Interim special
The head of Priests for Life in the United States has offered new insights into preaching about abortion for school-age children.
In an article published in the Homiletic and Pastoral Review, Father Frank Pavone of New York said it is key to stress the equality message when telling young people about abortion. He said children are especially receptive to issues such as justice and fairness and that they understand the need to protect weak and vulnerable members of society from new dangers.
“They have not been around long enough to practise the mental gymnastics and exercises in denial that are necessary for developing and maintaining a pro-(abortion) position,” Father Pavone wrote.
The Priests for Life head also said it is not necessary to teach young people about reproduction when discussing abortion. He said the basis for instructing about abortion is the dignity and worth of every human being, whether that person is strong or week, healthy or sick, born or unborn.
He said children readily understand the commandment “Thou shall not kill” to include all human life.
“The key point with children is that when they hear the word ‘abortion,’ they know it is something bad, something that kills, something to be avoided,” Father Pavone said. “Education is not just about concepts. We influence children not only in how they think about abortion, but in how they feel about it. They should be trained to reject it, and to see it as part of the list of injustices and evils in the world rather than part of the list of rights, freedoms and choices.”
Father Pavone discounted suggestions that the abortion kills babies message is overly traumatic for children. He said it is best that children learn about abortion from faith leaders and from parents who can discuss their questions and calm their fears. He said the pro-life message is too important to be ignored or left to pro-abortion advocates who might convince young people that disposing of the unborn is of little consequence.
“The pro-life message will not harm our children,” Father Pavone said. “What will harm them, however, is the ‘pro-choice’ mentality, which will train them to think that human life is a disposable item, and which, if unchallenged, may lead them to the abortion mill someday.”
It is vitally important that children share their parents concern over the abortion issue. Father Pavone said it helps to remind children that they were considered non-persons for the first nine months of their lives. He also said it is crucial to remind children of the tremendous loss their generation has felt from abortion. Many of the children aborted in the U.S. since 1973 would have been their friends, classmates, older brothers and sisters, or husbands and wives.
Father Pavone’s Priests for Life is an organization providing services and information for clergy in the effort to combat abortion and euthanasia. Priests for Life has been established in Canada with Father Michael Whalen of the Ottawa archdiocese as the first national director.
