Annual Day for Life 2013: Care for life. It’s worth it

The Catholic Bishop’s Conference has published a list of the themes chosen for the 2013 ‘Day for Life’, which will be held on next Sunday October 6^th, and have  published a pastoral message from which the following extracts have been taken.

The full text can be found on this link.

Day for Life is celebrated annually by the Catholic Church in Ireland, Scotland and England and Wales. It is a day dedicated to celebrating the dignity of life from conception to natural death. This year’s Day for Life will be celebrated in Ireland on Sunday 6 October and will focus on the theme: Caring for Life.

This year’s message begins with the words of Pope Francis taken from a homily in 2005 on the Feast of the Patron Saint of expectant mothers and midwives, when His Holiness spoke simply and beautifully about what promoting a culture of life really means:

“Jesus teaches us to care for life because it is the image of God, who is absolute life. We cannot announce anything else but life, and from the beginning to the end. All of us must care for life, cherish life, with tenderness, warmth……..to give life is to open (our) hearts for others…… Caring for life from the beginning to the end. What a simple thing, what a beautiful thing…. So, go forth and don’t be discouraged. Care for life. It’s worth it!”

Day for Life 2013 will place particular focus on:

Care for unborn children and their mothers

Care for people who are elderly

Care for those who are suicidal and their families

Bishops invite the faithful to read the short pastoral message ‘Care for Life: It’s Worth It’ which is now available on www.catholicbishops.ie in the Irish, English and Polish languages.

Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act 2013

Bishops discussed the sacredness of human life in the context of the enactment of the Protection of Life during Pregnancy Act 2013.  They expressed their deep gratitude to everyone who showed their concern in a respectful way when challenging the passage of this  legislation.  In particular bishops acknowledged those national public representatives who did so at great political risk to themselves.  Bishops reiterated “to legislate for abortion does not make it morally acceptable, and the direct and intentional ending of the life of an unborn child, at any stage of pregnancy, is always gravely wrong.”

Bishops discussed the need to support women in crisis pregnancies and the vital roles that fathers have to be supportive particularly in such circumstances.  Bishops encouraged expectant mothers and fathers facing a crisis and/or unplanned pregnancy to avail of the support offered by the Church’s crisis pregnancy agency Cura on 1850 622 626 and on www.cura.ie

Bishops welcomed the recent comments made by Pope Francis in his address to the International Federation of Catholic Medical Associations and Catholic gynaecologists on 20 September 2013, when he said “so often we find ourselves in situations where we see that what is valued the least is life.  That is why concern for human life in its totality has become in recent years a real priority for the Church’s teaching.”

Pope Francis went on to express support for the work of the medical specialists reminding them that there is no human life more sacred than another.  He said “the credibility of a healthcare system is not measured solely by efficiency, but above all by the attention and love given to the person, whose life is always sacred and inviolable.”

A time to uphold the right to life: Statement by the Catholic Bishops of Ireland

A time to uphold the right to life: Statement by the Catholic Bishops of Ireland

 On the second day of the June General Meeting of the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference in Maynooth, the following statement has been issued:

A time to reflect

On Saturday last, tens of thousands of women, men and children gathered in Dublin to express their support for the equal right to life of mothers and their unborn children.

We are at a defining moment for our country.
The Gospel of life is at the heart of the message of Jesus.  He came that we may have life and have it to the full (Jn 10:10).  The Gospel challenges us to work for a world in which the dignity and beauty of every human life are respected.

A time to uphold the right to life

The right to life is the most fundamental of all rights; it is the foundation of all other rights.  No individual has the right to destroy life and no State has the right to undermine the right to life.

Yet the Irish Government is proposing abortion legislation that will fundamentally change the culture of medical practice in Ireland.  For the first time legislation will be enacted permitting the deliberate and intentional killing of an unborn child. This represents a radical change. Every citizen, not just people of faith, should be deeply concerned.

We value the skill and efforts of our doctors, nurses and other care professionals who have helped to earn Ireland’s place as one of the safest countries in the world for mothers and their babies during pregnancy.

Catholic Church teaching is clear: where a seriously ill pregnant woman needs medical treatment which may put the life of her baby at risk, such treatments are ethically permissible provided every effort is made to save both the mother and her baby.

This is different from abortion, which is the direct and intentional taking of the innocent life of the unborn.  No matter what legislation is passed in any country, abortion is, and always will be, gravely wrong.

A time for clarity and truth

The Government is under no obligation to legislate for the X case.  People are being misled. We challenge repeated statements that this legislation is about saving lives and involves no change to the law or practice on abortion.  Legalising the direct and intentional destruction of the life of an unborn baby can never be described as ‘life-saving’ or ‘pro-life’.

Contrary to clear psychiatric evidence, this legislation proposes abortion as an appropriate response to women with suicidal feelings during pregnancy.  It is even possible to envisage as a result of this legislation the deliberate destruction of a child, who could otherwise be saved, right up to and including the moment of birth.

Furthermore, we challenge assurances that the proposed legislation will provide limited access to abortion.  As published to date, the legislation will allow for a very wide margin of subjective professional assessment by which the deliberate destruction of an unborn baby can be legally justified. As we have learned from other countries, such legislation opens the door to ever wider availability of abortion.

We remain convinced that enhanced medical guidelines, which do not envisage the direct and intentional killing of the unborn, could provide the necessary clarity as well as a morally, legally and medically acceptable way forward.  While good health can normally be restored, life, once taken, can never, never be restored.

A time for freedom of conscience

Freedom of conscience is a fundamental human right.  A State that truly cherishes freedom will respect the conscience of its citizens, including its public representatives, on such an important human value as the right to life.

It is ethically unacceptable to expect doctors, nurses and others who have conscientious objections to nominate others to take their place.  Neither should any institution with a pro-life ethos be forced to provide abortion services.

A time to decide: a time to act; a time to pray

We call on citizens to exercise their right to make their views known respectfully to our public representatives and to leave them in no doubt about where they stand on this issue.

We ask our public representatives to uphold the equal and inviolable right to life of all human beings, even if this means standing above other pressures and party loyalties.

We also invite our priests and people to continue to pray the Choose Life prayer at Mass and in the home that the dignity and value of all human life will continue to be upheld in this country.

Some mothers today are facing difficult or crisis pregnancies. Other people who have had, or who have assisted with abortions, may be re-living what happened in the past.  They deserve to receive all the love, support and professional care that they need.

As Bishops we will join this weekend in prayerful solidarity with millions of Catholics all over the world in the Year of Faith celebration of Blessed John Paul II’s Encyclical Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life).

Every human life is precious, every human life is beautiful, every human life is sacred. Choose life!

ENDS

For media contact: Catholic Communications Office Maynooth: Martin Long 00353 (0) 86 172 7678 and Brenda Drumm 00353 (0) 87 310 4444