Faithful

for Life

A Moral

Reflection

A STATEMENT FROM THE U S. BISHOPS



# /°£<L

The text of Faithfulfor Life: A Moral Reflection was developed by

the Committee for Pro-Life Activities of the National Conference

of Catholic Bishops and approved by the full body of bishops at

their June 1995 General Meeting as a statement of the NCCB.

The Committee for Pro-Life Activities was authorized by the full

body to determine a date for public release of the statement, and

approved its release in September, in preparation for Respect

Life Sunday, October 1, 1995. Its publication is authorized by

the undersigned.

Monsignor Dennis M. Schnurr

General Secretary

NCCB/USCC

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Mimi Forsyth/Catholic News Service; Page 18: National Right to Life News
;
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ISBN 1-57455-019-5

Scriptural texts used in this work are taken from the New American

Bible, copyright © 1991, 1986, and 1970 by the Confraternity of Chris-

tian Doctrine, and are used with permission of the copyright holder. All

rights reserved.

Copyright © 1995, United States Catholic Conference, Inc., Washington,

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man on his way from Jerusalem

to Jericho was beaten, robbed,

and dumped by the side of the

road to die. Three travelers

later saw him lying there. The

first and the second were his

own countrymen, and in fact, one was a priest and

the other a Levite. Each one crossed the road to

avoid the victim and hurried on his way. The third

man was a foreigner, almost as unwelcome as the

bandits themselves. He was the only one who

stopped, gave the victim first aid, carried him to

the nearest inn (where he himself would not have

been welcome to stay), and lodged him there at

his own expense to convalesce (Lk 10:29-37).

This was the story told by Jesus when asked: “Who is my

neighbor?” The Samaritan befriended the Jew in a way that the

Jews countrymen failed to do. Jesus tells us that the Samaritan

did his duty, while the first to see the victim did not. To be a

neighbor, the victim did not need to be kin or countryman or

someone to whom the rescuer had made a commitment. Anyone

lying helpless in that ditch was neighbor.

We are all journeying down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and

this story haunts us, for it flatly contradicts the strong persuasion

so widely held today that our loyalties and our obligations are

owed only to those of our choice. On the contrary, we owe fidelity

to those we choose and, beyond them, to others we do not choose.

It is we who have been chosen to go out of our way for them.

FAITHFUL FOR LIFE: A MORAL REFLECTION



The charity of Christ and the unsettling imperatives of his

Gospel compel us as Catholic bishops to speak on behalf of neigh-

bors whose lives are devalued: the faceless poor, the hungry chil-

dren, the neglected elderly.

Human lives have stood in jeopardy for various reasons in

our country and throughout the world, and our witness over the

years has taken many forms and defended many victims.

Beginning as early as 1840, the Catholic bishops of the United

States have spoken out on myriad subjects that concern our

fidelity to one another. Alcohol and drug abuse, racial justice,

the welfare of working men and women and persons with dis-

abilities, civil freedoms, capital punishment, adolescent preg-

nancy, and world peace are just a few of these.

Of particularly grave concern at this time, however, are abor-

tion and euthanasia. We choose now to speak about these con-

cerns because each places human life itself at stake, and each has

broad implications for our fidelity to God and to one another.

FAITHFUL FOR LIFE: A MORAL REFLECTION



At the very heart of our respect for human life is a special and

persistent advocacy for those who depend on others for survival

itself. Those most dependent lie on the opposite extremities of

their life’s journey, near the start and near the finish. Because they

are helpless to provide for themselves, they are utterly at the mer-

cy of those closest to them. Many are welcomed by those to whose

care they have been entrusted. Others are not so welcomed.

t the heart

of our respect

for human life

is a special advo-

cacy for those

who depend on

others for survival.

Since the legal floodgates were opened in 1973 by the U.S.

Supreme Court’s decision in Roe v. Wade, an abortion mentality

has swept across our land and throughout our culture. The lan-

guage and the mindset of abortion—presented in terms of unlim-
ited choice, privacy, and autonomy—pervade our entertainment,
our news, our public policies, and even our private lives.

Wrapped so appealingly in the language of self-determination,

cloaked so powerfully

in the mantle of fed-

eral authority, is it

any wonder that the

logic of Roe has been

extended to apply be-

yond the unborn? Is

it any wonder that it

appears so explicitly

iu our public and

private conversations

about euthanasia?

Over the past year,

in the midst of our

reflections on the crises

of abortion and eutha-

nasia in our country,

we were blessed with

the papal encyclical,

Evangelium Vitae.

FAITHFUL FOR LIFE: A MORAL REFLECTION



Speaking to every country, the Holy Father reminded us that the

modem phenomena of abortion and euthanasia highlight a crying

need to respect, protect, love, and serve human life (§5). Here we

reflect upon these issues in the context of the alarming trend to

advance abortion and euthanasia in the name of freedom. But it is a

freedom gone wrong.

