Maria Byrne
A Parent’s Perspective
In 1534, during a dialogue with his daughter on the subject of conscience, St Thomas More said: “I never intend, God being my good Lord, to pin my soul to another man’s back, not even the best man that I know this day living: for I know not where he may hap to carry it.”
More refused to swear an oath repudiating Papal supremacy, was imprisoned in the Tower of London and indicted for high treason. Early on the morning of July 6, 1535, he was led out to the scaffold for execution. He preferred to die than to deny truth. He described himself as “the king’s good servant, but God’s first”.
I’ve been campaigning intensively on the Eighth Amendment for the last few months. A lot of the aspects of the debate and people’s response to the subject of abortion have reminded me in a small way of what St Thomas More had to face.
Wishes
In his time, many bowed to the wishes of the king. They were unwilling to pay the ultimate price to hold on to what was right and what was true. The abortion debate challenged us as Catholics to put our heads above the parapet, to lay our cards on the table and to speak out for life, for every life, even the fragile, vulnerable hidden lives.
I’m lucky in many ways as most of my family and friends are opposed to the inhumanity of abortion, but I know people who have fallen out with brothers or sisters or lost lifelong friendships because of their opposition to abortion.
Many others are finding that, in their colleges or workplaces, they are castigated and frowned upon for their views. It would have been very easy for them to just stay silent, to quietly donate a few euros to a pro-life organisation and let others get on with the formidable battle on the ground.
There’s a brand of Christianity that some people subscribe to that is a very pleasant and easy way to practice your faith. Of course it requires attendance at Mass every Sunday; perhaps a place in the church choir and an avid interest in Church affairs, but there’s a certain element of not going outside your comfort zone or rocking the boat.
You’ll be all into the environment, with phrases like “we are Church” and definitely won’t miss the parish social, but topics like abortion are just not acceptable in your polite conversations over a buttered, parish-social scone.
St Josemaría Escrivá, the founder of Opus Dei, devoted an entire chapter of his spiritual classic, The Way to the topic of lukewarmness in the way one relates to God and to the carrying out of the activities that are related to one’s relationship with God. He describes Christians who deliberately or ‘shrewdly’ look for some way of lessening their duties; who think only of themselves and of their comfort, with conversation that is “idle and vain”. They act more from human motives than sincerely seeking out the will of God.
The author, Fr. Francis Fernandez describes the lukewarm Christian as somehow ‘inside out’: “his is a soul that has grown weary in its endeavour to improve.” He views God as distant and indistinct and this affects his spirit of generosity leading him to settle for much less.
Becoming embroiled in the abortion debate was more than a test of our true commitment to human rights, it was a call to true Christian action. The apostles of Christ were called to go the extra mile but their intimate relationship with Christ didn’t mean that they were never scared or tired or tempted to give up. In the past weeks and months, I’ve felt every emotion under the sun when contemplating the tough fight ahead, but I’ve also seen how the voice of conscience urges all of us who fight the good fight to keep going on.
It’s not easy to swim against the tide, but in this past few weeks and months, I have seen true Christian courage. It takes courage to get up at 6am on a wet, windy morning to hang up posters; it takes courage to have a thousand Facebook friends posting one way and to share the lone post with an opposing view; it takes courage to knock on a stranger’s door to speak up for justice and truth.
Sometimes the most courageous step of all is to do all the busy work but to have the faith to “let go and let God”, not to be so busy with the work of the Lord that we forget the Lord of the work.
Silence
So, I admire all those who dragged themselves out of bed early to attend morning Masses to pray for the right to life, the elderly who risked being sidelined or caricatured because they proudly wore their Faith on their sleeves, refusing to be cast as “old fogies” who should just step aside in silence.
I also admire other parents who didn’t fall for the line I’ve heard during this campaign about how young people are more “educated” on what’s involved, the doctors, the nurses, the speakers and campaigners who like St Thomas More found themselves in stormy seas but held on and gave their all to do what they knew was right, defending the gift of life itself. They are people of true heroism: the “king’s good servants, but God’s first”.