Witnessing infinite value of human life
Opinion
An estimated 4000 people attended the annual Walk for Life in the gardens adjacent to Adelaide Oval on Saturday February 7.
Once again there was a sea of white, with adults, young people and children with white shirts, dresses and balloons.
The crowd was larger than the previous year, according to organisers, and it was good to see numbers from our parishes continually growing.
Once again all witnessed peacefully and prayerfully to the infinite value of every human life from the earliest time in the mother’s womb.
The event began with prayer and all were invited to pray in small groups for each other and for those witnessing to pro-life values in our society. Psalm 139 was referenced several times by various speakers: ‘It was you who created my inmost self, and put me together in my mother’s wom…when I was being formed in secret…’ (verses 13 and 15)
At one stage, the Christian clergy were invited up to the stage to lead the gathering in praying the Lord’s Prayer.
It was quoted that there were approximately 5000 human lives lost through abortion in South Australia last year, and also that 79 of those were in the third trimester, meaning that they would have been able to survive outside the womb.
This was named as an evil in the rightful understanding of evil as the lack of goodness, but again this year the focus was not on judgement and condemnation but on the love and mercy of God that is there for all who are involved.
Post abortion grief is real and debilitating for both women and men involved. The importance of counselling services was noted.
Once again, we were able to hear the heartbeat of an unborn child being carried by the mother, and this year there was an inspiring testimony by Josiah Capper a young man from Western Australian. Due to complications in pregnancy, doctors advised his parents to have an abortion since he would not survive for long after birth. With faith and trust in God, his parents went ahead with the pregnancy. He was born without arms and there were many complications and further operations, but with the love of family and the support of his Christian Community he is now a teacher and fully appreciates the unique value and purpose of his life.
This annual pro-life witness gives me a further opportunity to speak to you about ‘Embrace Life’ the special focus in the Justice, Healing and Inclusion Office of the Archdiocese. Last year sessions were held to promote the Walk for Life, the pregnancy support services of Birthline and Genesis, and in light of the Voluntary Assist Dying laws, a very well attended session on palliative care, featuring speakers from Calvary Hospital.
The witness on the infinite value and dignity of every human life from conception to natural death must continue in our society. We mustn’t be tempted to be silent thinking that these are religious issues and hence we have no right to speak about them in the public sphere.
Yes, our faith confirms our stance, but these are essentially moral issues of human life that call into question the future of a society that is severely narrowed and inward looking if its greatest asset, human life, is not cherished.
We will continue to promote the activities this year. Please be involved, but above all please keep praying and whenever and wherever you can, be an ongoing ‘voice for the voiceless’.
Fr Dean Marin is Vicar General of the Adelaide Archdiocese.