As disciples of Christ, as bishops in his Church, our first con-

cern for human life has to be for those who are unwanted—with
fatal results—by their parents or their children, or by society
itself. Such as these fall victim to the ultimate abuse of abortion

or euthanasia. As human beings we are outraged at the cruel

injustice of these acts of deliberate killing. And our Christian

faith gives an even sharper edge to our consciences in this matter,

compelling us to call for courage and unconditional love in

defense of those who are helpless.

FAITHFUL FOR LIFE: A MORAL REFLECTION



THE FRAYING OF FIDELITY

F
aithful to a long tradition, the Second Vatican Council

denounced abortion and euthanasia as “disgraceful” and

“unspeakable crimes” (Gaudium et Spes, §§27, 51). Yet

such practices, proved through centuries of experience to be

wrong and destructive of human life and human dignity, are in

our day expounded upon in schoolrooms, prescribed by physi-

cians, condoned by public figures, protected by courts, subsi-

dized by legislatures, and even advertised in the Yellow Pages.

How has it come to pass that the elimination of ones child or

one’s parent, acts of desperation wrought in every age, are now

described as sensible and even attractive alternatives? And is it

not unthinkable that people who call themselves Christians

sometimes fit in so well among a people that tolerates the killing

of its unborn children and elders?

It is for good reason that many find the roots of this disdain for

life in the breakdown of the family. The family has a special role

FAITHFUL FOR LIFE: A MORAL REFLECTION



to play throughout the life of its members, for it is within the fam-

ily that neighboring begins—or does not. The family is the first
haven where those who are dependent—by being too young or too
old, too disabled or too sick to care for themselves—find their
closest and surest support. For this reason it can be called the

“sanctuary of life” (.Evangelium Vitae, §11). At the heart of this

sanctuary is fidelity—imwavering loyalty both to those we choose
and to those who have been given to us. The unraveling of that fi-

delity in our time leaves dependents to become lawful victims of

their guardians.

This same shift towards the self has altered our society’s views

on marriage and divorce. Men and women find it increasingly

difficult to make permanent commitments to each other. Mar-

riage, even for many who plan to parent, is seen as optional. At

the same time, the grounds for divorce, restricted at first to adul-

tery and desertion, have continually expanded in our society to

include general incompatibility, finally giving way to groundless

or “no fault” divorce. The outcome of groundless divorce has

been increasingly more divorce and the disabling of marriage it-

self as an institution in society.

FAITHFUL FOR LIFE: A MORAL REFLECTION



Christian marriage is the union of a man and a woman bound

by the same transforming fidelity which Christ has for his

Church: for better or for worse. When a people lose confidence in

fidelity between husbands and wives, it is an easy leap to imagine

that other fidelities—of parents to children, and of adult children
to their elder parents—no longer need to be permanent, for-
better-or-for-worse obligations. When a family lives in fidelity it

is a place of refuge and dignity, a place where each member is

accepted, respected, and honored precisely because he or she is a

person; and if any member is in greater need, the care which he

or she receives is all the more intense and attentive (Evangelinm

Vitae

,

§92). If it becomes each one only for himself or herself,

then instead of being the source, school, and standard for fidelity

to neighbor, the family can become the scene of its harshest

violations. The home becomes the place where, when you knock,

they no longer have to let you in.

FAITHFUL FOR LIFE: A MORAL REFLECTION



FREEDOM VS. COMMITMENT

T
his decay of inviolable trust has had pervasive effects. The

view of human life as the pursuit of individual satisfaction,

not to be curtailed by faithful duty, is a belief powerfully

expounded in the United States in the fields of education, enter-

tainment, information, and politics. As servants of Christ’s

Gospel, however, we are convinced that such a view of human

life is profoundly mistaken ( Veritatis Splendor, §§84-87).

As the Gospel tells us, human beings find fulfillment in pursu-

ing what is authentically good for the hmnan person as created by

God. The pursuit of disordered desires masquerading as “inter-

ests” easily leads to violence or greed or self-indulgence or loneli-

ness. Oru true needs include virtues that hmnan beings sometimes

lack the wisdom or the audacity to desire: steadfast friendship,

clear thought, patience, candor, compassion, self-control. These

are the sinews and ligaments of love.

It is not good for anyone to be alone (Gn 2:18). We find our

fulfillment as committed individuals bound in kinship, friend-

ship, and fellowship to our families, our neighbors, and then

beyond them to strangers and even to enemies. Without commu-

nity, we wither.

Many of the critical moments in our lives require that we rise to

meet responsibilities given to us, not chosen by us. This is true of

oru obligation to be stewards of the world's resources. It is equally

true of the obligations which bind us in love to our families. We

are bound to our children, not because we chose them, but be-

cause we were given them: simply because they are our children,

oru very near neighbors.

