Downs Syndrome & Abortion: Abp. Chaput Speaks Up!

Two separate blog posts popped up in my reader today, and I find it no coincidence, especially on All Souls Day.

The first was on Fr. Tim Finigan's Blog: "The Hermeneutic of Continuity" It was entitled: Chaput Speaks Up for children with Downs Syndrome which is published in "First Things"

Then the Creative Minority Report published a similar article. Theirs was entitled "We Are Not a Pro-Life Nation"

Both articles detailed similar statistical reports which described the horrifyingly high rates at which parents abort children whom are tested in-utero and are allegedly diagnosed with Downs Syndrome. (I say allegedly because of all the "false positives" which are reported.)
As Abp. Chaput said in his article:

"Every child with Down syndrome, every adult with special needs—in fact, every unwanted unborn child, every person who is poor, weak, abandoned, or homeless—is an icon of God’s face and a vessel of his love. How we treat these persons—whether we revere them and welcome them or throw them away in distaste—shows what wereally believe about human dignity, both as individuals and as a nation."

I think this a sentiment shared by all those that embrace the Culture of Life! It clearly is not the mentality of those that view abortion as a "choice" or "option." Matthew Archbold echoes this idea on the CMR post when he says:

"I think sometimes when it comes to abortion I become very focused on changing the laws. But I think we have a lot of hearts to change in this country or changing the laws won't really matter all that much."

 The hardest part is that the debate has been pulled from its philosophical "black and white" roots. At one point the argument revolved around "when life begins" and the "rightness" and "wrongness" of taking life at certain stages. Yet, just like most arguments we have let the Culture of Death steal from us the truths which are intrinsic in Natural Law. The world no longer speaks in absolutes or truths, but instead in idioms and axioms. So instead of talking about life, death, innocence, and individuals, we now use terms like quality, normality, and personal ethics. Without going on too much here, the Person is no longer the human person but some conscience carbon "robot" where the soul belongs to itself, rather than its owner, God.

This is another example of where we as Catholics and as humans, must demand that Natural Law be respected and upheld. We must demand that higher principles be adhered to, rather than the feelings of preference and comfort. The Culture of Death argues that if we were to "outlaw" abortion it would lead to unintended consequences. They are speaking in axiom here, based on a philosophy which they created out of their own "preference ethics." Therefore we must take back the Natural Law, and take back the essence of humanity. We must demand that "selective" abortions no longer be acceptable, and the only way to do so is to make all abortions the aberration that they truly are. We must demand the recognition of absolute truths, of moral truth, of HUMAN TRUTH!

Christopher West, Theology of the Body, and Personalism...

... or what are 3 things that I am trying to figure out in my head. I really want to post about these things, but I don't really know where I stand on everything. I had planned a post today about "Personalism and Catholic Moral Childbirth" but I scratched that idea after seeing a few blog posts over the past few days dealing with Christopher West, Theology of the Body, and Personalism/Phenomenology. I know that a lot of people may not know what all or any of those things are, and thats OK! Ask me a year ago and I knew maybe one, and definitely couldn't explain it to you. I will try and provide a little primer below, and come back to this post at another time. As the CMR crew did as well, I open this post to comments hoping to inspire a little discussion and hopefully knowledge on the topics.

Christopher West: I know that a lot of hub-bub was out in the Cathologosphere(tm) a bit ago over Christopher West. (A quick blip from ABC):

This created some controversy, among some other things Mr. West said. A lot of his teaching was "misrepresented" on ABC, as the MSM does quite often to Catholicism. Yet, so many people had a problem with this, that BISHOPS had to issue a statement concerning their opinion of the situation:
Two Bishops Issue Defend Chris West's Theology of the Body Work

Meanwhile the Cathologosphere(tm) chimed in:
Matt Archbold @ Creative Minority Report: West Open Comment Post
The Fifth Column: West Commentary

Cheeky Pink Girl: "Christopher West Responds to His Critics"

So the question seems to be: What do Traditionalist Catholics and even more "Modernist" Catholics do with Mr. West?

I think the question hinges on your ideas on Personalism, what the Theology of the Body "SAYS," and how those two "items" apply to an American Catholics life. I don't think it is an easy question. But I would like to know everyones thoughts on this issue, so please comment.

On a side note: I think a major contention many have with West is not so much the essence of his message, but its means or method. The comparison to Hefner is ridiculous, yet West seems open to criticism and is willing to listen and change for the better. Let's see where this all ends up in a few months and as time progresses, especially as TOB and its teaching grows in this country.

Birth, Death, Sickness, and Strife...

... these are some of the issues I have been dealing with recently. I confusingly have my philosophy training, natural law training, and my Catholic Faith to try and sort these things out in my head. Unfortunately I don't have enough training in any one area to do myself much good. I have found an article on Birth and Catholicism, taking from a personalist point of view, so when I am done reading that and following some of the footnotes, I will post some thoughts. Consider this your teaser... or consider it a lazy post.