Per Christum

Jesus gave His body for us, both on the cross at Calvary, and at the last supper when He took the bread and said “This is my body, given up for you. Do this is memory of me”

I found these pictures and thought they were very beautiful & powerful:

The Latin means “This is my body, given up for you” and “Bread of Life”

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This Week, January 28-February 3, 2007, is Catholic Schools Week. I am a Catholic school teacher and I support our Catholic schools.

I know that Catholic schools have gotten a bad rap from some over the years, and in many cases, these accusations have been true. One major concern I hear, especially from fellow orthodox Catholics, is that sometimes Catholic school teachers are either ignorant of the Catholic faith or purposely dissent from the faith, and parents fear for their kids. I am sure most bloggers can think of examples.

However, isn’t the idea behind Catholic schools a good one?: Educate children in the Catholic faith, provide them a strong moral community, and give them a solid education that often rivals public education. I say this because even if the system needs fixed, it doesn’t need discarded. Besides, some of the parents I hear complain about the heterodoxy of some Catholic school teachers send their kids to the local public schools. I wouldn’t trade heterodoxy for secularism, or a small moral community for a large, disordered one.

I support our Catholic schools. Remember, the answer to the wrong use of something is not necessarily disuse, but right use. Orthodox teachers and students can be a witness to everyone about the power and value of the Catholic. Our kids can be an important part of forming the morality of the local community. In other words, as always, Catholic schools need good and faithful Catholics.

On January 22, 1973, the US supreme court legalized abortion with its decision in favor of “Roe” in the Roe v Wade case. In effect, the court said that abortion is a fundamental right guaranteed in the constitution. I have yet to find abortion mentioned in the constitution, and so have many others, including pro-choice academics who opposed the decision because of the precedent it set with regard to interpreting the constitution. Nonetheless, with this one decision, legalized abortion became the law of the land.

Over 30 years later, abortion is still legal and the issue is just as divisive. Being Catholic and Christian, I am pro-life. I have to be honest, I have a hard time understanding why some folks are so radically pro-choice. I can understanding being reluctantly pro-choice, but making it a “ditch to die in” confounds me. I have known people who have struggled to have a child, and losing a child in the womb is more devastating than any other loss they have known. How can some take this so lightly? Part of it could be the general drift in our society away from taking responsibility for our actions. It is never my fault, ever, not in America at least. Did you have sex without thinking of the responsibilities? Well, it’s no big deal, just suck the baby out of your womb and all is well. And what about the “father” who treated his girlfriend like an object and used her for her body and then took off? He, like many so-called fathers today, has no reason to learn responsibility. And why should he? In America, it’s always someone else’s responsibility.

Abortion is a shame, a real shame. What is more of a shame is that some people shrug it off as if it is no big deal, or even celebrate it. Abortion is viewed as a mere “personal choice,” similar to choosing the color of a car, one that supposedly affects only the woman involved. However, abortion is not just about the woman. What about the father who wants to have a child? What about the baby growing inside? In our selfish and individualist society it is easy to reduce any decision to “it’s my business,” but when is any decision ever just about “me?” It takes a village, right?

I used to oppose showing people graphic pictures of abortions. I don’t anymore. Why? Because reality is reality; inhumanity is inhumanity. If someone were pro-choice with regards to lynching, I would show him just how inhumane and graphic a lynching actually is, to, I hope, persuade him that giving a person a choice about whether to lynch is an injustice. Very few things shock my students these days, but photos of aborted fetuses usually do the trick. And just so you know, I don’t ever direct them to the photos, but when doing the research they invariably find them.

