Claire Short at Hinsley Hall

Hmmm. Sometimes I feel like a fish out of water. For most of this week I've been at Hinsley Hall - the pastoral centre of the Diocese of Leeds - for a meeting of the National University Chaplains group. I don't want to give a whole report on the meeting. I have to say I found it difficult. Anyone who has read this blog at all knows something of my understanding of priesthood, the Church, the mission of the Church, and key moral issues. It's easy, as a priest, to presume everyone else who calls themselves 'Catholic' more or less believes the same things, especially if you get involved in movements and organisations which are pretty well attuned to where the Church is today. Well, it was a little bit of a shock to the system to be transported back to some of the attitudes that were around when I was in seminary. Although not stated, these are some of the things I picked up (not in everyone I hasten to add):

1. Priests not concelebrating Mass because it's not important to them to celebrate Mass every day, and moreover not wanting to offend women who were there as it would remind them that they cannot be priests.
2. 'Spirituality' being a rather disincarnate search for another plane not really connected to the person of Christ or the spiritual tradition of the Catholic Church.
3. The ultimate importance of counselling and psychology in the Christian life almost in place of grace.
4. The ministry of a non-ordained 'chaplain' is much the same as that of a 'priest chaplain'.
5. Life as continuous stress which needs to be dealt with.
6. The centre being me rather than Christ, and my needs before those of the ones I serve.
7. The need to pat ourselves on the back for all we have done.

Now, I say it was a shock to the system, but only because it's a different 'Catholic' world to the one I live each day. What really did affront me was a talk given by Rt Hon Claire Short MP on Wednesday afternoon. She had been asked to speak but not with a particular title. She spoke quite eloquently on the subject of climate change, living sustainably, etc. All very good really. Also very good was her presentation of her views on international aid and foreign policy. BUT, all this was overshadowed by her throw away comments in support of distribution of contraception and availability of abortion, and her views that the Church would be better (and churches fuller on Sundays) if the Catholic Church got over "its obsession with contraception and abortion" and ditched dogmas which separate it from worldly aspirations, and just became a place of simple living and justice. I was immediately reminded of the words of Bl Teresa of Calcutta "There can be no justice while there is injustice for the unborn". I sought to ask a question (or make a comment) publicly, but I was not given the opportunity. I did approach her at the end to make it known that I could not support what she had said, and she replied with some bad grace telling me that as a male I had no right to an opinion on abortion, and the arguments against it are "utter rubbish". Well, in the end we agreed to disagree - she was in no mood for a debate. Just exasperation with me. What truly affronted me was that not one other single person in that room (with about 40 members of chaplaincy staff from various Higher Ed institutions) challenged her on what she said. More to the point, there was one bishop there too who took it all on the chin. Indeed, not only that, but there was an atmosphere of near hero worship by some, and much adulation for what she had said.

Let me not be unfair. I like a maverick. I like the way she does say what she thinks. Though one has to be rather circumspect when such a person remained in a government during a war which she characterises as evil. But it offends me that such a person (who is honest enough to call herself a 'cultural catholic' and, although going to Mass with her mother each week, does not go to Communion, which is at least an honest position) is treated with near uncritical adulation by Catholic University chaplains, who should be at the cutting edge of the dialogue between faith and culture, and leading the moral intellectual crusade against the culture of death. I pray for Claire Short. I pray more for our Universities.

The Rights of the Unborn Child under International Law

What a tremendous couple of days we've had up here in Birmingham! Last night we had the first annual Pope John Paul II Evangelium Vitae lecture, given by Fr John Fleming of Campion College, NSW, Australia, on the theme "The Rights of the Unborn under International Law". The previous evening in the University, a speaker who was doing and Introduction to Marxism attracted a mere 15 people, so I was getting worried having booked a sizeable lecture theatre for our lecture. However, I was pleased by the 100 people - roughly half of them students - who came along, as well as doctors and other people associated with the Catholic Chaplaincy.

After introductions Fr Fleming began his fluent, clear, precise and concise delivery of his presentation on the topic. In about 45 minutes he managed to make a rationale for his two major points: that the Declaration on Human Rights and associated United Nations texts - upon which International Human Rights law is based - recognise the rights of the unborn, and that personhood - which is a philosophical concept informed by science - begins at conception.

