Paulist Fr. Rich Andre preached this homily on January 19, 2020 on the 2^nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A) at St. Austin Parish in Austin, TX. The homily is based on the day’s readings: Isaiah 49:3, 5-6; Psalm 40; 1 Corinthians 1:1-3; and John 1:29-34.

In our first reading, God speaks about Isaiah being formed from the womb to serve God. This next week, hundreds of thousands of people – primarily Catholics – will travel to Washington to protest the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision 47 years ago. And yet, the debate rages on: when it comes to serving God, the march is only one among many ways to protect life. The political stalemate on abortion dominates our nation’s politics, and therefore, it has an indirect influence on events around the world. 

We estimate that more than a mind-numbing 47 million fetuses have been aborted in the United States since 1973.¹ Each intentional death of a fetus is tragic. Many are the result of a breakdown in the relationship between love and commitment, but the particularities vary widely on how each breakdown occurs. Other deaths are due to factors affecting the health of the mother or the child, and again the specific health conditions vary widely. Today, we turn to a related tragedy in this country: the divisive politics surrounding abortion. The Holy Spirit compels us to action, but with the love and compassion of Jesus. We will not change the world unless we build common ground with those who disagree with us.

Two other things to say to allay any fears you may have about today’s homily:

1. If you have ever been involved in an abortion and are searching for healing, we can assist you with resources. You and your child are still loved by God!

2. Parents: this a family-friendly homily, but step out if necessary, OK?

Let us take a moment to ask God to shower us – and everyone – with mercy. 

Ordinary Time began last weekend by celebrating a most extraordinary message: Jesus is God’s beloved child. In our baptism, we too are each God’s beloved daughters and sons. 

As Catholics, we believe in the sacredness of all life, from the moment of conception until natural death. From the earliest centuries of the Church, we have opposed all policies that frustrate the flourishing of life, including – in alphabetical order – abortion, assisted suicide, the death penalty, economic injustice, euthanasia, and unjust war. Eileen Egan of the Catholic Worker coined a term for the protection of all life: “the seamless garment.” All of these issues, as different as they may seem, are interconnected. Cardinal Joseph Bernadin promoted the use of another term: “a consistent life ethic.” Cardinal Sean O’Malley explained what Bernadin meant in a 2014 interview with The Boston Herald. He said:

[W]e’re not just saying that life is precious in the womb, but life is precious when someone has Alzheimer’s, when someone has AIDS, when someone is poor, when someone has mental illness. Their humanity is not diminished – and they have a claim on our love and on our services. So the church’s position is a very consistent one. It is a consistent life ethic.

Two months ago, when the U. S. Bishops discussed revising their voting guide for the 2020 elections, Cardinal Blase Cupich suggested, unsuccessfully, to add a paragraph from Pope Francis’ 2018 apostolic exhortation, which includes the following passage:

Our defense of the innocent unborn… needs to be clear, firm and passionate, for at stake is the dignity of a human life, which is always sacred and demands love for each person, regardless of his or her stage of development. Equally sacred, however, are the lives of the poor, those already born, the destitute, the abandoned and the underprivileged, the vulnerable infirm and elderly exposed to covert euthanasia, the victims of human trafficking, new forms of slavery, and every form of rejection. (Gaudete et Exsultate, #101)

Whether or not this paragraph is included in the 2020 voting guide, I think the debate about it indicates where our politics stand. 

Abortion is intimately connected with other life issues, including many of the ones mentioned by Pope Francis, as well as issues of economic injustice, power inequities, racism, and a punitive criminal justice system. In the United States, there is currently no mechanism for collecting information about why people seek out an abortion, so we really don’t know why women have gotten pregnant unexpectedly, why they have chosen to have an abortion… especially if they have chosen to wait until the final trimester of pregnancy, or what their attitudes are towards the procedure.

I have friends that I love and respect – people of great moral integrity – who sit at opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to the issue of abortion. Some insist that by sheer numbers of deaths, no other issue is as important as abortion. Roe v. Wade must be overturned, they say, because we as a nation cannot allow for the intentional death of even one unborn child. On the other hand, I also have friends who insist that the abortion debate is an issue of men asserting control over women. An unexpected pregnancy can change the trajectory of a woman’s life, while a man can simply walk away with little to no repercussions. To deny a woman the ability to end an unexpected pregnancy may destroy her relationships, career, and financial stability for the rest of her life.

By framing the abortion debate as a binary choice between the rights of the unborn and the freedom of women, there is no way forward, especially when both sides claim the moral high ground. For a significant percentage of people in this country, one’s opinion about abortion determines one’s political affiliation on a whole variety of completely unrelated issues. As an opinion piece in the National Catholic Reporter declared earlier this month: “The current framing of the debate is wounding our nation and may in fact become our undoing, dividing us so deeply that in seeking to win elections, we lose our nation’s soul.”

Everyone who has ever spoken with me about an abortion that they have had, has said that choosing to have the abortion was an agonizing, gut-wrenching decision, with long-lasting impact. However, many of these women and men felt that, faced with an unexpected pregnancy, they had no other options. To them, having an abortion was the option of last resort. 

If Roe v. Wade is overturned but we do nothing else to assist people facing unexpected pregnancies, will the number of abortions decline significantly, or will people simply seek out illegal means to have an abortion? Do we permit a federal law that allows for something as tragic as abortion? Is compromise a moral option on this issue?

If we truly want to reduce the number of people facing unexpected pregnancies, here are six other things that I think we must do with at least as much energy and intensity as marching in Washington every January:

1. We must strengthen the safety net for people living near and below the poverty line. When we refuse to provide resources to people who will struggle to provide food, daycare, healthcare, and transportation for their children, why are we surprised that they consider abortion under these circumstances?
2. We must do everything in our power to support single parents. Almost every Catholic diocese devotes significant resources to help people facing unexpected pregnancies, but many Catholics simultaneously condemn these parents.
3. We must promote adoption and foster care, and we must support people who have made the long-term, loving commitment to take in a child in need. The Catholic Church has failed to develop a robust theology of adoption, despite Joseph’s adoption of Jesus and the New Testament’s repeated declaration that Christians are “adopted children of God” (e.g. Romans 8:14-17).
4. We must speak up against a culture that trivializes sexual activity… as if it is merely entertainment, or an inalienable right that comes without responsibility. Ideally, sex is an expression of a commitment that already exists between two people – not an activity for bringing two people together who have yet to make a commitment to each other.
5. We cannot promote artificial birth control as the ultimate solution. In the confessional, many people look surprised when I tell them that no form of artificial birth control is 100% effective! Here’s the advice that I give to people who haven’t talked with their intimate partners about their long-term plans: “If you’re not ready to raise a child, you’re not ready to make love.”  
6. We must fight against the binge drinking of alcohol, even for people over the age of 21. So often, the story of an unexpected pregnancy starts with someone drinking to excess or using mind-altering drugs. 

In Jesus’ baptism, the Holy Spirit endowed him with a mission. Through our own baptism, the Holy Spirit calls us, like Isaiah, to be a light to the nations. As we prayerfully discern how best to value all life, may we recognize all people as God’s beloved children. May the Spirit’s wisdom help us discern what is necessary to change social systems for the betterment of the lives of all God’s people.

I am convinced that the abortion debate will not be settled by the changing of laws, but by the conversion of hearts. Those who disagree with us are our beloved brothers and sisters. Let us treat them not with condemnation, but with love and compassion.

Notes