What’s up? (Part 1)

Something’s up, they say. It's difficult to pinpoint: a current, a wave, an atmosphere. It's not business as usual anymore says one. No program is going to fix it, says another. There's an air of urgency and concern.

Concerns spring from deep within. They grasp for words to say what they mean, to describe their discomfiture. Perhaps Yeats’ words fit the times: "The best lack all conviction, and the worst are full of passionate intensity."

The story gets told in these terms:

Catholics are confused and torn - the ones hanging on. Half have quit. The faithful don't know who or what to believe anymore. They hear a prominent archbishop say the Holy Father is out of touch. They hear mixed messages about sin and morality, if they hear about sin at all. Respected theologians speak about moral conduct in situational and relativistic terms. Catholics have bought into worldly standards for marriage, sexuality, lifestyle. Never mind that rock music holds traditional values up to ridicule. the kids need “their" music. Love has become puppy love, more concerned with selfish pleasure than with sacrifice, patience and dying to self.

Homes for runaway young people are finding a new caliber of clientele. Sacred absolutes are falling on rebellious, indifferent ears, despite the utter hopelessness of circumstances. Failures to reach some of these young people are increasing. Some are going back to the streets from probably their last-chance safe havens. People in places of help use words like “diabolical" to describe what they see happening.

Even priests are sniping at priests. A holy brotherhood is becoming infiltrated with an undercurrent of defensiveness or suspicion or polarity. Condescension replaces dialogue. Smugness replaces tolerance. Hauteur replaces humility.

Everybody agrees that values have lapsed or gone dormant, but nobody thinks it's anybody's fault. It's not the teachers’ fault; it's not the young people's fault; it's not the parents’ fault; it‘s not the priests’ fault; it's not the bishops’ fault.

So the story gets told…

A priest has a faraway look of reflection. His tone is quiet. People don’t come to the sacraments, he said. They don’t come to Mass. They're bitter, angry. They don’t want to hear anything I have in say. They could care less about God or religion or the Catholic Church. They’ve turned it off any they’re not about to turn it back on. Many are full of hate. Many more are simply indifferent toward the Church

Catholics are having abortions, living together before marriage and they are very vocal about their rights in this regard. Their rights… they’re not interested in what the Church has to say about women in priesthood. They don’t care. They want what they want, so that’s their value. They say the Church is repugnant, but they want to be a priest in it.

Something is terribly wrong and putting a Band-Aid on it won’t fix it. One more program putting people on one more spiritual high, feeling good about themselves one more time – it's all useless. Do it. I don’t care. It won't matter, he said. What matters is what's underneath all this: the malaise, the emptiness. Only one thing is going to work and that's for people to change their lives and get right with God. The communion lines are long, but the confessionals are vacant.

Another priest shook his head. It's not business as usual anymore, he said. We‘ve been asleep too long. Satan is in the world and in the Church, too. You can laugh if you want to, he said, shrug, it off if you want to. The intellectually arrogant will go on with their mush, but the word of God still stands, yesterday, today, tomorrow – if there is a tomorrow. God’s not going to stand for 20 million abortions, rampant idolatry, moral decadence so depraved it’s unspeakable. God’s not going to stand for teaching elementary school children that choosing to act out homosexually is like choosing a new hat, and then teaching them so-called safe ways to indulge in repulsive practices.

The solution is simple really. We have to repent. We have to get on our knees. – T.R.

written by Thomas A. Russell
first published in the Lafayette Sunday Visitor on January 31st, 1988

Living in today’s world

While Jan. 22, the anniversary of the 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision, is still fresh in our minds, my mind is unsettled and torn.

Recently I came upon a piece of writing by a group called American Life League asserting that five major U.S. companies are contributing to Planned Parenthood, the League calling for a boycott of their products.

I wrote to each of the companies and asked if it were true that they gave money to Planned Parenthood. Four responded to me. I have not heard from the other firm.

The four answered yes, they support Planned Parenthood, but only insofar as the nation’s No. 1 abortionist provides educational services, or said their money went for “family planning education for low-income people” or “ongoing heath care services.”

They thanked me for my comments. A couple said such comments were reviewed when it came time to give more money from the corporate coffer.

I guess I’m disturbed about these circumstances. One thing is for sure: There is no room for compromise on the question of abortion.

Suppose I buy a product from a company that provides support to Planned Parenthood. There is no question that I have thereby contributed to the support of the No. 1 abortionist in the nation. The companies make their money by the sale of their products to guys like me. They, in turn, direct some of their profits to outfits like Planned Parenthood. The question is, am I compromising on the question of abortion by buying these products?

The argument always goes that these Planned Parenthood activities are simply educational. Therefore, why is that not good? Let’s take this analogy: Suppose there was an excellent school with a first-class academic program. Part of the philosophy of the school, however was that abortion was OK. This was an assertion, now, not a moot subject. In fact, they taught an elective course which said that specifically. Would you send your child to that school?

