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The opposite of the pro-life position on conception is not a feminist position. Feminism, qua feminism, doesn’t have a position on when life begins. Where and how: yes. When: no position. I think it matters to understand the opposite of the pro-life position. It is the heart of eugenics. The pro-life position can be unpacked; it includes several separate assertions. (1) life has a beginning; and (2) the beginning is non-arbitrary; and (3) the beginning is discernible; and (4) the beginning is fertilization; and (5) from fertilization forward there is a separate and independent human entity, with all relevant rights and privileges. Pro-lifers want to argue about #4. But the real disagreement is about #1. Biology, unlike physics and chemistry, is allergic to bumps and bangs. In the study of biology, sharp edges get sanded off. This isn’t a matter of science, nor of religion; it’s a matter of taste. Biologists live with the underlying story of evolution, tiny changes adding u...

There is a coalition joining feminists who defend the rights of women to -- to what? -- to a very different entity or force or mindset. In the past, when I have gone to pro-choice events and talked to people about China, I found a split, about 50-50, on the matter of forced abortion. That is, I found many people who defended the rights of women to bodily autonomy, but also found many people who identified themselves as “pro-choice” but who did not defend a woman’s right to give birth if she so chose. This second group: (1) is still there; and (2) is very large, perhaps a third or a half of the people who identify themselves as “pro-choice”; and (3) is often overlooked, and often un-named. To put it another way: regarding abortion, there are people who identify themselves as pro-lifers who emphasize and defend the rights of the child (and try to assert the rights of women as well, but do not consider abortion a right), and there are people who identify themselves as pro-choicers, w...

December 12 is a day for long-term strategic planning. I understand the plans of most pro-life leaders: educate, then change the law so it protects children again. This plan is and always has been lunacy, with no precedent in recorded human history; nonetheless, it is the plan of most pro-life leaders. And now, in pursuit of the impossible, pro-life leaders have enlisted a great promise-maker, who promises to fulfill all wishes. Okay. That’s one strategy. I offer a different strategy. (1) We must reach out to every sector of society that is interested in justice to help us, and (2) we must re-build a campaign of nonviolence. The abortion movement makes two arguments of immense power – arguments that most pro-lifers do not understand, let alone answer. One of these pro-abortion argument is, “I am not an asshole like them” [“them” – pointing at us]. This is not a logical argument. It’s an ad hominem argument, based on snobbery. And so it’s very powerful indeed! The effec...

Today is the feast of St. Juan Diego. For four days in 1531, the story goes, he saw Mary on a hilltop in Mexico City. The vision he saw was imprinted on his cactus-fiber cloak. For years, Catholics have recalled this event on December 12, the day the image showed up on the cloak. And since 2002, we have celebrated the feast of Juan Diego on December 9, the day of the first vision – when Mary sent a Mexican peasant to talk to the bishop. A few years ago, Hillary Clinton saw that beautiful image on the rough cloak, and asked who painted it. That was a great question! When I think of her, I pray with all my heart that she gets a clear and satisfying answer to that question! I saw the image in 1972. That was the beginning of my pro-life work: I organized a small pilgrimage from Boston to Guadalupe, praying for unborn children and their mothers. Roe v. Wade was already decided, although it was not announced; I had no idea what was about to happen. There was a period of time whe...

Grumpy priests My friend, Imam Ammar Najar, grew up in Jordan. He played soccer with Christians and Jews, in the street. When someone had to leave for prayer, the others sat down and waited for a while, then returned to the game. The town had bells and chants and calls to worship on Friday, and on Saturday, and on Sunday. Ammar lived next door to a church that had walls around the church yard. Sometimes someone would kick the ball over the wall, and that would be exciting. Someone would have to go retrieve the ball, and the priest would lean out the window and holler. You had to climb the wall fast, in both directions! Grumpy priest with a stick My wife’s uncle, Uncle Jim, grew up in Clare, Iowa. It’s 6,396 miles from Amman, Jordan, to Clare. In 1930, the population of Clare was 254, and 12 of them were Cavanaughs. Jim’s oldest brother was Dave, my father-in-law. The pastor at St. Matthew Catholic Church in Clare was an Irish import, a crusty old man. When Jim and his ...

