comes from the Lord.
Turn from evil and do good,
that you may abide forever;
For the LORD loves what is right,
and forsakes not his faithful ones.
Criminals are destroyed
and the posterity of the wicked is cut off.
R. The salvation of the just comes from the Lord.
The salvation of the just is from the LORD;
he is their refuge in time of distress.
And the LORD helps them and delivers them;
he delivers them from the wicked and saves them,
because they take refuge in him.
R. The salvation of the just comes from the Lord.
Gospel
Lk 5:33-39
The scribes and Pharisees said to Jesus,
“The disciples of John the Baptist fast often and offer prayers,
and the disciples of the Pharisees do the same;
but yours eat and drink.”
Jesus answered them, “Can you make the wedding guests fast
while the bridegroom is with them?
But the days will come, and when the bridegroom is taken away from them,
then they will fast in those days.”
And he also told them a parable.
“No one tears a piece from a new cloak to patch an old one.
Otherwise, he will tear the new
and the piece from it will not match the old cloak.
Likewise, no one pours new wine into old wineskins.
Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins,
and it will be spilled, and the skins will be ruined.
Rather, new wine must be poured into fresh wineskins.
And no one who has been drinking old wine desires new,
for he says, ‘The old is good.’”
Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States, second typical edition, Copyright © 2001, 1998, 1997, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine; Psalm refrain © 1968, 1981, 1997, International Committee on English in the Liturgy, Inc. All rights reserved.
Blessed William Browne
Martyr of England. He was a layman in Northamptonshire arrested and executed at Ripon for being a Catholic. He is associated in martyrdom with Blesseds Thomas Welbourne and John Fulthering.
“New wine must be put into fresh skins.” In the Lord’s time wine was not kept in bottles but in skins. When the new wine was placed in a skin, it continued to ferment, producing carbon dioxide. An old skin had not the elasticity of a new one, and so it would burst and the wine was lost. This says to us: don’t let your mind become like an old wine-skin – withered and rigid; keep it soft and flexible. Our faith makes unconditional demands on us throughout our lives. It requires us to make immense leaps of sympathy and forgiveness; it asks us to live for God, not for earthly power and wealth; it asks us to put aside self-will and to live for others; it asks us to put to death our worldly pride and vanity, and to imitate the self-emptying (kenosis), the poverty of Christ; it asks us to lay down our very lives for our brothers and sisters; most challenging of all, it asks us to love our enemies. This was a new way to live, it was the new wine, requiring a new mind, new structures.
The world, even at that time, was weary of the old ways of tyranny. It has even more reason to be tired of them now. That the Gospel still appears new and revolutionary is evidence that we haven’t moved very far. The Gospel will always be News to us.
We belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.
Reading 1
1 Cor 3:18-23
Brothers and sisters:
Let no one deceive himself.
If anyone among you considers himself wise in this age,
let him become a fool, so as to become wise.
For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in the eyes of God,
for it is written:
God catches the wise in their own ruses,
and again:
The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.
So let no one boast about human beings, for everything belongs to you,
Paul or Apollos or Cephas,
or the world or life or death,
or the present or the future:
all belong to you, and you to Christ, and Christ to God.
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 24:1bc-2, 3-4ab, 5-6
R. (1) To the Lord belongs the earth and all that fills it.
The LORD’s are the earth and its fullness;
the world and those who dwell in it.
For he founded it upon the seas
and established it upon the rivers.
R. To the Lord belongs the earth and all that fills it.
Who can ascend the mountain of the LORD?
or who may stand in his holy place?
He whose hands are sinless, whose heart is clean,
who desires not what is vain.
R. To the Lord belongs the earth and all that fills it.
He shall receive a blessing from the LORD,
a reward from God his savior.
Such is the race that seeks for him,
that seeks the face of the God of Jacob.
R. To the Lord belongs the earth and all that fills it.
Gospel
Lk 5:1-11
While the crowd was pressing in on Jesus and listening to the word of God,
he was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret.
He saw two boats there alongside the lake;
the fishermen had disembarked and were washing their nets.
Getting into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon,
he asked him to put out a short distance from the shore.
Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat.
After he had finished speaking, he said to Simon,
“Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.”
Simon said in reply,
“Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing,
but at your command I will lower the nets.”
When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish
and their nets were tearing.
They signaled to their partners in the other boat
to come to help them.
They came and filled both boats
so that the boats were in danger of sinking.
When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at the knees of Jesus and said,
“Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.”
For astonishment at the catch of fish they had made seized him
and all those with him,
and likewise James and John, the sons of Zebedee,
who were partners of Simon.
Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid;
from now on you will be catching men.”
When they brought their boats to the shore,
they left everything and followed him.
Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States, second typical edition, Copyright © 2001, 1998, 1997, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine; Psalm refrain © 1968, 1981, 1997, International Committee on English in the Liturgy, Inc. All rights reserved.
We belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.
Life is full of good things because God made us and our world. Unfortunately, life in Christ is too often portrayed as a bald choice between good and evil, right and wrong. This trivialises both faith and life.
However, it underlines how much the Christian life is one of choice, of discernment, of listening to the Spirit drawing us to follow Jesus on his way of the cross. This way, when we are led by the Spirit, is the only way Christians follow if they wish to see with eyes of faith, to make choices with God at the centre of them, and to care for others, especially the poor, as Jesus did.
Father, send your Spirit so that we may glorify you in and with Jesus.
