#standingfast

Are you talking about the three non-negotiable?

You know, there are so many really great causes out there.  There are so many organizations (Catholic and non-catholic) dedicated solely to helping the poor.  This is a very important cause and I hope that nobody misunderstands me with what I am about to say.

Abortion 

Abortion is an atrocity.  It should never be legal to kill a completely innocent human being.  This is what abortion is: the legal killing of an innocent unborn human being.  Yes, we (the Church) desire that every man and woman have a comfortable life.  More than that, we desire that every man, woman, and child have food and water to eat.  Even more than that, we desire that nobody be unjustly killed.

Again, although both of these are such great problems in the world we live in, life itself trumps quality of life.  Now, this isn't to say that we shouldn't help the poor.  On the contrary!  The Lord calls us to help those in need!  I love going on missions trips dedicated to helping the poor.  I can honestly say that there is very little on this earth that is more satisfying than helping those in need.  We are all called to do this.

However, if you are referring to the non-negotiable, those are directed at voting.  Basically, we should vote for the candidate willing to put an end to the injustice of abortion before we vote for the one dedicated to giving benefits to the poor.  If you find one with both, more power to ya!

All the Church was saying through that was, actual life > quality of life.

-Jo

Here is a lot of information about the Vatican/LCWR issue by my favorite Catholic blogger, Niko. And no, the Vatican did not say that. The LCWR had been led astray by either poor leadership or other issues within the organization and, though they were helping the sick and poor (rightfully so), they were also undermining the Catholic teachings on homosexuality and birth control and promoting "radical feminist themes incompatible wit the Catholic faith." So, no. It wasn't "advocating against homosexuality and abortion is more important" so much as "you have strayed from Catholic teaching of homosexuality and have adopted radical feminist themes and you need to reassert the Faith."

killing via deprivation.... but it's still murder imo.  It isn't as much how you kill somebody, but that you kill somebody.

Is drowning somebody worse than shooting them?  Or poisoning someone worse than strangling them?  Some forms of murder might be more painful to the individual.  They are all, however, murder.

Any thoughts?  Btw, sorry if I just wrecked an argument justin had :/

-Jo

I don't think you did. I'm not sure what argument that would be anyway.

First of all, I'm a female. My name is Joana. I'm pretty sure I have a few ideas about how women feel and think.

As I was telling the other anon, I find the entire idea of abortion very reasonable.  That is, if the thing being killed isn't a human being.  The problem is that they are.  Every human being should have the right over their own body except when exercising that right would mean directly killing another human being.

It would be nice to pretend that fetuses aren't human beings, but that simply isn't the case.

yes (:

-Jo

I'll be the dissent and argue that pregnancy is more so a function...the function of reproduction.

an activity in which one exerts strength or faculties to do or perform something (that's Merriam-Webster).

Let's say that she decided to keep her child.  A few months later, she was the proud mother of a healthy little girl.  She was so ready to make a new life and forget about the horrible things that had brought her to that point.  However, as soon as she saw her daughter for the first time, she was struck by the resemblance between her daughter and the man who had raped her.

She can go through 18 years of misery while caring for her child.  The stress will be very unhealthy both for her and her daughter.  Every time she sees her, it may be as mentally traumatizing as the rape itself.  She could give her daughter up to a foster home and hope for the best or deal with seeing her rapists face daily.  Don't say this is an unlikely scenario.

If she can kill her daughter while she's still in the womb, why can't she right when she's born?  Think of the trauma.  Think of the pain.  Somehow, trauma and pain aren't enough to justify killing another human being. 

Your argument makes a whole lot of sense if the unborn are nothing more than random cells or tissues.  This, however, simply isn't the case.  Before we answer the question, "can we kill it?" we should answer the question, "what is it?"  When the answer to this second question is a human being, then it's only obvious that we shouldn't be able to kill it.

Have a wonderful day, anon :)  Btw, keep the questions coming.  I love discussing these very important issues that our culture faces.