The Annunciation, Carravagio, 1608
I’m still keeping to my promise to attend massevery day for the 40 days of L ent. Sometimes it has stretched my schedule, but mostly it has been a good discipline that has brought me closer to the Catholic religion given to me by my family.
But, today was a trying one. It is the “Feast of the Immaculate Conception,” the day that the angel Gabriel tells Mary, who is a virgin, that is she is going to have a child, the son of God, and should name him Emmanuel.
The priest, discussing the power of what this meant, noted that at that moment of conception, Jesus was God, and that all life begins at conception. He then made a (very) thinly veiled atttack on the pro-choice movement. Nevermind. It wasn’t veiled at all.
Being pro-choice and Catholic is a difficult position. My belief structure is pretty simple: I don’t believe the bible as literal documentation of historical fact, but rather as parable. However, I do believe there was a man named Jesus who lived around 2000 years ago. More importantly, I believe the records of the way he lived and what he taught — as a way of leading a good life, full of forgiveness and barren of judgement — provide a great “map” of how to live in this world.
I find that leaders of organized religions in many cases have completely twisted the simple message of Love and Foregivness of Self and Others into an unforgiving, intolerant, politicized mishmash that often frustrates me. Today was one of those days. At least for a moment.
Ok. having gotten that out and onto this page, here’s my way of dealing with the cognitive dissonance that the priest’s attack on those of us who are pro-choice threw on me.
Yes, if we believe in the immaculate conception, which I didn’t say I believed, then we must believe Jesus was both God and Man at that moment of conception — bound to essentially change the world. At conception. Not at eight weeks or the second trimester or the moment of viability outside the womb.
An abortion by Mary, say if she was shamed into it due to her unmarried state — would have certainly changed the course of history. But Jesus was Jesus, and Mary was Mary.
Every girl who is carrying a collection of little rapidly multiplying cells is not carrying a “Jesus.” Indeed, there are two lives at stake: the mother’s and the potential fetus’. Terminating an early pregnancy when the mother is not prepared mentally or financially, or otherwise fit to be a mom in essense saves two lives: that of the mother and the potential unwanted child.
Looking at every unwanted pregnancy as akin to the “immaculate conception” and rejecting the idea of a termination based on “Jesus as fetus” just doesn’t work for me. The dots do not connect. And that is all I have to say.
No. One more thought: Carrying a pregnancy to term when the mother is ready and a child is wanted sets in motion a series of beautiful events that allows for two lives to shine, that of the mother and the child who will be treasured. Forcing motherhood “at the time of conception” does a favor for neither mother nor potential life.
nyfemme 
You put this in the best possible way that someone could. I just don’t understand how this is such a difficult thing for people to grasp. Its like they’re living with their heads up their asses.
I enjoyed reading your reaction to the Catholic position on abortion. They are understandably against it. I When I worked for the Census Bureau once, I sat next to two Catholics. One was homeless and the other hopeless. I bought the Catholic Catechism Book and read it. Then I went back and taught them what the Pope believed. It was interesting. They thought reading the Bible was a waste of time and that Paul the Apostle hated women. I read them that the Pope emphasized daily Bible reading and they were shocked. So I educated them in their beliefs and as a good Baptist I was happy that they were reading the recommended Catholic Bible. lolThe pro-life, pro-choice conflict cannot re resolved. So far. gals with unplanned pregnancies have the abortion option. I think Catholics and most Protestant church goers will come down on the side of pro-life, but there is no doubt in my mind that the pews are filled with gals who chose the abortion option. I just feel very sorry for the little, cute church girls that had an unplanned pregnancy and the hell they will go through with their family and church. My wife was active in pregnancy counseling with Ohio State University gals. Many church girls got abortion because they knew their parents could just not handle their being pregnant.It is one of life’s messy problems.Hope you have a great weekend, My dear wife is leaving for L.A. this morning.frank
@ThePrince – haha! In some ways putting heads up asses is what some organized religion try to do. Take away free thought. Set rules. Make followers intolerant of others’ ideas. Rejecting these notions, I suppose, makes me a Chinese menu Catholic: 1 from column A 2 from column B, etc. (do they still have menus like that? )
@ANVRSADDAY – It’s not a question of resolving the moral debate for me. There is a real threat that our government will continue to roll back the clock on women’s freedom to choose. The number of state laws that have attempted to block free choice and discourage abortions by putting unconscienable roadblocks in front of women who are in no position to raise a baby is frightening. We truly are at a crossroads where Roe V Wade cannot be taken for granted. And while I have no problem with the religious telling women their poin of view, if a women enters a clinic where that kind of view is going to be pushed on her…she should know what she is getting herself into. In New York, a law was just passed that mandates that kind of full disclosure. It’s sick, that a women, thinking she was going to get an abortion would be forced to listen to a bunch of information meant to make her feel guilty and horrible and essentially compel her to go through with a pregnancy she had already made the difficult decision to terminate. As you see I am very passionate about the subject and appalled at what has happened in the last decade in this country.