The New Aggression, A New Evangelisation

Yesterday members of the pro-life groups of Ireland gathered in Dublin for their annual pro-life rally. Organizers estimate that about 30,000 attended, though Irish media have reported that there were only 10,000 - you can decide for yourself which figure is correct, bearing in mind the Irish media's rather fluid relationship with the truth when it comes to such matters

As expected there was a counter-demonstration by pro-abortion advocates, but this year they were even more aggressive than usual. I have taken part in many pro-life demonstrations and usually the pro-abortion protesters will hold up signs, chant and there would be a few who would be aggressive. However this year there seems to have been a escalation in the aggression, a serious escalation. Civility has gone, and has been replaced by anger, intolerance and verbal violence. All of this found expression not just on the streets with swearing, insults, offensive signs and explicit gestures - all in front of children, but also on Twitter (no surprise there) and with the hacking of pro-life websites. Nor, it seems, is any of this spur of the moment reactions to pro-lifers, it has all the hallmarks of an organised campaign - one centred on the campaign to repeal Constitutional protection for unborn children.

I believe the gay marriage referendum was a watershed in Ireland in terms of protest and demonstration. The ugliness and sheer brutality of a certain quarter has left us with a legacy which we may well find very difficult to exorcise from Irish society. Empowered with their victory it seems social progressives feel that they can do and say anything to their opponents to order to quash them. This does not augur well for the future here, not for the stability of Irish society. It may well be that the Nietzschean "might is right" principle will become the dominant philosophy in our brave new society and that will not be good.

I have often noticed that when a Christian society abandons its faith and Christian culture, it turns bad very quickly. The void produced by the expulsion of faith is filled with a primitive brutality, it loses not only civility but also its very civilisation as its citizens crawl back into the caves puffed up with the delusion that they are making progress. If you need examples of this just look to revolutionary France, or to Russia, Mexico, Germany and Spain in the last century.

When this happens, there is an onus on us Christians to get cracking and do what we can to resist this process and work towards the re-Christianisation of society, to move from the primitive back to civility. For us in these times that will be the work of the New Evangelisation proclaimed by St John Paul II and prepared for by the Second Vatican Council in which the Church sought to renew to meet the challenges ahead. 

I believe a seminal document in this process is St John Paul's Apostolic Letter Novo Millennio Inuente in which the saintly Pontiff urged us, the disciples of Jesus Christ, to push out into the deep to proclaim the Gospel. Beginning with our lives and families, we move out into the parishes (many of which need serious renewal), our dioceses, the universal Church and then the secular world. If I may use martial imagery, we are in the middle of a war and we must wake up and prepare for battle. The weapons we use are not those of the world, they are not violence and aggression, but virtue and holiness. However we must not be naive, as many tend to be. We need to be wise, strategic and resourceful - that is what Jesus meant when he told us to be as innocent as doves and as wise as serpents. Piety is good, fasting is necessary, but so is engagement in society.

In this process we aim to make our enemies our friends, either through bringing them to embrace the Gospel or failing that, at least bringing them to mutual respect and the vision of the sanctity of human life and a recognition of what is ultimately good for true human flourishing. We will have an uphill battle but we must remember first of all that God is in charge, it is his work and we must be attentive to him and his will: every effort we make must be immersed in prayer and openness to the Holy Spirit. That said we must also make ourselves useful instruments, we must be informed and trained to have the knowledge and skills so God can use us as his apostles and agents in the war. I believe this is what Vatican II was urging when it spoke of the laity and their role in the Church - it was not empowering them to make the Church a democracy, to decide the doctrine of the Church by means of a vote, but rather empowering them through the faith and history of the Church to make the Church more missionary by sending them out into the world to evangelise. 

Pro-Life Vigil Video

Just posting a video with scenes from the recent pro-life vigil.  It shows the vast crowds - many of them young people, and reveals the joyful atmosphere that permeated the gathering - some critics claimed the gathering was subdued, lacking spontaneity...quite the opposite.