We cannot support those who would expel strangers at the very time when they ought to help, says St. Ambrose. “Wild beasts and animals consider the food which the earth supplies to be owned by all; they all give assistance to those like themselves. But man, who ought not to consider anything human to be foreign to himself, fights against his own.” In the decades after the Edict of Milan, which ended the era of persecution and opened the way to a Christian empire, some struggles continued over remnants of ancient Roman religious practices. One such practice was about the Altar of Victory outside the Roman Senate. There was a statue at this altar, and it was custom for several centuries to burn incense to Nike, the god of Victory, when Senators were on their way in for a vote. The Senators would pass through a cloud of smoke, an offering to the Nike. Christians objected, and the altar was removed by one emperor, then replaced by another, then removed by a third. Then there was a fam...

Jeff Koczela asked for clarification about my wild stats post, especially about a campaign of nonviolence. Here's an expansion, with a list of books at the end. Jeff, thanks for the question. (Did I pay you yet?) My take. 1.        The political approach is putting the tassels on the canopy on the cart before the horse. The idea that we will change the laws before we change society is a silly dead end fiction. For over 40 years, the pro-life movement has been chasing one mirage after another. What a waste! 2.        It was a union of the feminist movement with the eugenics movement that brought us modern abortion. That coalition is still visible: ask “pro-choicers” about forced abortion in China, and you will see the fault lines. That coalition can and will be broken apart, although not this year. It was pro-lifers and feminists who wrote pro-life (anti-abortion) laws 150 years ago, and we will do it again. ...

Sometimes numbers can clarify an issue, even if the numbers are rough and speculative. Let me try a question. A thought experiment, not a proposal. Suppose you were intent on protecting children and women from abortion, and could have control of some of the following. Which would you choose? 1.        The American government 2.        the feminist movement 3.        the environmental movement 4.        Christian-Muslim relations 5.        global migration policy 6.        education policy on all matters touching eugenics 7.        a movement of pro-life nonviolence Nearly every pro-life leader has made clear in the past year that they would want #1. They consider the choice obvious, and will promptly sacrifice all the other six to get #1. May I try to ...

I have been reading the “dubia” – the five questions posed by Cardinal Burke, together with the texts it cites. There’s not really all that much to read, but I’m slow, and I’m not finished. Still, I think my initial reaction was right. Pope Benedict XVI wrote about the “splendor of truth.” Pope Francis wrote about the “joy of love.” It is a little odd that the latter encyclical doesn’t cite the former – unless they comprise a single text with two parts. The splendor of truth and the joy of love are obviously a matching set, no? Kindness and truth are often in tension. Justice and peace are often in tension. It is always easy – in theory – to solve this tension by obliterating one side or the other; but we would all prefer not do that. To me, the sweetest of the messianic prophecies is that “kindness and truth shall meet, justice and peace shall kiss.” Tone. Suppose Francis writes about marriage for 300 pages or some such ridiculous length, and says nothing that is substa...

More than a Slogan “Did you say that pro-life activists who are also conservative Republicans don’t care about racism or justice or anything like that? You are so ignorant! Conservatives are always more generous giving money and time to help – to help in every way you can think of! Check the data any way you want to slice it!” Whoo-ee. I hear the anger and frustration. I’d like to explain something. It’s not a bumper sticker slogan: the explanation will take a little time. The history of hospitality in the Bible and the Church for the past 3,000 years has five distinct phases. To understand why liberals and conservatives who are serious about helping their neighbors are at each other’s throats, it may help to look at the five stages. 1.        Old Testament: a national approach 2.        New Testament: a personal approach 3.        early Christian life (325 to ~1400): an ec...