The following letter, dated November 28, was addressed to Mr. John Carroll of Thunder Bay, Ontario who is the Chairman of families and Friends of the Handicapped.
Mr. Carroll is pro-life. In 1990 he appeared before the House of Commons Committee on Bill C-43 objecting to the proposed legislation. Recently he wrote the editor of Scarboro Missions, a monthly magazine ostensibly devoted to reporting on Catholic missionary work carried on by the Scarboro Foreign Mission (SFM) society, a R.C. religious mission organization located in Scarborough, Ontario. Mr. Carroll asked a simple question about a reference to the NDP.
He received the following astonishing reply.
“Thank you for your letter of October 23. The author of the article which appeared in Scarboro Missions magazine, “Education for Justice” – Ted Schmidt – has been a friend of mine for over ten years. He is allied with the NDP, but I do not believe that he is pro-abortion. In fact I too am NDP and I am not pro-abortion. Neither are many of those who belong to the NDP. Most are pro choice – and there is a difference.
He received the following astonish reply.
“I am a Roman Catholic and a priest. I do not agree with everything the Church teaches, but I am not going to leave the Church. I love baseball but there are things I do not like about it, but I am not going to give it up. I love the part of Canada in which I now live, but here are things I do not like about, but I am not go8ing to move elsewhere. I could go on and on. What I am trying to say is that no aspect of life is perfect.
“The NDP agenda promotes life-giving policies more than the agenda of other parties. That is why I vote NDP. To disregard all their life-giving policies and categorize the party as pro-death because of their stand on abortion proves just how divisive the abortion issue is.
“The NDP is pro-choice. It will allow women access to safe abortions. A very compassionate, humane alternative to back-room mutilations. The NDP allows a woman the choice, knowing that she could choose to terminate her pregnancy.
“If we could just stop fighting about this issue and give women the right to decide what is to take place within their own bodies. There are some things that others have no right to control. I believe if we begin to walk together on this in support and out of compassion for women, the fear and distrust that exists on both sides will be replace by a people working together to eliminate the cause of family violence, poverty, homelessness, economic injustice and other reasons why women choose abortions. I truly believe that it’s a choice they would rather not make.
“Anyway, the abortion issue is a divisive one. You and I probably agree on many issues. I pray that the spirit will bring us unity, peace and justice for all.”
Signed Gerald Curry, Editor Scarboro Missions.
COMMENTS:
As readers can see, Father Curry makes these five points”
• To be “pro-choice” is not to be pro-abortion;
• The abortion issue is no more important than issues about baseball or where you live;
• The NDP is right on some points. Hence it doesn’t matter that it is wrong on abortion. If it does matter, that shows that the abortion issue itself is to blame, not the NDP’
• Actually, the NDP’s pro-choice stand is compassionate! Front street abortions are much more humane that back street ones;
• A woman has the right to control her body. Let’s all accept this.
The Holy Spirit will look after us!
Fr. Curry’s letter is about as foolish and wrong-minded as statement I have seen. What came to my mind when I read it was the person of Adolf Eichmann, the war criminal, responsible for the death of several million Jews.
At one point during his trial his defence counsel approached the judges and explained to them that his client could not be held responsible. “No one,” the lawyer pointed out, “had ever told him that is was wrong to kill Jews.”
The judges were not impressed and a little private reflection will show why.
Somehow or other, Fr. Gerald Curry, an educated man, a Catholic priest, has not yet discovered that it is wrong to kill babies in the womb. And this after 25 years of public debate.