Many in our society today seem to live by the belief that hmnan

beings find their ultimate sense and fulfillment in unlimited indi-

FAITHFUL FOR LIFE: A MORAL REFLECTION



vidual freedom. Unlimited personal choice is celebrated as the

prerequisite for every satisfying human experience, even within

the family. Yet such an individualistic concept of freedom severs

the true meaning of freedom from its moorings and distorts social

life. It extols a society in which individuals stand side by side, but

have no bonds holding them together. Yet between life itself and

freedom there is an inseparable bond, a link. And that link is love

or fidelity (Evangelium Vitae, §§20, 76, 96).

To live in fidelity we have to rearrange our lives, yield control,

and forfeit some choices. To evade the full burden of putting our-

selves at the disposal of those to whom we belong, to allot them

only the slack in our own agendas and not what they require, is

to practice desertion by other means.

he family

is the first

haven where

those who are

dependent . . .

FAITHFUL FOR LIFE: A MORAL REFLECTION



VIOLATION OF F E

A
bortion, and now euthanasia, have become socially

accepted acts because many have been persuaded that

people unfairly lose their freedom when others make

claims on them that pose burdens and obligations. In the course

of a very few years many people have come to think of an

unplanned baby as an unwanted baby, and of an undesired baby

as an undesirable one. The prescribed social remedy has been to

put an end to the babys life before he or she can make a claim on

yours. Some even believe that a parent or a spouse who has lost

the capacity to fend for herself or himself , or is too old or sick to

be a good companion, or for whom the cost of care is hard to

bear, should be helped to die. It is cruelly ironic that the thought

of eliminating one’s child or one’s parent could be considered an

acceptable, even altruistic, action.

To be sure, no one should be blind to the problems that

women may face in regard to pregnancy. A decision to have an

abortion is often tragic and painful for the mother. At times it is

the father who pressures her to abort their child, or who indi-

rectly encourages her to such a decision by leaving her to face the

problems of pregnancy alone. Parents and friends may exert such

pressiue. A teenager, pregnant and deserted, may feel that she

cannot give up her baby in adoption because she does not feel

sure that the child will be well cared for. A mother may be per-

suaded that her child who is disabled would be “condemned” to

live a “defective” life. But none of these circumstances, however

serious and tragic, gives the parent a right to kill his or her child

before or after birth (Evangelium Vitae, §§58-59).

The same kinds of seemingly altruistic claims are sometimes

made in regard to the very old. The old and the sick can be per-

suaded that their lives have become too burdensome both to

themselves and to their care givers—that they have lives “not

FAITHFUL FOR LIFE: A MORAL REFLECTION



worth living.” But those who would remove, through killing, the

disability, pain, or depression of the young or the elderly often

act with a conflict of interest they do not see—that it is not the
lives of those they care for that are unbearably burdened, but

their own lives.

The most obvious victims of abortion and euthanasia are, of

course, those who die. But desperate acts leave many casualties.

Absolute personal autonomy, pushed to its insanely logical limit,

has fueled the abortion movement, resulting in the deaths of

more than 30,000,000 unborn children since 1973 in the United

States of America. It has also harmed tens of millions of women

who are relegated to the “tender mercies” of a $500-million-a-

year abortion industry. Youngsters who learn that their parents

destroyed or were ready to destroy a child for one reason or an-

other—wrong gender, wrong father, wrong time, wrong health,
wrong economy—can and do fear that their own claim on their
parents’ love and care might go terminally wrong. If a parent

he prescribed

social remedy

for an unplanned

baby is to put an

end to the baby's

life before he or

she can make a

claim on yours.

FAITHFUL FOR LIFE: A MORAL REFLECTION



destroys one child in the womb, will she or he be able to retain a

no-matter-what loyalty towards other children in the family?

The same can now be asked of adult children and their

parents. In a climate in which euthanasia is accepted, will adults

be able to provide their infirm parents with the unconditional

loyalty they themselves once needed to survive as children?



DISTORTED FIDELITIES

T
oday, when many people fear being treated as an object

without dignity at the end of their lives, doctors and fam-

ilies confronting an imminent death can be tempted in

two directions. They may resort to aggressive but useless proce-

dures as proof of their faithfulness to the dying patient, who

may not want or be able to withstand such demanding proce-

dures. This treatment, when used to cure or to sustain, would

be benevolent. But when needlessly imposed on someone who is

inevitably and imminently dying, it can cause unnecessary

hardship on the patient and other burdens on whoever is

responsible for his or her care.

Frustrated by the anguish and complexity of such dilemmas,

doctors and families may also be tempted to a total denial of

fidelity: the violation of life known as euthanasia. For once we

have convinced ourselves that every human ailment simply must

have a cure, the undeniable fact of incurable illness tempts many

to consider “curing'’ life itself. And the euthanasia movement has

convinced many patients that their only “escape” from the pain

and indignities of illness and over-treatment is a medically

assisted suicide.