In the first half of the lecture, Fr Fleming dealt with the documentation of the United Nations. His reasoning went like this:
1. Human rights are the basis for international law, and all nations are subject to that law without distinction.
2. Human rights are 'inalienable' - this is, cannot be taken away, or even given away by an individual - and 'inviolable' and pertain to 'all members of the human family'.
3. While it is received wisdom that the United Nations declarations do not defend the unborn, it is not so and indeed there is a Declaration of the rights of the unborn doing the rounds of nation state members at the moment.
4. Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.
5. All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law.
6. The child, by reason of his physical and mental immaturity, needs special safeguards and care, including appropriate legal protection, before as well as after birth (Declaration on the Rights of the Child 1959).
7. Parallel legislation regarding capital punishment stipulates that a woman cannot be put to death while pregnant, because it would take the innocent life of the child (some infer that it means that, in order to safeguard the well-being of an unborn child, the woman should not labour under pain of the threat of capital punishment at all.)
8. Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance, and that all children, before or after birth or whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the social protection of their family, society and the State without any discrimination.

In the second half of the lecture, Fr Fleming spoke about the beginning of life and personhood based upon the best scientific data available at the moment. His basic thesis was to show that the human embryo, whether brought into being by sexual reproduction or otherwise, and whether inside or outside the womb of the woman, is a separate and distinct, living human individual; will progress through all the stages of development in a continuum, through the embryonic and foetal stages, to birth, unless it dies or is killed; is a distinct and autonomously developing human being, whose right to survival depends upon a protected, hospitable and interpersonal environment that provides life sustenance in the form of nutrition, hydration and oxygen - the basic rights of every human being at all stages of life.
In order to demonstrate this thesis Fr Fleming showed:
1. The newly formed embryo is not some featureless bundle of cells, but that the human body is already shaped at the moment of conception. Indeed the sides of the embryo which will be the back and head are not left to later development but are already distinguishable at conception.
2. The embryo communicates with the mother from conception using chemical substances to signal to the mother's body that it needs to get ready for its implantation.
3. The concept of personhood is a philosophical concept which is based upon scientific understanding. Sometimes scientists will change their understanding of personhood to suit their own ends. Eg Embryo research scientists hold 14 days as the threshold above which they see the embryo as becoming human. But a different level is used for abortions.
4. Denying personhood involves denying rights. The law then becomes arbitrary in apportioning rights (such as in the past slaves had no rights as they were not acknowledged as persons under the law).

Fr Fleming ended the lecture with a reference to the teaching of Domum Vitae stating that "the human being is to be respected and treated as a person from the moment of conception."

After the lecture the audience raised a number of points. Some were from the stalwart pro-lifers who were present, but it was interesting that a number of students were there who came from different backgrounds - some from law, from philosophy, theology and above all medicine - and with different viewpoints. But what was notable was the openness of everyone to hear Fr Fleming and to dialogue with him. There were no acrimonious interventions at all. This contrasts with my memory of being a student in the 1980s where these life issues really got the adrenalin flowing as well as the rhetoric. I was interested to learn more about something I knew nothing about before, and that is NaProTechnology, which is a new form of dealing with infertility in women, which is very successful, and is totally in accordance with the teaching of the Church, but which is getting very little support in Britain, unlike IVF.

It is certainly very pleasing to have been able to bring life issues into the public forum within the University. It was important that this did not seem to be a minority interest, so I deliberately did not hold it in the Catholic Chaplaincy nor even in the multi-faith Chaplaincy. The lecture was in the large lecture theatre in the University's School of Education. I'm sure this helped people who were coming from outside the chaplaincy to feel that they were not threatened or overawed by their environment. Now all we have to do is plan next year's lecture and try to increase interest throughout the University.

Fr Richard will do his own post tomorrow on the lecture and he'll be able to share some of the photos...

Number 10 petition to repeal the Abortion Act

I don't know what happens to these petitions on the Number 10 website, but there's no harm in signing up to them. I'm hoping it gets you on a list of subversive anti-liberal establishment people to be watched by MI5 at least. This one is as simple as you can get - a repeal of the abortion law. Thanks to John Paul Ritchie for sending this round. It doesn't have many signatures yet, so needs a bit of a boost. Sign up here.