Judging Evil

Yet the archangel Michael, when he argued with the devil in a dispute over the body of Moses, did not venture to pronounce a reviling judgment upon him but said, "May the Lord rebuke you!" Jude v8

Jude's reference is apocryphal. The story appears nowhere else in canonical scripture. Still, the message is authentic church teaching. We are not to judge, not even the devil himself. It is one of those values we find it easier to preach than to practice.

It's also worth remembering with all the evil that has been in the news over the last few months. We were horrified at the senseless slaughter of innocents at Newtown. Our stomachs turned at the gruesome details of Kermit Gosnell's murderous abortion practice. We were outraged by the wanton carnage at the Boston Marathon. Could the devil do worse?

I am reminded of the Amish community response to the shooting at the West Nickel Mines School in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. It has been six years since gunman Charles Carl Roberts IV took hostages and shot ten girls age 6-13, killing five, before committing suicide in the one room school house. Most of us remember the incident. What we remember most is the astonishing forgiveness expressed by the girls' families.

The grandfather of one of the murdered girls was overheard telling young relatives, "We must not think evil of this man." A father commented, "He had a mother and a wife and a soul and now he's standing before a just God." Could I live my faith as fully as that community was living theirs? I confess that I am struggling with it though none of my family were victims of these crimes.

Like Charles Carl Roberts, Adam Lanza and Tamerlan Tsarnaev are standing before a just God and there is no real point in our judging either of them.

Kermit Gosnell is on trial for his life, though under Pennsylvania law it isn't clear to me he committed a capital crime. It seems a very thin line between killing a child inside its mother's womb and waiting a few moments to kill it outside. As I understand it even very late term abortions are legal in Pennsylvania if the mother's health is at risk. That risk is determined solely at the discretion of doctors. Gosnell should have gotten second opinions but that is a technicality that may not justify a death penalty. What Gosnell did was despicable but we may have to wait for God to judge him too.

As for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev he will very likely stand civil trial for what clearly does appear to be first degree murder. If he is tried under state law he will not face the death penalty. For that reason I would expect him to be tried in federal court. I'm surprised I haven't seen more speculation about this. There have certainly been enough calls for vengeance.

It will be years before all this plays out. Presidents will come and go. 72 year old Kermit Gosnell may not live long enough to be executed even if he does receive a death sentence. Memories will fade. If executions are ultimately carried out they will cause no more than ripples in the nightly news. Few will recall details of the crimes or names of the killers.

There will be more mass killings. Some may be even more horrific. But will it do us any good to be vengeful? We should permanently remove the perpetrators of the most ghastly crimes from society of course. But do we accomplish anything by putting them to death? Wouldn't we do better to follow the example of Michael the Archangel? Weren't the Amish grandfather and father the best of us all?

Hiding from Our Demons

In 1966 I came home from Vietnam with some painful memories. I put them behind me and set about building a life with my wife Lynne and the family she was giving me, a family I absolutely adored. I was not Catholic but they were so we made it our custom to attend Mass together. When it came time for baptisms and First Holy Communion Lynne and I attended the parental classes together. Much of our social life involved church.

I thought about converting but put it off for several years. Then about the time our fifth child was born I began to ask myself why. It dawned on me that the memories were an obstacle. Before I could receive the sacraments I was going to have to have a serious talk with God about some things I really didn't want to think about. That's how I dealt with my demons. I didn't think about them.

When I realized what I had been doing I knew it wasn't healthy so I sat down and had my talk with God. It was a long talk. When I finished I told Lynne I wanted to be confirmed. Then I went to our pastor and told him. He sent me to a class for converts and I became officially Catholic.

I think something like that may be playing out in the pro-abortion community. Last year for the first time in many years most Americans described themselves as pro-life. People who follow these things say it's because of improved sonogram technology. They don't show a little green blob any more. They show a baby. People can recognize family traits in a tiny fetus only a few weeks old. It makes it harder to think of it as just another part of a woman's body.