This second and more grave violation, that of “assisting” the

vulnerable patient by extinguishing his or her life, wears the garb

of caring and compassion. But it knows nothing of the Christian

understanding of compassion, of “suffering with” our loved ones

and alleviating their fears as they confront the shadows at the end

of life. It shies away from the search for real solutions to a patient’s

problems, choosing instead to convince the patient that he or she is

the problem—a problem solved only by his or her extinction. As
Pope John Paul II has reminded us, true compassion leads to shar-

ing another’s pain; it does not kill the person whose suffering we

cannot bear (.Evangelium Vitae, §66).

FAITHFUL FOR LIFE: A MORAL REFLECTION



Efforts to legalize such killing are based not just on an uncrit-

ical love of freedom—for the “freedom” to kill oneself is not pro-
moted equally for all who encounter problems in life—but on a
lack of regard for the perduring worth and dignity of sick and

disabled people. The truth is that our young and able-bodied

citizens support euthanasia for their elders far more strongly

than do the old and the frail themselves. That any sick person

may be convinced that his or her “assisted suicide” is the respon-

sible, perhaps even expected, solution for a painful illness is an

indictment against a society with too little love for some of its

most vulnerable members. The sick and the elderly may be

required to defend their lives at the very moment in which they

are the weakest.

t is not good for anyone

to be alone. We find our

fulfillment as committed

individuals bound in

kinship, friendship, and

fellowship.

1 4 FAITHFUL FOR LIFE: A MORAL REFLECTION



A genuine respect for life abhors euthanasia and assisted sui-

cide as attacks on life. At the same time, it does not require us to

impose the burdens of over-treatment on persons near death.

Once the dying process has begun, the services due from care

givers must often change. Even though healing is no longer at-

tainable, the physician is still urgently needed to help family

members provide their loved one with a peaceful death. The

capacity to manage pain, and to offer a comforting presence to

patients we cannot cure, is essential to the health care profession

and is among its duties to patients. A love which accepts life as a

gift also accepts the given limits on our lives; it never abandons

those who are close to death.

LIFE: AF A I T H F FOR MORAL REFLECTION



A CHRISTIAN FIDELITY

P
eople of wholesome spirit and genuine fidelity do not easily

turn from life-giving to abortion or euthanasia. These are

not the wayward gestures of the innocent; they are the for-

lorn acts of a society which has forgotten or rejected fidelity to its

own. They are signs of a need for conversion.

The Spirit once spoke to the ancient Church in Laodicea and

could speak the same words to us today:

You keep saying, “I am so rich and secure that I

want for nothing.” Little do you realize how

wretched you are, how pitiable and poor, how

blind and naked! Take my advice. Buy from me

gold refined by fire if you would be truly rich. Buy

white garments in which to be clothed, if the

shame of nakedness is to be covered. Buy ointment

to smear on your eyes, if you would see once more

(Rv 3:17-18).

When we turn a blind eye and a deaf ear toward those who are

so helpless they cannot even appeal for help, we sustain an injury

even more grievous than theirs. This is one of the insights that

has most helped Christians focus their faith in this often violent

world (Gaudium et Spes, §27). By closing ourselves off to the

needs of others we most surely deprive ourselves of life.

The Lord Jesus gave up his life that we may have life, and

have it more abundantly (Jn 10:10). The life he forfeited to vio-

lence, the mortal life we all share in this world and which each of

us will yield up someday, is a temporary life. It is our only path-

way to the life that Jesus entered through his death and resurrec-

tion. The transformed and eternal life which he makes possible

for us—forever, but starting here and now—is the ultimate life.

FAITHFUL FOR LIFE: A MORAL REFLECTION



The Lord did not say: “Love your neighbor and hate your en-

emy.” Our love must be of another kind: “Love one another as I

have loved you.” His gift was not to love those who are deserving

of it, and to withhold love from those who are not. This would be

an act of mere justice. No, he gave us his own Spirit, empowering

us to love as he loves regardless of who deserves what. This is fi-

delity (Jn 13:34-35; 1 Jn 2:7-8; Mt 5:20-48; 1 Jn 4:9-21; Rom

5:6-11: ljn 3:16).

Like many Americans, we Catholics can be tempted to lose

our faith in the virtue of fidelity. But we can scarcely live up

to our baptismal fidelity unless we are faithfully committed to

persons in need, for better or for worse.

FAITHFUL FOR LIFE: A MORAL REFLECTION



CIVIL PROTEST

O
ur public statements on abortion and euthanasia have

often responded to events in the legislative and social

order. This has unfortunately fed a mismiderstanding,

both within the Church and without, that we look only to laws

and government to assure society of justice. Quite the contrary.

