ARTICLES

I Expected to Be Challenged

RESPECT FOR LIFE FORUM: REPUTABLE SPEAKERS, DISAPPOINTING TALKS

By Peter Wei Trang

The Diocese of San Diego held a day of pro-life talks at the diocesan pastoral center Saturday, January 24. The 1998 Respect for Human Life Forum commemorated not only the 25th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion in this country, but also the 30th anniversary of Humanae Vitae, Pope Paul VI's encyclical in defense of life. The speakers were Dr. Janet Smith from the University of Dallas and Father Thomas Cusack, an Irish priest belonging to the Society of Saint Columban.

Though this was the key diocesan pro-life event of the year, neither Bishop Robert Brom nor Auxiliary Bishop Gilbert Chavez was in attendance. Kent Peters, diocesan director of social ministries, conveyed Bishop Brom's greetings to the attendees, the great majority of whom were laity. There were less than a half-dozen diocesan priests present.

Following the opening Mass, Dr. Smith and Father Cusack gave their talks in the Martin de Porres conference room. Dr. Smith's first talk -- "The Connection between Contraception, Abortion, and Euthanasia" -- was a slide presentation using materials developed for the Millennium Evangelization Project at the University of Dallas, where she is a professor. Smith said she liked to surprise herself by presenting the slides in a rearranged sequence, and so it would be a challenge for her to find appropriate segues from one slide to another.

The theme Smith worked was the culture of life versus the culture of death, which she linked back to the biblical account of Cain and Abel. The slides she presented, many in the form of political cartoons, contrasted the two cultures, as well as the modern and Christian views of human nature and sexuality. During the talk, Smith use a series of Supreme Court and federal court rulings to trace the development of the legal permission that now exists for contraception, abortion, and (to a limited extent) euthanasia.

She particularly focused on a quotation from the 1992 Supreme Court decision Planned Parenthood v. Casey, which stated, "At the heart of liberty is the right to define one's own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and of the mystery of human life." Smith called this "vague and incomprehensible," citing the fact that one cannot change unpleasant aspects of reality merely by changing one's "concept of existence...of the universe."

Smith said she was surprised the Supreme Court did not create a fundamental right to euthanasia in a recent case it heard. She said that this "reprieve" given by the court might allow the pro-life movement to make gains against the culture of death. However, at the end of the talk she predicted that soon American culture will look upon euthanasia not only as a right but as a duty for many patients, especially among the elderly.

Dr. Smith elicited much laughter from the audience, but one diocesan priest called her presentation disorganized. "It was presented on a high school level," he said. "Dr. Smith has a growing reputation in the field. I expected to be challenged, but I was greatly disappointed." This priest said he skipped her afternoon presentation.

After lunch, Father Cusack gave a talk titled "Prayer and Fasting: The First and Most Effective Weapons Against the Forces of Evil." His talk also elicited much laughter from the audience. At one point, he stated that if he were left to his human strength and were told that he had only three months to live, the first thing he would do is remind God of the terrible shortage of priests in America. He hoped, however, that he would be given the grace to make a more spiritual prayer.

Father Cusack, who like Smith before him joked about organizer Chris Mattson's desire to keep the talks on schedule, told many anecdotes, some from his childhood. But many in the audience thought his presentation was disjointed. It contained only one reference to fasting and, except in its final moments, did not significantly develop the theme of prayer and fasting as chief weapons of spiritual warfare.

The final talk of the day, "The Family Under Siege: Winning the Battle for the Culture of Life," was given by Dr. Smith. Since the slide show had not been completed in the first talk, she completed it now. After doing so, she turned to the principal theme of the talk -- the challenges faced by modern families, especially those that follow the Church's teachings on contraception and childbearing. She remarked that all families with more than two children face a measure of opposition from society, as if each child was "a tiny environmental hazard" that would merely consume resources rather than find new solutions to existing problems.

Explaining how the family can be strengthened, Smith shared advice that she gives her college students in Dallas concerning marriage. She stated that a number of principles, if followed, would greatly reduce the chance of a marriage ending in divorce. Smith stressed that, during courtship, one should ask oneself: "Is this the person I want to be the mother/father of my children?" She also stressed that couples should get married in a church, regularly attend church, and pray together at home. Each of these steps, she stated, have been shown by studies to reduce the risk of divorce for a marriage.

The day concluded in the pastoral center's chapel with a recitation of the Divine Mercy chaplet, led by a local couple, and a pro-life rosary led by Brother Clement Kennedy of Prince of Peace Abbey in Oceanside.