Thought On Pictures Of Aborted Children

The following is a letter one of my Facebook friends, Jim Mitchell, wrote to Homiletic & Pastoral Review Magazine some time ago.  I’m sharing it here with his permission.

Dear Father Baker,

Though I have immense admiration for Fr. Michael Orsi's clear dedication to the rights of unborn children, I would like to comment on his article which appeared in the June, 2004, Homiletic & Pastoral Review. Frankly "Food for thought for Catholic Protesters" gave me a bad case if indigestion.

 
He comments on the uncouth assertiveness of some pro-life protesters [...]

Mother Teresa asks us to discover the image of our crucified Lord in the distressing guise of the poor and I see His image in those hugely oversized photograph posters of aborted, dismembered children; so imagine my reaction when the article mentions an "unabashedly pro-life" Catholic woman who "voiced her concern" about those posters being displayed in front of her church as people file in to attend Mass. How will people find spiritual uplift in the liturgy after viewing these revolting images? What about the children (the living ones exposed to those posters, not the dead ones portrayed)?

We display often realistic images of martyrs undergoing bloody trials for love of God along with the central image of our crucified Lord in churches and homes, and we object to graphic posters reminding us of how our Lord is being crucified repeatedly today, sometimes within blocks of our homes, churches, and places of business?

Did the rich man also wonder whether the sight of the poor leper Lazarus just outside his front gates might disenchant his visitors and scare the children?

Maybe this woman is right. Maybe those ugly signs don't belong out on the street. The rich man should have brought Lazarus inside, cleaned his sores, and fed him a good meal. How else should he have treated someone who deserved to rest in Abraham's bosom?

No, I'm now quite sure of it. Those gruesome signs don't belong out on the street at all. They belong in the sanctuary, surrounded by wonderfully garish and excruciatingly horrific statues of the martyrs; but in a special position of honor – closest to the pierced bosom of our most unlovely, infinitely lovable crucified Jesus.

A piety not enlivened by this tableau should be viewed with suspicion.