Changing Hearts: Work for the Church
Dear Sisters & Brothers in Christ,
In the Gospel for this weekend, Jesus gives a warning for those who “are not rich in what matters to God” (Lk 12:21).
What does matter to God? In the 6th chapter of John’s Gospel, we are told that we should “believe in the one [God] sent”, namely, Jesus. Additionally, what matters to God is that we value what He values: goodness, truth, justice, and mercy. God seems to want us to choose things that help us achieve the end for which we were made, i.e., eternal life with Him.
Jesus established a Church, a living community of faith, hierarchically ordered, to teach what matters to God in His name. Through the leaders of the Church, initially the Apostles, application of the truths of the Gospel were made to new situations and questions that arose over time (see the question of circumcision for Gentiles in Acts of the Apostles).
Today we face a societal issue that conflicts with the teaching of Christ’s Church. The question of abortion rights has polarized our community and even many Catholics. On one side are voices that defend a woman’s right to choose to end a pregnancy, claiming dominion over one’s own body. On the other side are voices arguing that once conception occurs there are now two lives to consider and the rights of both need to be honored. In between are many who accept abortion at early stages and in certain situations, but do not support unfettered access to any kind of abortion.
The Catholic Church’s teaching on abortion is clear: “Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception. From the first moment of his existence, a human being must be recognized as having the rights of a person – among which is the inviolable right of every innocent being to life” (CCC 2270). Many other Christians hold the same conviction.
While Catholics don’t expect everyone in a pluralistic society to ascribe to our teachings, we do expect that democratic governments allow the religious convictions of citizens to guide their thoughts and lawful actions. The changing of hearts that see no wrong in abortion will not be accomplished by laws or court decisions, but by reasoned dialogue in the context of caring relationships that embrace faith in God’s goodness and imitate His tender love. Changing hearts is not the task of government, but of the Church.
On Tuesday, our state holds an historic election. It is rare that the people of any state are asked to vote to amend the state’s constitution. For 159 years almost no one believed that the right to abort an unborn human life was guaranteed by the Kansas State Constitution. However, in 2019, the Kansas Supreme Court ruled that such a right exists in the constitution’s clause about life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
The case that prompted the Court’s ruling was brought by two Overland Park abortion doctors challenging a Kansas law that prohibited dismemberment abortions, a procedure used in almost all second trimester abortions. By the second trimester an infant in the womb begins to hear, moves limbs and within a week past midpoint will be sucking its thumb (Mayo Clinic website on fetal development).
Because of the Court’s ruling any law enacted by the people’s elected representative attempting to regulate abortion, require parental notification for minors who seek abortions, limit tax-payer funding of abortion or even prohibit late term or partial-birth abortions will likely be ruled unconstitutional.
Amending the Constitution to explicitly state that it does not contain a right to abortion is the only way to overcome the present situation and allow the people of Kansas to decide, through their duly elected representatives, to what extent abortion will be regulated in the state.
The Value Them Both Amendment does not itself ban abortion and thus will not fully satisfy the moral preference of Catholics faithful to the Church’s teaching. But it provides the option of at least limiting access to abortion in late stages of pregnancy, the possibility of maintaining existing laws requiring parental notification in cases involving minors and limits taxpayer funding of abortions. Any new restrictions on abortion would require action by the people’s elected legislators.
I invite you to prayerfully consider the end for which each human life is made and to reflect on how that matters to God. Let your faith inform your civic duties and choices. As Catholics let us work to serve the lives of both mothers who find themselves facing an unplanned pregnancy and the new lives that were created through human acts.
Sincerely yours in Christ Jesus, the Way, the Truth and the Life,
