Posted on 05/10/2012 6:54:21 AM PDT by cleghornboy
It was St. Augustine, Father and Doctor of the Church, who said, "Interficere errorem, diligere errantem" - Kill the error, love the one who errs. I have actually taken that as the motto for this Blog. Gaudium et Spes of the Second Vatican Council put it this way: "..it is necessary to distinguish between error, which always merits repudiation, and the person in error, who never loses the dignity of being a person even when he is flawed by false or inadequate religious notions. God alone is the judge and searcher of hearts, for that reason He forbids us to make judgments about the internal guilt of anyone." (No. 28).
This teaching isn't always understood by some. In an article on abortion which may be found at LifeSiteNews, Stacy Trasancos, who writes a column for The Catholic Free Press, writes, "It's a faulty question to ask whether or not a woman suffers mental anguish after she kills her own child. Of course she does, a woman with her sanity and dignity intact doesn't do that in the first place....a woman who kills her child in the womb is suffering mentally and will suffer mentally afterwards. Something is terribly wrong in her soul and in her life."
But here we encounter an immediate problem. To say that there is something "terribly wrong" in the soul of a woman who has had an abortion and that her sanity and dignity are not intact is to make a judgment about her internal guilt and her motives. The very thing which the teaching of the Church forbids.
Pope John Paul II, in his wonderful Encyclical Letter Evangelium Vitae, explains that many factors influence the decision which a woman makes when she is burdened with an untimely pregnancy. He writes, "As well as he mother, there are often other people too who decide upon the death of the child in the womb. In the first place, the father of the child may be to blame, not only when he directly pressures the woman to have an abortion, but also when he indirectly encourages such a decision on her part by leaving her alone to face the problems of pregnancy...Nor can one overlook the pressures which sometimes come from the wider family circle and from friends. Sometimes the woman is subjected to such strong pressure that she feels psychologically forced to have an abortion: certainly in this case the moral responsibility lies particularly with those who have directly or indirectly obliged her to have an abortion. (EV, No. 59)
The Holy Father also places responsibility for the tragedy of abortion on, "doctors and nurses...when they place at the service of death skills which were acquired for promotion of life," and on "legislators who have promoted and approved abortion laws," and, "to the extent that they have a say in the matter, on the administrators of the health-care centers were abortions are performed” (EV, No. 59).
It is always a tragedy when a woman makes the decision to have an abortion. But this decision to have an abortion is made in the context of multiple personal and societal pressures in what Pope John Paul II so aptly termed the "culture of death." Although the responsibility for the abortion decision is not entirely, nor perhaps even primarily hers, she must bear its burdensome consequences almost entirely alone for the rest of her life. So perhaps it's best to avoid questioning her sanity and dignity?
Perhaps instead, we should follow the lead of Pope John Paul II, whose pastoral outreach to women who have had an abortion is a model of tenderness and compassion [rightly understood] as well as being hopeful:
"I would like to say a special word to women who have had an abortion. The Church is aware of the many factors which may have influenced your decision, and she does not doubt that in many cases I was a painful and even shattering decision. The wound in your heart may not yet have healed. Certainly what happened was and remains terribly wrong. But do not give in to discouragement and do not lose hope. Try rather to understand what happened and face it honestly. If you have not already done so, give yourselves over with humility and trust to repentance. The Father of mercies is ready to give you his forgiveness and his peace in the Sacrament of Reconciliation." (EV, No. 99).
Witness how the Holy Father does not condone sin or error? He rightly stresses that an abortion is, objectively speaking, a grave wrong even as he offers hope and encouragement by reminding women who have had an abortion that forgiveness and peace may be theirs in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
One would think that Stacy Trasancos would understand this better than most. For she has herself admitted, at the website Catholic Online, that she got pregnant in college, has had an abortion, that she's taken drugs and worked as a stripper, that she's been divorced, and that her seven children are from three different men.
The same Good God Who forgave Stacy her sins offers His Mercy to every woman who has had an abortion. Perhaps instead of questioning the souls of such women or their dignity and sanity, Stacy could follow Pope John Paul II's lead? As should we all.
Kill the error, love the one who errs. Hate the sin, love the sinner.
I feel a lot of the fault also rests on the men in their lives. Aside from the heartbreaking story here on this thread, where someone tried everything they could ....TOO many men are the ones leading women to the deed.
A friend of mine, I was assured, wanted a baby. It was her soon to be husband who could not face a pregnancy, as to tell the family would have risked the rath of his parents,
and the postponement, perhaps forever, of their beautifully planned upcoming wedding ceremoney and reception. This couple was in their late 20’s, for crying out loud. Why would ANY parent condemn someone at this age?? Why would anyone be SO afraid of their parents still at this stage? I personally feel they were just worried that they’d lose financial support of their parents - seriosly.
In other words, they would have been too ashamed and embarrased, and risked whatever THEY perceived as scorn from their family. So, before actually becoming man and wife, they aborted their first child. I was distraught over it for months, as I’d tried for hours to talk some sense into her, but she was completely following the lead of her boyfriend. They were from a pretty religious Baptist family background.
If people would just get RID of these ideas that APPEARANCES must be perfect — or that a baby RUINS a women’s life ...that a baby is an EMBARASSMENT, etc ....a lot of abortions would never happen. We need to get rid of these unrealistic stigmas.
We need to start truly supporting women, and families — in much deeper ways than ever before, as Christians.
I faced an unplanned pregnancy at a young age, but thankfully I had important and KEY people around me who steered me in the right direction — namely my then boyfriend now husband, AND a best friend who was a strong Catholic. However, I sort of instinctively knew who to go to and who not to go to — as if I’d gone to my mother, she would have pushed me into an abortion, I’m sure of it.