Many churches have taken a stand against abortion, siding with 2000 years of Christian Tradition on the issue, although some have capitulated to secular culture. Where does your church stand? Last year on this blog, I posted the following summary. If your church has deviated from Christian Teaching regarding abortion, then I suggest working with pro-life groups within your churches to change the matter. Here is the breakdown:

Catholic: Strongly Opposes
Orthodox: Strongly Opposes
Lutheran- LCMS: Strongly Opposes
Lutheran-ELCA: Lukewarm, but officially opposes in most cases
Presbyterian (USA): Officially pro-choice
United Church of Christ: Radically pro-choice, supports legalization of partial-birth abortions
United Methodist: Pro-Choice, supports legalization of partial-birth abortions
Episcopal: Officially pro-choice, supports radical pro-choice organizations
Southern Baptist: Strongly opposes

Abortion rights are almost always tied to radical feminism (there is a non-radical version that most of us take for granted, I think) and the sexual revolution. I read a few years ago that the radical pro-sexual revolution groups like NOW are mostly gray, meaning they are not having much success finding younger members. This “graying” mimics what is happening to the liberal ranks of Christian churches too. One reason for this may be that the group that started the sexual revolution, you know, basically educated, rich, white folks, aren’t the ones who have had to live with it. Teens today have actually been raised without fathers, and have indeed found it revolutionary, but hardly liberating or beneficial. Despite promises that free sex is meaningful and liberating, the younger generation still craves committed, caring, and loving relationships, but now finds it harder to find them. Why does a generation so “liberated” need so many prescription medications just to make it through a normal day? And what has the sexual revolution done to poorer communities? Lots…and it isn’t good, which is probably why the founders of the sexual revolution live in wealthy areas of town. While I am sure most Americans are in favor of some sort of legalized abortion, the agenda of the rich, white, academics of the 1970s is not their agenda, as poorer Americans experience the effects of a “revolution” someone else started for them.

So what are some solutions to the abortion problem? I have been told that I can’t have an opinion on abortion because I am not a woman. This is absurd. However, I am going to focus on men here, since the role of the man in all of this is often ignored. Men, we need to step it up. Of course, women need to start choosing men who step it up (ok, I guess I lied, I did focus on women, but only briefly). Since the sexual revolution, we men have been told we don’t matter. Sadly, most men have been waiting for over 8,000 years to be let off the hook. Tell a man he is nothing more than a sperm doner, kids don’t need fathers, and so forth, and many men gladly oblige.

We need good fathers and we need more of them. When I watch the Maury Povich Show episodes where “my teen wants to have a baby and I can’t stop her,” there is almost always one thing missing from these rebellious and destructive teens’ lives: a father. Boys and young men need to learn the importance of fatherhood and what it means to be a responsible and loving husband and father. If a woman has a child with a responsible, caring father who has a decent job, wouldn’t this decrease the desperation that can lead to having an abortion? If we men were involved emotionally in the lives of our wives and girlfriends, we would have a say in the future of our children, born and unborn, but sadly many of us are willing to let others, including the state, raise our kids because we are too selfish. Unfortunately by the time many women get pregnant, their cowardly and selfish men are nowhere to be found. Again I say, we men must step it up, get tough and act like real men, for the benefit of children, born and unborn, everywhere.

Over 30 years after legalized abortion in the US, I pray: from abortion on demand, and the problems in our society that encourage them, Good Lord Deliver Us!

I just wanted folks to know that I (and others here) are still alive.

I have been very busy with school (teaching and taking classes), and I have been using my time off to relax and prepare for my upcoming wedding in the autumn. I pray everyone is having a blessed new year. I hope to get back into my online endeavors in the next few weeks!

Well it’s 2007! It is hard to believe it has come already. I don’t know about all of you, but I have been pretty busy this holiday season. It was a nice time to see family and friends, and of course celebrate the birth of our Lord.

Now that 2007 is on the way, I guess it is time to discuss New Year’s resolutions. Here are a few that I have set for myself:

1. Pray more often and more regularly

2. Read and write more often (on this blog and elsewhere)

3. Get healthier and lose a few pounds

4. Get my wedding planned

5. Treat everyday like it is a new adventure

What about all of you?