Helping to inform the consciences of our Catholic people is our

first priority. To them we say: our obligation in Christ is to speak

the truth to your mind, your sensibility, and your moral judgment,

no matter what the civil and criminal laws may be. The violations

of human life wrought upon the most helpless are not merely illic-

it; they are, from a Christian perspective, betrayals of trust.

But we are also citizens, and we share the right—indeed, the
duty—of all citizens to insist that the laws and policies of the
United States be faithful to our founders’ conviction that the

foremost
U
unalienable right” conferred by our Creator on all of

1 8 FAITHFUL FOR LIFE: A MORAL REFLECTION



us is life itself. When disadvantaged or disenfranchised people

have their pursuit of happiness, their liberty, and even their lives

threatened by their nearest neighbors, we are bound to stand up

for them and with them.

Years ago in our nation, African Americans were declared

“property” and not “a portion of this people” (.Dred Scott v.

Sandford, 1857). So their servitude, their enslavement, was then

elevated to the stature of a constitutional right. More recently, the

Nazis classified the mentally ill and physically disabled as “use-

less eaters,” and Jews, Slavs, and Gypsies were called “subhu-

man.” So they were exterminated. Is it any different today when

the law treats unborn children as “non-persons” and those who

are senile are seen as possessing insufficient “quality of life” to go

on living? How can we not hear in our time echoes of those other

times, never to be forgotten, when some were considered less

than human and others said to have lives “not worth living” ?

As bishops, as Catholics, as citizens, we speak against the in-

justice of destroying children by abortion and eliminating elderly

or impaired people by euthanasia. And we speak against the ulti-

mate disgrace of doing these deeds under the sanction of law.

Christ has charged us with a special care for the widow and

the orphan, the refugee and the pauper, the sick and the dis-

abled, the accused and the outcast. Those who serve as public

leaders have a special responsibility to make courageous choices

in support of life, especially through legislative measures
(
Evan

-

gelium Vitae, §90)—measures that protect the unborn, the elderly,
and the enfeebled who are so mortally threatened today.

FAITHFUL FOR LIFE: A MORAL REFLECTION



WHAT THEN SHALL WE DO?

A
s Christians, we know our true calling is to find Christ’s

way, not simply to get our way. If we fail to keep faith with

one another, we fail in our loyalty to the Lord himself.

Sometimes we Catholics are slow to admit that fidelity to the

Gospel is alien, even hostile, to many selfish understandings

prevalent in society today. Many today regard Jesus’ call to

irrevocable commitment as a hard saying, an “ideal” but not an

imperative. Yet this gospel teaching and ancient discipline

requires Catholics to take a courageous, even if lonely, stand. It

also requires that we apply our beliefs to all our ministries with

conviction and intensity.

Within our dioceses the Catholic community is served by a

wide variety of agencies that influence and pass on our shared

understanding of familial fidelity. Each addresses the protection

FAITHFUL FOR LIFE: A MORAL REFLECTION



of human life from its own specialized perspective, witnessing

always to the ultimate obligations of open-ended fidelity.

When pregnant women and girls don't know where to turn,

thousands of committed Catholics in our dioceses—and others to
be sure—are there both to sustain and to challenge them. Ten to
15 million people each year, including many experiencing dis-

tressed pregnancies, turn to Catholic Charities for social and

emergency services. Across this nation there are more than 3,000

emergency pregnancy centers that offer assistance for prenatal

care and related needs, as well as numerous programs of reconcil-

iation and healing to help women and men deal with the emo-

tional and spiritual aftermath of abortion. When families are

caught in a bewildering health crisis, our health care professionals

and facilities offer them committed service. Our schools and reli-

gious education programs offer young people authentic education

in chastity to provide them with a more generous and responsible

perspective than society offers. When terrifying moral questions

confront families in life-threatening crises, we seek to offer com-

petent and compassionate counsel to them. When those who

adhere to a belief in the sacredness of life express that belief

publicly by their words, public witness, and peaceful protest, we

bishops are heard among them—as we have been heard on
workers’ rights, civil rights, and in the struggle for peace—urging
prayerful, non-violent, and even exemplary witness that respects

every single human life.

We repeat together what we have stated individually: no

woman in need with a child, bom or unborn, whether she is

Catholic or not, should feel herself without help. We pledge the

heart and hands of the Church to help mothers and fathers in

need to find pregnancy counseling, pre- and postnatal care,

housing and material support, and adoption services.

In preaching Christ’s Gospel, all of us must speak these things

aloud. Abortion and euthanasia are crimes and betrayals which,

FAITHFUL FOR LIFE: A MORAL REFLECTION



repeatedly and consistently over the ages, the Church has con-

demned as contrary to Catholic faith. The deliberate decision to

deprive an innocent human being of his or her life is always

morally wrong; it can never be a licit means to a good end
(.
Evan

-

gelium Vitae, §57). In speaking about this basic teaching, we

must also make known from every pulpit the Church’s sincere

and open welcome to those who seek reconciliation with the Lord

and peace with his Church. But let us be clear: No person who

subverts this teaching privately or publicly speaks in the name of

Catholicism. Nor can anyone who seeks to promote the cause of

life through hatred or violence have any part with us.

he Church

offers

grams of reconcil-

iation and healing

to help women

and men deal

with the aftermath

of abortion

2 2 FAITHFUL FOR LIFE: A MORAL REFLECTION



WHO S THIS NEIGHBOR?

