CELEBRATE 'THE GOSPEL OF LIFE' (MARCH 25, 1995)

CELEBRATE 'THE GOSPEL OF LIFE' (MARCH 25, 1995)

JUSTICE IS TRUTH IN ACTION - BLOGGER.COM - SAT. APRIL 4, 2020

Preface:

    It is the 11th of Pope Saint John Paul II's 14 encyclicals. I remember it well. I had 50 copies made. There was a printer nearby in  (Garden Grove) Stanton with a special of  one cent per page. I was a prayer participant at the nearby abortion sites; two of them in Cypress and Orange in the years ahead they closed. We will begin with reference two writers:

A) Ref, "The Catholic World Report" -- 25 Years after "Evangelium Vitae, We still need a "new feminism." March 24, 2020 by Michele M. Schumacher, selected excerpts

     "In his encyclical, Pope John Paul II called for a "new feminism" - "new" in the sense of the radical novelty of Christianity itself, not a reactionary Christian answer to secular feminism.

Perhaps at no point in human history has the urgency of the proclamation of the "Gospel of Life"- ... been so apparent as today Indeed, on this 25th anniversary of Evangelium Vitae (promulgated March 25, 1995), more ferocious than ever is the systematic and ideological calling into question of the dignity and protection of human life,

    By the very institutions that have been traditionally charged to protect it: the state, the medical profession, even - and perhaps most sadly, as John Paul II pointed out in this same encyclical - the family itself, "which by its nature is called to be the "sanctuary of life" (EV.9)

    On a more positive note, it was within the context of this "culture of death" (12) and even of what he considered a "conspiracy against life" (17), that this holy pope, in "cooperation" with "the episcopate opf every country of the world: (5) pointed to women as "occupying a place, in thought and action, which is unique and decisive" in "transforming culture so that it supports life." For this reason, he called upon us, women, "to promote a 'new feminism' which rejects the temptation of imitating models of 'male domination,' in order to acknowledge and affirm the true genius of women in every aspect of the life of society, and overcome all discrimination, violence, and exploitation."  ...

B) LifeSite, Thu Feb. 27, 2020 "Cardinal forcefully Condems 'Freedom' to 'Murder' Unborn Children" by Sandro Magister,  selected excepts"

    The explosion of individual desires transformed into rights for all is a matter of daily news, in the West and beyond. With no limits anymore. If affects birth and death, technology and environment, politics, and migration, in short, the very nature of man. But is it the triumph of freedom or dictatorship, at the expense of the weakest? And what then is the other freedom, the one that feeds on truth and cannot exist without it?

    Cardinal Camillo Ruini 89, a lifelong philosopher and pastor, discusses this with Gaetono Quagliariello, senator, professor of contemporary history at LUISS in Rome and president of the Magna Carta Foundation, in a lucid and impassioned book, on sale in Italy since February 20:...

    An encyclical that "seems written today," so much have its predictions come true, but which too many - the cardinal notes - seem to have(been) set aside... 1. The Courage to Call It "Murder" ... Therefore the encyclical "Evangelium Vitae" of John Paul II does not hesitate to speak of murder and warns against the manipulation of language to hide reality. Instead he asks to have the courage to call things by their name: "voluntary abortion" and not the septic "termination of pregnancy."

2. No to Abortion in the Light of Reason: The basic justification for the attacks on human life is the claim to individual freedom: consider the slogan of the '70s, " My Body, My Choice." ... to the point of setting up this freedom as the absolute criterion for our choices. ... 3. A "Do Not Kill" That Applies Even More to Catholics. ... John Paul II writes - "and in communion with the Bishops of the Catholic      Church, I confirm that the direct and voluntary killing of an innocent human being is always gravely immoral (no.57) This solemn formula expresses an infallible and irrefromable pronouncement ... the pope uses the word "I confirm" and not "I declare" - to underline that this matter of a truth already belonging to the patrimony of the Catholic faith...

George H. Kubeck