Pro-Life Even When it’s Uncomfortable

by Michael Lane

I was blessed a couple of weeks ago to chaperone a pilgrimage to the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, and to attend the National March for Life rally in Washington, D.C. This was a week of firsts for me. I met my first Nashville Dominican sisters, visited D.C. and several of its sites, such as the Holocaust Museum for the first time, and I experienced my first March for Life and all it offered. I originally intended for this post to discuss the many beautiful things I experienced, such as praying the Angelus outside the Shrine with a close friend and a Dominican sister in the blinding snow, the gorgeous and inspiring Basilica, and my own interior growth from this pilgrimage. Unfortunately, they will all have to wait, because I wish to write on one particular aspect of the Pro-Life movement I discussed with other young adults on the trip. That is the latter part of ‘from conception to natural death.’ Last week, I learned one of my fellow graduate students committed suicide unexpectedly. We were not close, but this news does not diminish the shock or dismay of hearing someone in the ‘prime of life’ made the choice to end their life.

First Responder

There are a limited number of responses to a tragedy such as the suicide of a loved one: grief and numbness. These may be quickly followed by questions of frustration and, possibly guilt. How could this have been prevented? Did I do or not do something to reach out to make the individual feel loved and welcomed? My friends who knew this individual asked these very questions. One of my first thoughts though was for the salvation of his soul. Then, while discussing the nature of suicide with a friend, I began to think of how Holy Mother Church approached such a grievous sin. In times of confusion and despair, the Church provides us a safe port in the storm. There is comfort in the Church’s foundations in Jesus Christ, and 2000 years of continual guidance by the Holy Spirit. Knowledge of the ‘what and why’ of a teaching gives the faithful firm ground to stand upon.

The Church’s teachings, however, is where I think we get into sticky territory. Like divorce or ‘leaving’ Catholicism, the Church’s teaching on suicide is one issue that most Catholics do not fully comprehend, and do not attempt to enlighten themselves. Instead, they look to secular answers to console their grief. First, some will say suicide is the right of the individual to end the life they own, and thus is not wrong. Second, suicide can never be a sin, because anyone who commits suicide is not in their right mind, and thus are not culpable for their actions. Third, saying suicide is wrong is callous and inconsiderate of the victim’s family.

I do believe that some sincerely offer these or similar consolations to families, because there is very little one can offer in those first moments of grief. Our good desire to help others feel better cannot come at the price of denying the reality of sin and its consequences. These sentiments are merely a part of our culture’s desire for an amoral world without consequences; a place where all things are possible and can be justified as a right, even a morbid one. St. Thomas Aquinas tackled similar statements in his Summa.

continue reading at http://catholicstand.com