Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Culture of Death Returns to Mexico (for the time being)
This is especailly frusterating because the pro-life movement in Mexico did everything right. The bishops of that nation have said they will excommunicate everyone invovled in the imminent abortions, the priests and nuns prayed, and even the Pope himself weighted in, and the good people, young and old, rich and poor, took to the streets to stand up for the sanctity of human life.
Even in this moment of defeat, the Mexican pro-lifers should feel no shame, they fought hard, and were a beautiful witness for life and faith, and they will not go quietly into the night. It was us people of the United States and Canada who brought abortion on demand to the continent consecrated to the Virgin Mary since the days of the earliest explorers, if only we had the same widespread respect for life that the good people of Mexico have shown.
If anyone should have any regrets it is President Felipe Calderón. I do think the president is a good man, and to his credit he did make his opposition to abortion known, however, he was a quiet and reluctant figure in all this, in what could have been his finnest hour of leadership. Worse still, he stood sillenty by when memembers of his party effectivly told the Pope to "mind his own business." Is President Calderón more concerned with being considered acceptable to the left-wing liberals of Mexico City than his Catholic voting base, the lives of the unborn, and his own soul?
I am not sure how the government of Mexico works at all, the president has said he will "respect" this new abortion legalization law. Maybe his hands are tied constitutionally, maybe not, I wish I knew. I mean, does this mean that Mexico City will also have the power to legalize gay "marriage" on a whim? It just seems awful when a city, even a big city, can make its own laws which are so diffrent from those of the rest of that nation. Anyway, I pray that the president gets some spine and takes a stand.
A great share of shame in all this needs to go to, the media, and the international pro-choice movment, who are both taking great delight in this "victory." The media falsely portrayed this issue as a conflict between a grouchy old Pope trying to bully his "sheep," like he did in the old days, only to find out that a young, hip, generation, didn't give a damn what he said. Of course, this was totally wrong. As can be expected, the people marching for "choice" in Mexico were the same aging hippie types, anti-Catholic bigots, radical femminists, and scruffy anarachist activists, you see here and they were vastly outnumbered by the Catholics. Also, as can be expected, the pro-choicers had no deceny, dressing in costumes to mock nuns, bishops, and even the Virgin herself (see lady in blue in picture). They used straw-man arguments to oppose the church carrying signs that read, "Aborto es Pecado? La Pederastia que Es?" (Abortion is a sin? What about pederasty?)The media describes the abortion issue as one which "divides" Mexico. Don't buy that. Only in the Mexico City area was there majority support of abortion in the polls, and even there, 40% of residents belived that abortion should be illegal in all circumstances (except risk to the life of the mother.) I do belive that number is higher than even the most "red" states of the US. The pro-choicers trotted out the same old lies that Americans heard in the 70's. Millions of women are dying in dangerous back-alley abortions, that kind of stuff. Furthemore, attached to all this is going to be a massive drive by the left to increase contraception use in Mexico. I am still waiting for pro-choicers to explain why the need for abortion always seems to come in the wake of a surge of contraception availibillity (Griswold v. Conn.-------> Roe v. Wade anyone?)
As you can guess, this was hardly about poor women in Mexico City needing abortions to save their lives. Rather, this was the pro-choice movement probing, probing for a weakness in the fortress, and now they are going to pour into the breach, in fact, they are already preparing bold initiatives to bring abortion on demand to Mexico. See this article...
"On Tuesday, PRD senators presented a draft law in Congress that would make abortion legal nationwide before the 12th week of pregnancy. "It does look very likely that these draft laws will be approved, which would be appalling, because it would legalise the murder of defenceless beings," Jorge Serrano, director of the anti-abortion Comité Pro Vida (Pro-Life Committee), commented to IPS. "
Make no mistake, the culture-of-death wants to get into Latin America, and in a big way. Want proof? Check out the Spanish language channels you get on TV, some of the smut you see on their makes it look like Puritans are running NBC and MTV. Still not convinced? Look at the image of Hispanics in the American media, "Desperate Housewife" Eva Longoria, new agey blasphemer Selma Hayek, and crass comedian Carlos Mencia, quickly jump to mind. When Hispanics of faith are portrayed in the media, it is usually as some ancient women praying the Rosary, implied as a relic of a bygone age, or as some sort of stern busy-body who just doesn't get it and won't let kids have fun.
I think the media, even long before TV and movies, liked to cultivate the image of Latin America as a land of moral frivolity and promiscuity. Maybe this was the offspring of the same anti-Catholic ideas that brought us prohibition, but that's all another story. Anyway, more often then not, the art did not reflect life, and Latin America was/is a bastion of faith. However, trashy fashion designers, film and TV types, the makers of the pill, the makers of condoms, and providers of abortion, among others, are sick and tired of such an untapped market, and their battle is just beginning. A silver lining to the events in Mexico though is something I noticed about the protests. The pro-life ranks swelled with the young, yes the old people were there, the old people who remembered the days when priests were shot in the streets for refusing to renounce their faith, but a great bulk of the pro-lifers were people my age, in their teens and 20's. Furthermore, the presence of nuns and priests in the marches were quite visible, and you know what? They were young. Currently Mexico has nearly as many seminarians as it does priests, this is very remarkable! Pray that the good people of Mexico continue to stand up for life, and pray that Our Lady will soften the hearts of pro-choices, and inspire courage in the heart of the president!
For more on this issue via America Papist go here.
For some commentary from Katerina over at Evangelical Catholicism go here.
I will be curious to see if new-to-the-blogsphere, Mexican, Catholic, Ali weighs in over at her blog which you should all check out either way.
Vive Christo Rey!
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4 comments:
Top notch!
I cringe when I here groups such as MeCHA or other militant Mexican-American groups praise & glorify Aztec culture. They have no idea how destitute, depraved, and violent it was before the Conquistadores arrived.
(I found you through Catholic Mom in Hawaii.)
I am so disappointed that this is legal in Mexico now.
Florida Wife,
Yes, it is very sad. Though I believe the President did vow to veto it. (not certain, let me do some research and give you all an update).
God bless,
Tito
Tito sorry to say the President can't veto it, the only hope is that the Catholics can take this case before the supreme court of Mexico, of course, that court could restore the pro-life laws, or make abortion on demand the law of all the land, not sure how it will go down.