Vigil For Life

At this stage you will have read something about the pro-life vigil in Dublin yesterday which drew about 30,000 to the square outside Government Buildings calling on the Taoiseach and Fine Gael to keep their pro-life promises.  It was a marvellous day, and once again the huge numbers of young people and young families was extraordinary.    As always there is a dispute over the numbers attending in the media.  However we were told by the Gardai at the start of the vigil that there were "in excess of 25,000" there: at the end of the vigil, the Gardai revised their figure upwards to 30,000. 

A number of events had been organised to prepare for the vigil, among them religious events.  Of these the main one was an hour of prayer before the Blessed Sacrament in St Andrew's Church on Westland Row.  The church was packed - St Andrew's is one of the biggest churches in the Archdiocese - I think someone said there was 1,700 people inside participating in the prayer, including myself.  The Archbishop of Dublin was present, and he said a few words at the end of the ceremony.  From there the congregation left to join the thousands already congregating in Merrion Square.

As with the last vigil we had some impressive speakers, among them one of Ireland's sporting heroes, Mickey Harte, manager of the Tyrone football team.  He spoke passionately about the innocent child in the womb. 

The first to speak was David Manley of Family and Life.  He spoke of the misuse of language to distract from the real issues involved in abortion and to dehumanise the child in the womb.  He reminded us that ro-abortion advocates speak of pregnant women and foetuses rejecting the idea that here we have a mother and unborn child.  He drew on the World War II slogan "Careless talk costs lives" and how true that is when it comes to abortion.  Many people have been desensitised through the ideological use of technical words and phrases.  I find this most interesting in an age when there are campaigns within the medical world to get doctors to use ordinary language when speaking to patients so they will understand what is going on and make informed decisions.  With the pro-abortion lobby they want women to make a vital decision based on ambiguity and ignorance.

Another speaker was Bernadette Goulding who works for Women Hurt, an organisation which helps women suffering from the aftermath of abortion.  She bravely spoke of her own abortion and how she suffered afterwards.  In a moving talk she told us of the pain women feel after they have aborted their children; of the cold, ideological response these women get from the pro-abortion lobby when they seek help, and of the many suicides and suicide attempts.  As I was listenting to her I could not help think of the government's decision to make abortion a solution to suicide, listening to Ms Goulding we realised that many women commit suicide after abortion: abortion is not a solution - it is in fact the cause of many suicides.

Despite the huge numbers, the struggle, I think, is only starting.  The government is determined to go ahead.  Just a few days ago the bishops met with the Taoiseach and discussed abortion among other issues. I do not think it went well, I believe the bishops came up against a brick wall.  The government, it seems, have made a political decision on this issue, regardless of what other options are available, and it is going ahead.  So this is just the start. 

I think every Irish man and woman who believes in the sanctity of life must now seriously consider standing up and being counted and be prepared to take an active role in the campaigns which are to come.  The government will hope that, over time, the issue will go away - that most people will forget about about it, or give in to apathy and leave only a "lunatic fringe" to continue to protest.  We are all the stewards of life and we all have a responsibility to protect it, not only must we continue the campaign, but it must grow, and grow so much that the government will realise that this issue is not going to go away. 

In other news: the Holy Father has appointed Mgr Eamon Martin as the Coadjutor Archbishop of Armagh, to succeed Cardinal Brady as soon as he reaches retirement age.   Mgr Martin is from the Diocese of Derry, which he administered following the retirement of Bishop Hegarty.  He is a young man - 52, so he will probably lead the Archdiocese and serve as Primate of Ireland for the next quarter of a century.  He may well have to lead a persecuted Church and in those years Ireland will change considerably.  As Primate he will have to preside over the renewal of the Church here and lead the New Evangelisation on this island - and that will be a very difficult task.  This appointment to Armagh is a vital one for the future of the Church in Ireland, so he will need our prayers since much will be expected of him.  The old mould of Irish bishop must be broken now since we live in very different times: new evangelical and zealous pastors ready to defend the faith must now lead the Church in Ireland.  We must pray that Mgr Martin will be such a pastor. 

