Together for life

According to some estimates of the German Federal Statistics Office, 680,000- 690,000 children were born alive in Germany in 2005; there were over 705,000 in 2004. The German Churches are reacting against this trend in the form of Pro-Life Week, which will be held from 29 April to 6 May, dedicated this year to life in the womb, unborn life. The aims of Pro-Life Week, organized by the two German Churches, were presented in Berlin on 29 March by Cardinal Karl Lehmann, President of the German Bishops’ Conference, together with the President of the German Evangelical Church (EKD), Bishop Wolfgang Huber. Both will be present for the official ceremony of inauguration in Stuttgart. We present below some passages from the interventions of Cardinal Lehmann and Bishop Huber of the EKD. MUCH TO BE DONE, MUCH TO BE STARTED . “Limiting oneself to introducing individual policy measures for the family cannot solve the problem”, warns Cardinal KARL LEHMANN . “There’s much to be done and much to be started. Family policy must be seen as a genuine cross-party task. It is undeniable that the general conditions for the growth of children in our society are not sufficiently favourable. At the social level, this also depends on the attitude and position of individuals. The question whether it will be possible to reverse the trend, and achieve a more favourable attitude to children, is linked to growing awareness of what a blessing children are. That is the central aspiration of Pro-Life Week in the years 2005-2007. It’s well known that children are indispensable for the future of social security systems, tax systems, even the economic system as a whole. But children are far more than that: they are the greatest imaginable enrichment of this world. Bringing up children and accompanying them in their journey towards responsibility towards themselves and towards their world is a unique and at the same time daily way of realizing human freedom. The demographic decline is not worrying just because it destabilises the economic system, and not even because it diminishes the German people. The crux of the problem consists of the fact that our society is not sufficiently open to the person and to life, to be able to offer space to children. So the main danger consists in the fact that something in our society, in its ethical standards, in its parameters and in its forms of consensus, no longer holds good. To this trend against life Pro-Life Week opposes a message of hope and acceptance of life”. […] “The task of accepting and accompanying children – continued Lehmann – does not begin with birth. From the first instant of their presence in the maternal womb, children are entrusted to us; they need our protection and our assistance. This task especially regards expectant mothers, those closest to children. But it is not limited just to them. Pregnancy occurs in a context that may or may not favour and support the mother and her child”. “YES” TO CHILDREN, CLOSE TO WOMEN . “The joy for a child accepted must be shared and supported by us as much as possible”, declared Evangelical bishop WOLFGANG HUBER , who pointed out the importance of the presence of everyone at the side of the expectant mother, from employers to neighbours, friends and relations. “Joy and good wishes and the intention expressed to overcome together the challenges, to rejoice in the “adventure” of having a child and seek common solutions at the service of life, also in situations of conflict, ought to be always placed in the foreground. But this joy is offset by the sorrow caused by each child who will never see the light of day due to a conflict relating to pregnancy. In this regard we wish clearly to emphasise that life in the womb can only be protected together with the woman and not against her”. Huber is also of the view that “unilateral accusations against women who experience this situation ought to be a thing of the past. No one rejoices so much for the birth of a new life as the mother, no one suffers so much from a conflict linked to pregnancy as the mother involved, and no one suffers so much from the interruption of pregnancy as the woman who submits to it”, he said. “Expectant women who find themselves in situations of conflict therefore deserve our boundless respect, our support and our encouragement. Naturally we seek to instil the conviction that it is possible to find solutions to these situations, together with the women involved…, in such a way as to make possible a decision in favour of life. But we must remain on the woman’s side even if this does not happen”. Huber also underlined “the need to put an end to legalized late abortions” as an “important and necessary step” for a better protection of life. But equally indispensable is the commitment to ensure that pregnancy be accepted and not interrupted. At the centre of this Pro-Week Life are the daily situations of conflict to whose solution all of us can contribute”.