Then, of course, there ARE those women who have all that, but still choose to abort. It’s for THESE women, whose reasons seems purely and utterly selfish, that I just don’t have much pity for. I don’t know how they live with it. My daughter is the most precious person, and raising her has been the crowning achievement of MY life. But it really was my husband who stuck by me who made it possible ... he could have had so much power over the situation.
“The sinner was a thief, not a murderer.”
By this logic, suicides are also condemned as they premeditate and take their own lives.
You can get off your high horse regarding this.
As I said in this piece, abortion is always objectively sinful. It is a grave evil, objectively speaking. But we cannot judge a woman’s internal guilt. That is for God alone.
Nope. Suicide is premeditated murder of a soul. Massada is a perfect example of this rule. They drew lots precisely because no one wanted to be the one to commit suicide. In fact, in some circles, the story is that Josephus was the one who was supposed to, but instead he ran away rather than commit suicide.
I’m calling the Viking Kitties on this one.
I think there are several posters of FR who hammer hard at women’s guilt over abortions, supposedly from a ‘religious’ perspective, with the hope of driving all women who have had abortions away from conservative Christianity or Judaism. The posters themselves probably being liberal/left agitators.
Of course abotion is forgiven if the woman repents of her sin and changes her life. That’s why Christ died on the cross. It is silly to think otherwise. Millions of women have had abortions and if the liberal left could drive them all away from basic religious thought and adherence, they would very much like to do so.
So go play your scare tactics somewhere else.
Well, being Jewish your approach is from THE LAW.
The Christian approach is from THE GOSPEL.
There is a lot of difference between the two. The law has is moments but there are times, depending on the situation, when the gospel is to be applied, not the law.
Arguing further is a waste of time since you do not believe in the Gospel.
Your question is based on a false premise. It cannot be answered until the inherent falsehood is corrected.
Please do some real research, correct the falsehood (I have underlined it for your convenience), and then post the corrected question.
Your stance is completely at odds with the New Testament.
Actually, your stance is completely at odds with the Old Testament. God forgave David for the murder of Uriah. Look it up.
to those who divorce...and REMARRY
Moral guilt can apply to the abortionist-mother, the abortionist-doctor, the abortionist-political-advocate, the abortionist-boyfriend/husband, the abortionist-legislator, thre abortionist-judge, and any of the other accomplices, according to their direct, willing cooperation with evil.
That's the moral aspect. The article doesn't even mention the secular legal aspect. Show me where it does.
In relation to a Christian’s response to a continued sin, was Paul being judgmental when he told the Corinthian Christians to remove themselves from the man who had taken his father’s wife?
In order for sin to be forgiven, it must be repented of. If sin is not seen as sin by the sinner, the sinner cannot repent. How can sinners be taught, unless someone teach them?
Whenever possible, live at peace with all men is a Christian mandate. Certainly, in dealing with sinners, compassion must be our first emotion, as Christ exemplified, but that does not mean we are never to make judgment calls. Telling someone they have no right to judge others is out of harmony with Bible teaching. But the judgements Christians are encouraged to make are for the purpose of growing the Kingdom and safeguarding the Truth, not for determining who goes to heaven and who goes to hell. Only God can do that.
“Hate the sin, love the sinner” is instructional to a degree, but does not completely cover the entire issue. Many have taken from this phrase that active sin should not be addresses as wrong, but that we should just love the person into seeing for themselves without giving them instruction, that their sin is wrong.
Thank you.
The question can now be addressed.
1) Abortion is a hideous act; a matter of mortal sin. One who commits it, with full knowledge and consent, damns himself to Hell (and cuts himself off from Holy Communion. He faces an immediate and automatic excommunication). One who, having committed it then repents and asks God's forgiveness can be forgiven, can be saved from Hell by the unmerited grace of God, and restored to Communion. That is the Gospel.
2) Divorce is a matter for civil governments to argue about. The Church rejects the notion that a marriage, validly contracted, can be ended other than by the death of one of the spouses.
3) "Remarriage" following a civil divorce, is a misnomer. It is, in fact, an ongoing and institutionalized situation of public and unrepented adultery. It is a matter of mortal sin. Those who engage in it damn themselves to Hell (and cut themselves off from Holy Communion.) They too can repent, be forgiven, and be restored to Grace ... persistence in the ongoing and institutionalized situation of public and unrepented adultery would contraindicate repentance.
A sin that has not been repented of continues to be a sin. We can and should make a judgment call in these areas. Should the woman confess her sin, then we no longer worry or concern ourselves with the past sin. It is in the past.
Actually, no G-d didn’t. The first child of that union was stillborn and his family was torn asunder. Their son presided over the destruction of Israel. That ain’t my idea of forgiveness.
Someone needs to do some brushing up on this Jewish guy Moses then...
Let’s not confuse three separate issues:
We must always be willing to allow for forgiveness of sins. Forgiveness is ultimately between the woman and God. He forgave Saul (Paul) who was guilty of putting many Christians to death so His capacity to forgive those who truly repent is quite vast. We should be equally willing.
There are still consequences to sin and one of those may be a lasting feeling of guilt over taking the life of a child and the knowledge that this can never be undone. Another consequence may be the shunning by friends and family members. I would not say that such shunning is judging, any more than a parent would willingly allow their children access to a repentant sex offender. We should, however, have compassion for those who admit that their actions were wrong.
The third issue is societal. Abortion should still be strongly condemned and we should not stop speaking out against abortion simply because some will feel “judged”. That is often the Holy Spirit at work pricking the conscience of one who needs repentance.
Agree. Arrogant is Biblically correct, except for the adultery question. Jesus did say that adultery was the one sin that breaks the covenant. Although the injured in the couple is always free to forgive the adulterer and continue in the marriage, but is not obligated to.
Amen.
Good point.
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