We are called to be neighbors to everyone, and to “showspecial favor to those who are poorest, most alone, andmost in need. In helping the hungry, the thirsty, the
foreigner, the naked, the sick, the imprisoned—as well as the un-
born baby and the old person who is suffering or near death—we
have the opportunity to serve Jesus. He himself said: As you did

it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me”’

(.Evangelium Vitae, §87).

When God inquired after the missing Abel, Cain asked, “Ain

I my brother’s keeper?” “Your brother’s blood,” the Lord re-

joined, “is crying out to me from the ground” (Gn 4:9-10).This

prompted early Christian writers to list similar deeds that

“cried to heaven for vengeance.” They included violating resi-

dent foreigners, mistreating widows and orphans, and cheating

laborers of their wages. What gave each of these sins voice

before God was not only the exploitation of the vulnerable by

the powerful, but the misuse of the helpless by those who

should have been their protectors.

Cain’s response also makes one think of modern refusals to

accept responsibility for our brothers and sisters. Often we see a

lack of solidarity towards our society’s weakest members—the
old, the sick, immigrants, children—and an indifference toward
the world's peoples even when basic values such as survival, free-

dom, and peace are involved (Evangelium Vitae, §9).

Jesus has shown us that his Father’s only desire for sinners is

forgiveness and restoration, for those who will accept it. Our cry

to heaven over violations of trust must include an appeal for the

forgiveness and salvation of any who have failed to be their

brother’s or sister’s keeper. Abortion and euthanasia are betrayals

of fidelity for which we Catholics should show a special dismay,

FAITHFUL FOR LIFE: A MORAL REFLECTION 2 3



while showing a specifically Christian compassion for those

involved.

Fellow disciples of Jesus Christ, we are called to be a welcom-

ing community to all—both those we choose and those who are
sent to us. Abraham offered hospitality to three strangers who

emerged from the wilderness. Mary offered life and birth to a

Child sent by God, and Joseph offered a home to them both.

Saint Martin of Tours shared his winter cloak with a shivering

beggar, and Saint Francis of Assisi kissed the open sores of a lep-

er. They all realized the same thing: It was the Lord! When we

take another into our keeping, it is not just our brother or our sis-

ter. When we go out of our way to help, it is not just our neighbor

we serve. We serve the Lord of life, and we become truly alive

ourselves.

The Samaritan who was making his perilous way from

Jerusalem to Jericho had every reason to be preoccupied with his

own endangerment and survival. But the sight of a stranger in

more urgent need made that stranger a neighbor! It is often when

2 4 FAITHFUL FOR LIFE: A MORAL REFLECTION



we feel most at a loss that we encounter the Lord, who comes in

the guise of a stranger. At such times he comes as if his very life

depends upon our welcome; but it is our lives, not his, that most

depend upon it.

As Pope John Paul II has said in his encyclical letter, Evangeli-

um Vitae: “a great prayer for life is urgently needed, a prayer

which will rise up throughout the world”
(.
Evangelium Vitae,

§100). And so we take his prayer as our own and invite all to pray:

Mary,

bright dawn of the new world,

Mother of the living,

to you do we entrust the cause of life:

Look down, O Mother,
upon the vast numbers

of babies not allowed to be born,

of the poor whose lives are made difficult,

of men and women

who are victims of brutal violence,

of the elderly and the sick killed

by indifference or out of misguided mercy.

Grant that all who believe in your Son

may proclaim the Gospel of life

with honesty and love

to the people of our time.

Obtain for them the grace

to accept that Gospel

as a gift ever new,

the joy of celebrating it with gratitude

throughout their lives

and the courage to bear witness to it

resolutely, in order to build,

together with all people of good will,

the civilization of truth and love,

to the praise and glory of God,

the Creator and lover of life.

(Evangelium Vitae, §105)

2 5FAITHFUL FOR LIFE: A MORAL REFLECTION



RECOMMENDED READING
RELATED CHURCH DOCUMENTS

Faithfulfor Life: A Moral Reflection addresses most directly the

issues of abortion and euthanasia. At the same time, it draws

on a consistent tradition of Church teaching on these and

related concerns. Following is a sampling of documents that are

recommended reading for those who wish to learn more about

the Catholic Church’s teaching on specific issues touching on

human life.

MORAL TEACHINGS: GENERAL

The Gospel of Life/El Evangelio de la Vida (Evangelium Vitae), 1995,

Encyclical Letter of Pope John Paul II. Washington, D.C.: United

States Catholic Conference Publishing Services (No. 316-7, English;

No. 317-5, Spanish).