Vigil For Life

The Pro-Life Vigil outside the Dail yesterday was a great success, congratulations to those who organised it at such short notice, and well done to all who took part.   There were about 8,000 people there, though RTE, the national broadcaster, initially reported that there were only about a 1,000 – they have since changed their figure to “thousands”.  We had a mixture of all ages – but the large number of young people was noted – young people tend to be more pro-life than the middle aged, – many of them realising that they could have been aborted and so see they cannot take life for granted.  We even had five bishops officially representing, I am told, the Bishops’ Conference – it was great to have their presence.  There were also a number of priests there.

It was bitterly cold, but that did not stop the enthusiasm of the crowds. There were a number of good speakers including Caroline Simons of the Pro-Life Campaign and Niamh Ui Bhriain of the Life Institute.  I am not sure if there were elected representatives there – a friend of mine told me he met Sinn Fein TD Peader Toibin.  Deputy Toibin is defying his party in his support for the lives of the unborn – Sinn Fein, like the Labour Party, is pro-abortion.   Other TDs came out of Leinster House (the parliament building) to have a look at us, but did not come to speak to us. 

In her talk Caroline Simons, a lawyer with the Pro-Life campaign clarified the Savita Halappanavar case the judgement of the European Court of Human Rights.    She explained, as pro-life advocates have been explaining from the start, that an abortion was not required to save the woman’s life and that Irish hospitals have an excellent record of care for pregnant women and those facing miscarriage.

Another speaker pointed out that the pro-abortion groups had actually disgraced Ireland’s excellent record in the eyes of the world in order to achieve their aims.  This is true.  Around the world there are now people who believe that Ireland is a dangerous place to be pregnant.  In reality it is one of the safest – it is safer than the UK, it is safer that US which is one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world, and it is miles safer than India where for every 100,000 pregnancies 212 women die every year.  Indeed it is reckoned by a UN report that every ten minutes a maternal death occurs in India.  This is not to lessen the tragedy of a woman’s death, but to expose the lies of those clamouring for abortion.  And as we are speaking about India, more statistics: 20,000 women die as a result of abortions annually, and 200,000 baby girls are aborted very year in India just because they are girls.  The feminists are happy to ignore that gendercide when it suits them. 

It was also pointed out that our doctors, most of whom, we were told, are pro-life, do a fantastic job in caring for women in difficult pregnancies – that also is true.  In painting Ireland as a dangerous place for pregnant women the reputation of these fine doctors is seriously undermined, as are the colleges in which these doctors are trained.  Our health care system is not perfect, but we in Ireland should be proud of the care our medical professionals deliver each day.  Instead of plotting for abortion, pro-choice groups should actually wake up and see how good we actually have it in comparison with other countries.

I am delighted to see the united stand against abortion.  All the major pro-life groups were represented on the stage: the Pro-Life Campaign, the Life Institute, Family and Life and Youth Defence.  If we are to battle the pro-abortion groups we need all the groups working together.  We also need the leaders of the various religions in the State to work together – the Bishops of the Catholic Church and Anglican Communion, the Moderator of the Presbyterian community and President of the Methodist community, the leaders of other Christian denominations, the Chief Rabbi and leaders of the Islamic communities; pro-life humanists and atheists must also be invited too. 

As I have said before, we need all the citizens of the State who believe in the sanctity of human life to form a grand coalition: a Coalition for Life.  In the US we see people of all faiths and none marching together: we need to do the same in Ireland.  At the moment the pro-abortion groups are targeting the Catholic Church, presenting pro-life ethics as no more than oppressive Catholic teaching designed to denigrate women.  Abortion is not a Catholic issue – it is a human issue: it is THE human issue because if the right to life is not respected, then no other right can exist or has any force.

Here are some video snippets from the Vigil.  More rallies and demonstrations are planned, I will keep you updated.  I would be happy to hear news of any pro-life initiatives, so email me and I'll include them on my blog if I can.