People with limited imaginations: abortion and euthanasia

Catholic social teaching on abortion and euthanasia is pretty straightforward. 

Below are excerpts from a short 16 page booklet by Fr. Larry Lynn. 

The Church teaches that there are four pillars of Catholic Social teachings: Dignity of the Human Person, Solidarity, Subsidiarity and the Common Good. The Church's opposition to certain practices that our modern society deems normal or even good, is based on these fundamental pillars of Catholic teaching. The governments say people have a "right" to abortion or that our medical system should promote and, with our tax dollars, use doctors and nurses to kill innocent human life through euthanasia.

Dignity

People with limited imaginations believe that the child growing in the womb of its mother is not really human. They dismiss the dignity of that person in the womb because an embryo or a fetus, or a child, has no power. They believe dignity depends on some attribute or another, like size, viability, ability to communicate or have some other sign of usefulness. The entire euthanasia industry in Canada comes down to the usefulness of a person compared to the cost effectiveness of caring for someone deemed "not useful".

Solidarity

In dignity, all people are equal, no matter what attributes, abilities, assets or skills they may have, or circumstances they may be in, we are all called to respect the dignity.

Subsidiarity

Under the Principle of Subsidiarity, no higher level of organization has the right to take over the responsibilities that are due to the lower level of organization, i.e. the federal government cannot usurp the duties and responsibilities of the provincial government. The public school system has no right to interfere with the parenting of children.

The Common Good

In our world, there are governments, laws, policies and public institutions that promote abortion, euthanasia, contraception, torture, pornography, surrogate parenting, in vitro fertilization, body mutilation, capital punishment, restrictions on freedom of religion, and freedom of assembly and travel. "These things are detrimental to authentic human fulfillment and flourishing" and therefore, do not contribute to the common good but in fact destroy dignity, solidarity and subsidiarity which are necessary for the common good.

You can access the booklet here: Catholic Social Justice Teachings: A Primer Fr. Larry Lynn Priests for Life Canada (PFLC Board Member and Chaplain for Pro-life diocese in Vancouver)

All Catholic parishes and schools would greatly benefit from this booklet.