The thesis of the article “ Forty years of abortion have passed and no solution, Why?” is that Christians, and especially Catholics, have not been radical enough. (J. Bissonnette, C.I, September issue, pp. 18-23). They have not surrendered their lives to martyrdom. “Abortion will end and it will end sooner and more suddenly than we expect, if we are willing to be bold,” he states.

            Before any advance in the solution of this holocaust can be expected, efforts should first be made not from the churches but towards the churches, the author states, so that their faithful and leaders come to challenge the culture of abortion wholeheartedly and unconditionally. Pro-life faithful must bring into the churches pictures of bloodied babies killed by abortion, to hang alongside the images of the historical martyrs. He forecasts that at first few church leaders will accept this and they will have the pro-lifers physically removed, charged with trespassing, and arrested. But persevere and the gates of the Church shall not long prevail against the innocent pre-born killed by abortion. The millions killed must be spoken of in the churches and they must be seen.

            This October edition weighs in with three more articles relevant to the issue of abortion. Dr. Jim Chandler, in “The Church in the net” (p.13) portrays the ever increasing pressures on Christian professionals such as medical doctors. The Church is enveloped by a net whose noose is drawn ever tighter. How Christians respond to this closing net as individuals and how the Church reacts as an institution will determine whether the Church degenerates to the vanishing point, or whether it will be revitalized.

            Catholic Insight magazine has given many examples of such pressures over the last 24 months. In 2009 alone we reported on the mandatory teaching of sexual permissiveness in B.C schools and the threats to freedom of speech and religion by human rights commissions and tribunals (January); on the pro-life battles for free speech on the University Campus and the quashing of parental school rights in Quebec (February); on the Genocide Awareness Project (GAP) in Calgary and the promotion of immoral sex education throughout the world by members of the Frankfurt school, (in March); in April on the assimilation of Catholics to secularism (Archbishop Charles Chaput);  in May on the threats to society from polygamy and atheism; in June we dwelt on the degeneration of the concept of human rights and on the bullying by the British Columbia Teachers Federation; in July/August we portrayed why many American Catholics, including 83 bishops, publicly objected to the Obama  ̶ Notre Dame University link  up; and in September we returned to British Columbia and that province’s Human Rights Act imposing press censorship.

            Hence, Dr. Chandler’s portrayal of Christians and the Church being caught and entangled in a net is well illustrated, in addition to his own examples in the work place, including schools and hospitals. Meanwhile, as he observes, many Catholics have quietly escaped the net by accommodating themselves to the world. In the process they have consciously or unconsciously distanced themselves from Church and God. Many more, perhaps including ourselves, Dr. Chandler fears, may run the same risk. One very recent example, and a spectacular one at that, is discussed in “The Kennedy funeral: bishops in paralysis” (p. 17).

            In order to save ourselves, we Catholics, argues Dr. Chandler, are in need of a renewed “Spirituality of Persecution.” That brings us to the article by Father Regis Scanlon, “ North America can still be saved” (p. 20).

            Fr. Scanlon goes quickly to the heart of how to return to a vibrant Catholicism. The centre and heart of the solution lies in the love and awe we have for our Lord in the Eucharist. The question therefore is: Can a Catholic use contraceptives and continue to receive Holy Communion? The answer to that will cover all other opposition to Church teaching on family morality. That question, he points out, was first answered in 1968 and later, even more directly, in 1987. The proclamation of an authentic and complete proclamation of the Gospel of Life and Love requires nothing less than the restoration of “Holy” Communions. Only that will return Catholics to the love and freedom of Jesus Christ and prepare them to become authentic witnesses to the Lord.

            I am the Way, the Truth and the Life; no one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14,6)