Let’s take the analogy of a magazine that always has in its center spread one of the four Gospels. The rest of the magazine was devoted to essays on sexual mores with the underlying philosophy being that abortion on demand was OK. Would you recommend this magazine to your college-age son or daughter?

In both analogies, something good can certainly be said. The school was a good school; the magazine published one of the four Gospels. However, by association with the other elements, surely there is some inconsistency, some compromise one would be making in affirming either the school or the magazine.

There is no inconsistency in the various aspects of the Church. Somehow, things go together. There is nothing in the Gospel which contradicts another part of the Gospel. Planned Parenthood says it is at least two things: educational services and abortionist. It says you may not like the one, but you might find the other wholly good and worthwhile. I see a contradiction in that, an inconsistency, a compromise.

The argument exists that because Planned Parenthood has money for its other operations, it’s more at liberty to perform abortions. Like the family budget, you can do more with more.

Boycotts are certainly different from simple protests. If I write to my congressman, that’s one thing. If I don’t vote for my congressman the next time out, that’s another. I would not give money to Planned Parenthood for any reason, because I find their philosophy reprehensible. They think it’s OK to kill unborn babies, and even help do it. I’m now faced with giving money to Planned Parenthood indirectly, whether I want to or not, because American firms are giving them the cash. However miniscule my contribution would be when I purchased a small item, somehow it still doesn’t sit well with me.

It’s not an easy ethical dilemma. United Way of Greater Lafayette gave some money to Planned Parenthood a while back for one of its non-abortion programs, saying the money didn’t come from direct contributions. Cut me some slack! United Way does many valuable and worthwhile things, but that kind of talk is doubletalk. It represents inconsistency and compromise.

I suppose some company somewhere is always going to be doing something I don’t like: polluting the environment, treating its employees unfairly, having some connection with organized crime or pornography or some other vice. I’m sure I buy all kinds of things which bring about unsettling circumstances.

It just seems there is no clear answer. Sometimes my conscience aches living in this world. What about yours? – T.R.

written by Thomas A. Russell
first published in the Lafayette Sunday Visitor in January, 1987

Opposing abortion in our minds and hearts

As the annual Right to Life March made its way from the Tippecanoe County Courthouse, I was taken by the notion that opposition to abortion is not a matter of carrying a sign, but a matter of mind and heart.

Most people don’t march in marches, and that’s fine. The really important activity occurs on the inside of individual persons.

Have you made up your mind about abortion?

I listened to National Public Radio the other day as a doctor described the experimental use of fetal liver tissue as a substitute for bone marrow in bone marrow transplants. “Now doctor,” the interviewer asked, “are these livers from aborted fetuses?” “Yes,” the doctor answered. He explained that the liver produces blood and that fetuses had not yet developed sufficient defense agents and therefore their liver tissue stood a better chance of not being rejected by the recipient.

How can anyone listen to that without being horrified? A fetus has a liver, you say? You mean it’s not just so much tissue, good for nothing? Surely if fetal liver can produce blood for a fully developed human being, it can produce blood for itself. Ah, but it hasn’t yet developed defenses. Indeed, a fetus is defenseless.

We don’t have to carry signs, but we can make up our minds. Have you made up your mind, or are you still on the fence?

The important work of opposing abortion doesn’t occur on the courthouse steps, but in the mind and heart convinced of its position. It occurs in coffee shops and work places and neighborhood queues. It occurs one-to-one, couple-to-couple, person-to-God in prayer.

You’ve had a situation in your life when abortion was discussed, haven’t you? It was a conversation at work, or in a restaurant with your group, or in your living room with your neighbors. What did you say then? Did you make your position known? Or have you cowered, like I have, with my mouth shut, not wanting to offend anybody, not wanting my friends to think I’m a crackpot, not wanting people to think I don’t have an open mind.

I was lukewarm, cowardly, afraid to take a stand. Abortion is an issue out there, somebody else’s problem. I can’t change it so why should I have to be embarrassed, be scoffed at, ridiculed, scorned? I’ve read the papers. I know what people think about those pro-lifers, how they laugh and jeer and say, “Go to hell!” I don’t want to put up with that. Leave me alone.

But my conscience won’t leave me alone. I’ve had to make up my mind. I don’t have to carry a sign, but I do have to speak up when the opportunity arises. I have to face my friends and co-workers and acquaintances, and that’s a lot harder than carrying a sign.

The effects of abortion are complex. Circumstances surrounding it are complex. We must have compassion for women, millions of women, who already have had abortions. I don’t have all the answers for all the sticky moral dilemmas. But of this much I am sure: that babe in a mother’s womb is a person, with a liver and eyes and a nose, just like me. I cannot deny that. I cannot skirt that issue anymore.

The Catholic Church is known for its staunch opposition to abortion. But the official Church teaching means nothing if it is not embraced in the heart and soul and mind of individual Catholics.

Carrying a sign is easy. Looking your neighbor in the eye and speaking from conviction is hard. But that’s the important work in the fabric of society. You know you’ll have the opportunity, and so will I.

written by Thomas A. Russell
first published in the Lafayette Sunday Visitor in May of 1986