Comments for Superseding the Culture of Death at http://www.thecatholicthing.org , comment 1 to 13 out of 13 comments http://www.thecatholicthing.org Sat, 18 May 2013 14:40:30 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.3 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2010/superseding-the-culture-of-death.html#comment-5135 The issue is do we believe that the Church faces down evil wherever it finds it so that humanity has its best chance at being human? The trade-offs in which we only serve people who come to the Church door,or only do 10% of what we could to alleviate suffering, or accept that only most Catholics receive the sacraments but not all, are all signs of comfort, signs of resignation. Let's place humanity front and center in our vision of Church, Christ did. - Fr. Bevil Bramwell OMI Sat, 30 Oct 2010 13:52:02 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2010/superseding-the-culture-of-death.html#comment-5121 "Better not to be born than to live a life of deprivation and misery." Speak for yourself. Do you actually believe that in the worst of lives there are not still moments of joy? And do you believe, despite clear evidence to the contrary, that no one ever escapes deprivation and misery? " I would rebut that in a world where true justice and brotherhood prevail, where generosity and sharing of wealth is the norm rather than the exception, then the ideal that you espoused in your essay would be worthy of striving." Father Bramwell's initiative would not be needed in the world you describe. It is needed in this world, which falls so far short of the world you describe. "I would like to live in the world you envision, but if you were to add the millions unborn to suffer without hope, then to what avail do they live?" Where there is life, there is always hope. "Better off dead" is simply an excuse for the living. - Brian English Fri, 29 Oct 2010 08:59:46 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2010/superseding-the-culture-of-death.html#comment-5096 Thanks, Father, for words to ponder. I will leave the last to Dorothy Parker: Razors pain you, Rivers are damp, Acids stain you, And drugs cause cramp. Guns aren’t lawful, Nooses give, Gas smells awful. You might as well live. - James Thu, 28 Oct 2010 05:25:11 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2010/superseding-the-culture-of-death.html#comment-5095 Good question James. The issue is that human beings have value. I cannot decide IF they have value, nor can I decide what their future might be. That is accepting a culture of violence and being resigned to it. I refer again to John Paul II's comments, we cannot be cowed or limited by situations caused by sin. The Church is the presence of Jesus Christ in the world and so is opposed to sin by every fiber of its being. - Fr. Bevil Bramwell OMI Thu, 28 Oct 2010 04:18:49 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2010/superseding-the-culture-of-death.html#comment-5093 Father, begging to differ with your interpretation of my comments, I would rebut that in a world where true justice and brotherhood prevail, where generosity and sharing of wealth is the norm rather than the exception, then the ideal that you espoused in your essay would be worthy of striving. As a priest, you more than most must appreciate that the curses of disease, poverty and death, which was pronounced in the Old Testament and said to have been abolished in the New, still exist and no amount of high-sounding polemics, be they from your pen or that of the Pontiff, can overcome this simple fact of life. Words, then, fail, and what remains is faith and only faith, and to many it is something never to be grasped. I would like to live in the world you envision, but if you were to add the millions unborn to suffer without hope, then to what avail do they live? - James Wed, 27 Oct 2010 16:36:35 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2010/superseding-the-culture-of-death.html#comment-5092 brilliant idea. should be declared slowly and should be allowed to grow organically. my wife and i are trying to conceive - right now it's too early to tell if we'll be able to - but we would love to adopt a beautiful baby. - the moz Wed, 27 Oct 2010 16:31:46 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2010/superseding-the-culture-of-death.html#comment-5091 I love this essay. I love this idea. All diocese should start planning right now - diocese wide foundling wheel. Count me in! Episcopate ....... live up to your name and truly see what this could mean. - Martin Snigg Wed, 27 Oct 2010 15:51:24 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2010/superseding-the-culture-of-death.html#comment-5090 Ah. The human beings are just animals argument. Thin the herd when there are more human beings than we like and we get to choose. Valuing people would cause a whole different atmosphere to develop. In the words of John Paul II" "Certainly there is a long and difficult road ahead; bringing about such a renewal will require enormous effort, especially on account of the number and the gravity of the causes giving rise to and aggravating the situations of injustice present in the world today. But, as history and personal experience show, it is not difficult to discover at the bottom of these situations causes which are properly "cultural", linked to particular ways of looking at man, society and the world. Indeed, at the heart of the issue of culture we find the moral sense, which is in turn rooted and fulfilled in the religious sense." (veritatis splendor) - Fr. Bevil Bramwell OMI Wed, 27 Oct 2010 15:41:30 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2010/superseding-the-culture-of-death.html#comment-5089 A laudable goal, but consider that 1 in 8 people in America are on food stamps; millions are homeless, have no jobs, mentally ill or otherwise incapable of caring for themselves, much less children. Population control, however heinous in the eyes of the Church, is nonetheless reasonable in a pragmatic world in which half the planet is barely surviving. Unless the Catholic Church has unlimited financial resources, which I suspect it doesn't, how pray tell are you going to care for those that would have been aborted? Better not to be born than to live a life of deprivation and misery. - James Wed, 27 Oct 2010 14:26:03 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2010/superseding-the-culture-of-death.html#comment-5088 Yes! At a time when people pay huge sums of cash for babies suitable for adoption, the proposal could be a win/win/win program. A special collection one Sunday each month would be an interesting way to raise money for the required facilities. We do this for puppies and kittens, why not our future citizens? What an interesting mustard seed! - Other Joe Wed, 27 Oct 2010 08:59:39 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2010/superseding-the-culture-of-death.html#comment-5087 "Couldn’t we say to everyone who wants to abort that the Catholic Church will take on the care of that child?" What a brilliant idea. Saving lives and, at the same time, depriving the pro-choice crowd of one of its favorite slanders: "The Church only cares about these children before they are born." How do we get this started? - Brian English Wed, 27 Oct 2010 07:40:41 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2010/superseding-the-culture-of-death.html#comment-5086 Great question Chris. Leadership in this kind of issue can and should come from whoever shows up. Leaders lead and that means others will fall in behind. Personally I think that laity should lead the charge. However it would need some bishops to be involved because there would have to be things like large scale collections, building of orphanages etc. Religious orders would have to be involved because some of them were founded for the care of children. Catholic truth needs to be incarnated and this is the way to incarnate the truth of the teaching about the sheer horror of abortion. - Fr. Bevil Bramwell OMI Wed, 27 Oct 2010 04:27:22 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2010/superseding-the-culture-of-death.html#comment-5085 "Couldn’t we say to everyone who wants to abort that the Catholic Church will take on the care of that child?" I believe Mother Teresa did say this, when invited to speak by the Clintons at some event while they were in the White House. I've often wondered why something so simple as paying for pre- and perinatal care, and adopting newborns, isn't just done, and done publicly and on a large scale, by the Catholic Church. Fr. Bramwell, as a priest, do you think the impetus for such an effort of will would need first come from the clergy (bishops, I suppose), or the laity? If the clergy led, would the laity follow? - Chris Yarsawich Wed, 27 Oct 2010 03:09:36 +0100