Not just talk

Permitting abortion up to 24 weeks, generating hybrid, half human half animal, embryos for research purposes, the eugenic selection of the healthiest embryos created in the laboratory during IVF, giving cohabiting couples, including gay couples, the same rights as married couples. Just before the Pro-life day that is to be celebrated all over the United Kingdom on July 1st, Great Britain has one of the legislations that are least respectful of traditional families and before-birth life in the Western world. About this subject, we asked a few questions to mgr. Bernard Longley, auxiliary bishop of Westminster, who deals with life issues for the Bishops Conference of England and Wales. Why has Great Britain such a liberal legislation? “It has to do with our geographical location and our history. Unlike other countries, we had a Protestant reform, which diminished the value of the family. In the teaching of the Catholic Church, marriage is a sacrament, a reality in which God acts every day and, because of its role in public and political life, the Catholic Church has made the legislation reflect this value in such Catholic countries as Spain and Italy. With the Protestant reform, in Great Britain, the sacramental value of marriage has gone lost”. Yet there are Anglicans who consider marriage a sacrament… “There are, but such belief is not so widespread as in the Catholic Church. Here in the United Kingdom the influence of Christianity is rejected and challenged over and over again, as proven by the recent attempt to give cohabiting couples the same rights as married couples in the event of divorce. The Catholic Church does all it can for the British legislation to reflect the sacramental value of marriage by training politicians who will commit themselves to defending such key values in public life”. What is the meaning of the Pro-life Day of July 1st? “One of the most important challenges for the Catholics of this country – we account for just 10% of the population, and not all are practising Catholics – is to support the values of life in our personal or professional relations and say that we are against abortion, for example, or against the tests that try to detect the foetus’ problems to dispose of it, such as amniocentesis. It’s not easy to be firm in asserting these principles without becoming estranged from our friends or colleagues. Sometimes we have to be so good as to stir reflection by challenging the prevailing opinion instead of being argumentative and annoying those who have a different opinion, who otherwise will tend to withdraw into themselves”. What’s new about the Pro-life day this year? “We have more materials to give to the parishes and dioceses, as we have added DVDs and prodcasts as well. We have collected true-life experiences, in the attempt to prove that we don’t just talk about defending the holiness of life. The funds we’ll raise on that day will be given to the Linacre centre and to other pro-life organisations, a scheme that was started by card. Winning in Scotland ten days ago, through which 2200 women have been helped to face a difficult pregnancy. It is important for the Church to fund these schemes, because we can prove that we do not only have a judgemental and critical attitude towards those who consider abortion an option, but we do also offer effective help. This is why we also promote “counselling”, meetings with a therapist both before deciding whether to have an abortion and after the abortion has been completed, because we know how hard it can be for a woman, especially a single woman, to face such experience. Our attitude takes inspiration from the lesson of John Paul II who, although emphasising the holiness of life, explained what a trauma abortion is for the women involved”. There’ve been recent news that the Science and Technology Commission of the British Parliament is considering the possibility to revise the abortion law to push the limit for abortion to over twenty-four weeks. What do you think about it? “At last, the attitude of our country towards abortion is changing. The progress of science is driving us to save premature children who under the current legislation could be disposed of. Some children are wanted and are saved, others are not wanted and are disposed of. The contradiction is self-evident. The sophisticated ultrasound pictures of foetuses in the womb have shown to everybody that unborn life is truly life, and for the first time in forty years of pro-abortion legislation the public opinion of our country is wondering whether the time limit within which to have a termination should not be raised”.