Catechism of the Catholic Church/Catecismo de la Iglesia Catolica ,

1994. Washington, D.C.: United States Catholic Conference Publish-

ing Services (No. 51 1-9, English; No. 603-4, Spanish).

The Splendor of Truth (Veritatis Splendor), 1993, Encyclical Letter of

Pope John Paul II. Washington, D.C.: United States Catholic Confer-

ence Publishing Services (No. 679-4).

Instruction on Respectfor Human Life in Its Origin and on the Dignity

of Procreation: Replies to Certain Questions of the Day (Donum

Vitae), 1987, Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Washington, D.C.: United States Catholic Conference Publishing

Services (No. 156-3).

ABORTION

The Gospel of Life/El Evangelio de la Vida (Evangelium Vitae), 1995,

Encyclical Letter of Pope John Paul II. Washington, D.C.: United

States Catholic Conference Publishing Services (No. 316-7, English;

No. 317-5, Spanish).

Declaration on Procured Abortion, 1974, Sacred Congregation for the

Doctrine of the Faith. Boston: St. Paul Books and Media.

2 6 FAITHFUL FOR LIFE: A MORAL REFLECTION



Pastoral Plan for Pro-Life Activities: A Reaffirmation , 1985, National

Conference of Catholic Bishops. Washington, D.C.: NCCB Secretariat

for Pro-Life Activities (No. 7412).

Resolution on Abortion., 1989, National Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Washington, D.C.: NCCB Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities (No. 8908).

EUTHANASIA

The Gospel of Life/El Evangelio de la Vida (Evangelium Vitae). 1995,

Encyclical Letter of Pope John Paul II. Washington, D.C.: United

States Catholic Conference Publishing Services (No. 316-7, English;

No. 317-5, Spanish).

Declaration on Euthanasia
,
1980, Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine

of the Faith. Washington, D.C.: United States Catholic Conference

Pubhshing Services (No. 704-9).

Statement on Euthanasia, 1991, NCCB Administrative Committee. Wash-

ington, D.C.: NCCB Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities (No. 9111).

Nutrition and Hydration: Moral and Pastoral Reflection
,
1992, NCCB

Committee for Pro-Life Activities. Washington, D.C.: NCCB Secre-

tariat for Pro-Life Activities (No. 9213).

HEALTH AND HEALTH CARE

Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services
,

1995, National Conference of Catholic Bishops. Washington, D.C.:

United States Catholic Conference Publishing Services (No. 029-X).

A Framework for Comprehensive Health Care Reform: Protecting Hu-

man Life
,
Promoting Human Dignity

;
Pursuing the Common Good

,

1993, U.S. Catholic Conference. Washington, D.C.: United States

Catholic Conference Publishing Services (No. 678-6).

Health and Health Care
,
1981, National Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Washington, D.C.: United States Catholic Conference Publishing Ser-

vices (No. 830-4).

Called to Compassion and Responsibility: A Response to the HIV/AIDS Cri-

sis
,
1989, National Conference of Catholic Bishops. Washington, D.C.:

United States Catholic Conference Publishing Services (No. 327-2).

2 7FAITHFUL FOR LIFE: A MORAL REFLECTION



MARRIAGE AND FAMILY

On the Family (Familiaris Consortio)

,

1981, Encyclical Letter of Pope

John Paul II. Washington, D.C.: United States Catholic Conference

Publishing Services (No. 833-9).

Letter to Families/Carta a las Familias

,

1994, Letter of Pope John Paul

II on the occasion of the Year of the Larnily. Washington, D.C.:

United States Catholic Conference Publishing Services (No. 793-6,

English; No. 794-4, Spanish).

Putting Children and Families First: A Challenge for Our Church, Na-

tion, and World
,
1992, U.S. Catholic Conference. Washington, D.C.:

United States Catholic Conference Publishing Services (No. 469-4).

On the Regulation ofBirth (Flumanae Vitae), 1968, Encyclical Letter of

Pope Paul VI. Washington, D.C.: United States Catholic Conference

Publishing Services (No. 280-2).

Follow the Way ofLove: A Pastoral Message to Families/Sigan el Camino

del Amor., 1993, National Conference of Catholic Bishops. Washing-

ton, D.C.: United States Catholic Conference Publishing Services

(No. 677-8, English; No. 676-X, Spanish).

PEACE

The Harvest ofJustice Is Sown in Peace: A Reflection of the National

Conference ofBishops on the Tenth Anniversary of"The Challenge of

PeacCJFrutos de Justicia Se Siembran en la Paz, 1993. Washington,

D.C.: United States Catholic Conference PubKshing Services (No. 705-7,

English; No. 706-5, Spanish).

