As I was driving along a busy local street this morning on the way to a meeting, I passed a Catholic church with this message on their sign:
PRAY FOR AN END TO ABORTION
I was taken aback, amazed really, that of all the evils and wrongs in the world, the Catholic church is still fixated on something so "obscure" as its primary issue for which to exhort prayers.
Why not:
Pray for an end to war
Pray for an end to terrorism
Pray for an end to child abuse
Pray for an end to hunger
Pray for an end to slavery
Pray for an end to exploitation
Pray for an end to injustice
Pray for an end to oppression
Pray for an end to discrimination
Pray for an end to bullying
Pray for an end to rape
Pray for an end to domestic violence
Pray for an end to environmental destruction
Pray for an end to homelessness
Pray for an end to drug addition
Abortion, a personal, private decision which should be made by and in the best interests of the parties involved, does not even seem a proper subject for public exhortations.
Is it because the leaders of the Catholic church are so lacking in the "fruit of the Spirit" (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control) that they can summon up those attitudes only for babies that have not yet been born? For imaginary people in a way.
Because, after that baby is born, they are likely to judge and condemn it for being too poor, of the wrong religion, of the wrong color, of the wrong gender, of the wrong political party, of the wrong sexual orientation, or of the wrong nationality to be worthy of future prayers.