Dear Brothers and Sisters,

As I write, it is two days since this year's March for Life took to the streets of Westminster; as always, it was good to be there and great to meet up with many of you.

The March is always a joyful occasion and is very encouraging, not least because of the number of young people taking part. This confuses many bystanders and secular media – how can it have such a joyful feel? Is it not a gathering of miserable people who are against something? People of bitterness, prejudice, no regard for women?

The key problem here is that the March in general, and Catholics in particular, are being viewed in terms of being “against”; that can only lead to a misunderstanding. In reality, the Church needs, first and foremost, to articulate – and thus be understood in the light of – that of which she is “in favour”. The Church is Pro Life – life which is a gift from God. Human beings are made by God in His divine image; they are restored to grace by God taking our humanity at His Incarnation. Life is sacred, from conception to natural death, and we cannot accept anything which devalues life or seeks to end it. Of course, this means that abortion has no place – the womb of the mother is created to be a place of life, not of execution. Even the unborn, the most weak and vulnerable, is a life which is sacred and must be defended.

But the Right also brings Duties: it is not enough simply to oppose Abortion; we are also required to provide support for the mother and the unborn Child. That involves loving and unjudgmental support for those who feel pressured to consider having an abortion. It may be housing or poverty which are issues, pressure from men or family, where a woman feels she has no choice; it is no good preaching the sanctity of life if we are not also providing the necessary material support, both during pregnancy and in the years ahead. It is one of the beauties of so much Catholic Pro Life work that it does seek to provide for these material and emotional needs. That is natural if we are Pro Life, not just anti-abortion.

This same Pro Life understanding is essential to our approach to Euthanasia and so-called Assisted Dying. To be clear, Assisted Dying refers to “assisted suicide”, not the traditional practice of pastoral and sacramental care and pain relief which assists the dying on their final journey. Again, we are not “anti-choice”; we are Pro Life. The same logic and teaching apply – life is sacred and we cannot determine a moment when it ceases to be and can be terminated. But again, we cannot be Pro Life if we do not consider and respond to the duties which the Right to Life imposes. We must work for better care for the sick and dying: palliative care, placing the sacredness of the individual at its centre, and being willing to pay more as a society in order to ensure that end-of-life care is the best it can be.

In all of the above, we must be people of love, not hatred; acting with immense compassion for those who are trapped in an awful situation in which they have little hope and believe they have no options. Why? Because in the Incarnation, God not only affirms the sanctity of human life but also enters into its mess and complications.

Catholics need to do what they do best – be joyful because of what the Lord has done! We need to articulate through words and actions that Life Matters – it is sacred – and that we oppose certain things not because we are negative, but because we are positive: PRO Life – honouring that non-negotiable dignity that comes from God.

Please hold all of this in your prayers: pray for an end to Abortion and a rejection of “assisted dying”; for those who vote on these issues; and for those faced with the dilemma of working in health care where these events will occur. Pray most of all for women and for the dying, that they are able to choose to value life. Pray for those who have had abortions and are tormented, that they may come to know, through the Church, God's love and forgiveness.

Finally, can I remind you of our festival in Eastbourne next month, 13-15th October. Full details are on the website. It is not too late to book. The Festival is always a great few days of prayer and fellowship together and strengthens our common bonds across our Ordinariate communities.

In Christ

+David

Photograph credit © Mazur/cbcew.org.uk