The Challenge of Peace: God's Promise and Our Response , 1983,

National Conference of Catholic Bishops. Washington, D.C.: United

States Catholic Conference Publishing Services (No. 863-0).

Called to Be Peacemakers and Apostles of Hope, 1995 World Youth

Day Resource Manual. Washington, D.C.: United States Catholic

Conference Publishing Services (No. 053-2).

SOCIAL J U S T I C E / V A R I O U S ISSUES

A Century of Social Teaching, 1990, U.S. Catholic Conference. Wash-

ington, D.C.: United States Catholic Conference Publishing Services

(No. 379-5).

2 8 FAITHFUL FOR LIFE: A MORAL REFLECTION



On the Hundredth Anniversary ofRerum Novarum (Centesimus Annus),

1991, Encyclical Letter of Pope John Paul II. Washington, D.C.:

United States Catholic Conference Pubhshing Services (No. 436-8),

On Social Concern (Sollicitudo Rei Socialis), 1987, Encyclical Letter

of Pope John Paul II. Washington, D.C.: United States Catholic

Conference Publishing Services (No. 205-5).

Economic Justicefor All/Justicia Economica para Todos, 1986, National

Conference of Catholic Bishops. Washington, D.C.: United States

Catholic Conference Publishing Services (No. 101-6, English;

No. 146-6, Spanish).

Homelessness and Housing: A Human Tragedy, A Moral Challenge
,

1988, U.S. Catholic Conference. Washington, D.C.: United States

Catholic Conference Publishing Services (No. 216-0).

Renewing the Earth: An Invitation to Reflection and Action on Environ-

ment.
,
1992, U.S. Catholic Conference. Washington, D.C.: United

States Catholic Conference Publishing Services (No. 468-6).

Political Responsibility: Proclaiming the Gospel of Life, Protecting the

Least of These, and Pursuing the Common GoodJResponsabilidad

Politica: Proclamando el Evangelio de la Vida, Protegiendo a los Mas

Pequehos entre Nosotros y Buscando el Bien Comun , 1995, NCCB

Administrative Committee. Washington, D.C.: United States Catholic

Conference Pubhshing Services (No. 5-043, English; No. 5-044,

Spanish)

.

VIOLENCE

Confronting a Culture of Violence: A Catholic Framework for

Action/Confrontando la Cultura de la Violencia: Marco Catolico

para la Action, 1994, U.S. Catholic Conference. Washington, D.C.:

United States Catholic Conference Publishing Services (No. 028-1,

English; No. 045-1, Spanish).

When I Callfor Help: A Pastoral Response to Domestic Violence Against

Women/Cuando Yo Pida Ayuda: Una Repuesta Pastoral a la Violencia

Domestica contra la Mujer, 1992, National Conference of Catholic

Bishops. Washington, D.C.: United States Catholic Conference

Pubhshing Services (No. 547-X, English; No. 548-8, Spanish;

No. 546-1, Bilingual).



When You Preach, Remember Me, 1993, a discussion-starter video on

helping to break the cycle of domestic violence (with study guide).

Washington, D.C.: United States Catholic Conference Publishing

Services (No. 680-8).

WOMEN

Strengthening the Bonds of Peace: A Pastoral Reflection on Women

in the
' Church, 1994, National Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Washington, D.C.: United States Catholic Conference Publishing

Services (No. 034-6).

On the Dignity and Vocation of Women (Mulieris Dignitatem), 1988,

Encyclical Uetter of Pope John Paul II. Washington, D.C.: United

States Catholic Conference Publishing Services (No. 244-6).

Letter to Women, 1995, Uetter of Pope John Paul II. Washington, D.C.:

United States Catholic Conference Publishing Services (No. 5-052).

3 O FAITHFUL FOR LIFE: A MORAL REFLECTION





ALSO FROM THE USCC

The Gospel of Life

Evangelium l ilac

On the Value and Inviolability ofHuman Life

Reaffirming the ''greatness and inestimable value of human life. Pope John

Paul 11 discusses in this encyclical letter the present-day legal, ethical, and

moral threats to life. In view of today s climate of practical materialism, he

addresses, among other issues, abortion, artificial reproduction techniques,

contraception, the death penalty, euthanasia, legitimate defense, sterilization,

and suicide. 1 995.

English: No. 316-7, 196 pp.

Spanish: No. 317-5, 196 pp.

On the Regulation of Birth

/ Ininanae I ilae

Encyclical, 1 968.

No. 280-2,21 pp.

Putting Children and f amilies First

A Challengefor Our Church, Nation , and World

This statement examines the needs ol all children in an increasingly difficult

world. Presents the moral and religious dimensions of caring for children,

f rom the U.S. bishops, 1992.

No. 469-4, 24 pp.

To order these resources or to obtain a catalog of other 1 ISGG titles, call toll-

free 1-800-235-8722. In the Washington metropolitan area or from outside

the United States, call 301-209-9020.