Now comes a trial in Philadelphia that is forcing us to confront the gruesome reality that is late term abortion. Dr. Kermit Gosnell has been charged with murder in the deaths of one woman and seven babies. Three of his employees have pleaded guilty to third degree murder and are testifying for the prosecution. They describe scenes of unimaginable horror with blood and gore all over the place and living babies essentially decapitated with surgical scissors.

The notorious main stream media have been stunningly silent but now even progressive journalists have begun asking themselves why this hasn't been front page news. I think I know why. They have been hiding from their demons in much the same way I once did. If they don't think about the monster under the bed it can't harm them. But this monster is too real and too ugly. If they report the story they are going to have to think about those dead babies.

For now they are scrambling for new euphemisms. The term "post-birth abortion" doesn't really work. Once born it's a baby and killing it is infanticide. We may finally be past euphemisms altogether, at least on this subject. The images coming out of the trial are just too graphic.

The story gained critical momentum last week with a CNN segment by Anderson Cooper and a USA Today piece by Kirsten Powers. I expect the rest of the trial will be widely covered. I doubt we will be overturning Roe v Wade any time soon but there should be enough public revulsion to produce some new restrictions on the worst abortion practices. Enough to force authorities to police them too. Part of the news coming out of Philadelphia is that municipal and state agencies were willfully negligent in acting on reported abuses. Shame on them.

Advance Directive

Advanced Directives

Lynne and I are going to Austin next week for Catholic Advocacy Day. We will put on t-shirts and call on legislators to support the legislative agenda for the Texas Catholic Conference. I hesitate to say we will be lobbying. We haven't registered anywhere and will certainly not be paid.

Two of the items we will be supporting are Senate Bill 303 and its companion HB 1444. They have to do with advance directives, end of life care and the wishes of the patient, his or her surrogate, and the conscience of medical providers. This is not trivial stuff. These bills cut to the heart of one of the great moral issues of our day. When do we pull the plug and who decides? Who gets notified and when? What happens when doctor and family disagree? Who speaks for the incapacitated patient when no next of kin can be found?

It helps of course if the patient has a living will. Lynne and I have had them for years. But even then the questions can get sticky. Just when are "extraordinary measures" not worth the likely medical benefit? The issue is easily demagogued and it is no surprise that critics are out there but the criticism is not well founded. The people providing end of life care need to operate within a well understood legal framework. Current law has proved inadequate.

The two bills are not products of a well funded lobbying effort by rent seekers. I don't see that anyone involved has much economic interest. It isn't just a Catholic issue. The Texas Medical Association, the Texas Hospital Association, Texas Alliance for Life, and the Christian Life Commission - Texas Baptists all actively support these bills. The National  Catholic Bioethics Center has weighed in for them. The National Right to Life Committee opposes them but the ethical grounding in support is serious and solid.

The advanced directives bills are a priority but they aren't the only ones we will be advocating for. We won't get everything we want. If we had our way we would abolish the death penalty. Texas isn't ready for that so we will take what we can get. We will support bills that make it less likely the death penalty will be used. HB 166 would establish a Texas Innocence Commission to investigate and help prevent wrongful convictions. What's not to like about that?

We will also be arguing for regulation of payday lenders, continued in state college tuition for Texas residents regardless of immigration status, and a school breakfast program for needy children. We'll oppose bills that would allow embryonic stem cell research, same sex marriage, and legalized gambling. TCC has taken positions on dozens of bills, too many to cover in a few brief visits with law makers. They have listed them all on their web site along with summaries and the reason they are for or against. TCC will provide us with talking points on the issues they would like us to cover in our meetings.

I don't always agree with TCC but I do most of the time. This will be Catholic Advocacy Day so on those few issues where I have misgivings I will hold my tongue. TCC is on record with every position they take and I can speak to that.

All in all it should be a long and fruitful day. It's little enough to devote one day and a few hours preparation every other year to a worthy cause. And it's a great lesson in civics for Lynne and me.