Defending Life: A Mission Proper to the Church

As a seminarian I am preparing for to be a spiritual leader in the Catholic Church, but also to exhibit a moral authority among the wider community. John Paul II recognized that for the proper exercise of moral authority the Church must remain neutral when it comes to politics (cf. Centissimus Annus). At the same time I am and will remain a pro-life advocate - remain so without apology. In the United States this looks like a compromise on remaining politically neutral.

The defense of life though it a mission proper to all Christians, Catholics and Protestants. The "right to life" is pre-political - this means that it should not be a political issue, but rather something taken for granted before it even reaches the debates of politics. So when there is a political challenge to protecting innocent human life, the Church must defend the same innocent human life. This was the message that Pope Benedict XVI delivered to the Argentinian ambassador to the Holy See, "To promote the dignity of the person and elevate it in an integral way for the benefit of all,mission proper to the Church."

So I acknowledge that I do not remain politically neautral when I advocate support of the any positions that are truly pro-life. I do not apologize for this, for I have not over-stepped my limits, but rather I ask the apology of the politicians who have over-stepped their own proper limits. It is not in the realm of politics to determine when life begins and end, but within the realm of the laws of nature that are above politics, and even above religious and denominationaly divides.
Saint Nicolas...

...Pray for Us!