While I was driving home from the grocery store, I was thinking about the Planned Parenthood sex trafficking scandal. In case you haven't heard about it, you can read about it on the Live Action web site. Many people on both sides of the abortion issue would agree that what the manager of the Planned Parenthood clinic did was wrong, but I wonder what we would do if we were in her situation, or one similar to it? If you were the manager of a Planned Parenthood clinic, and a person you believed to be a real pimp came in and asked you if you would provide "health services" (including abortion and contraception) to under age girls that he is sex trafficking, how would you respond?
Obviously, your view on abortion and contraception use would affect how you would respond (I would hope). For the sake of this discussion, I'm going to assume that an abortion opponent wouldn't be in this situation, because they wouldn't take a job at a Planned Parenthood clinic. But what if you support abortion and contraception use? How would you respond? Would you:
Politely excuse yourself from the room and call the police, and refuse to provide abortions and contraception to the girls he's trafficking?
Politely excuse yourself from the room and call the police, and then provide abortions and contraception to the girls he's trafficking if you think they need it?
Inform the pimp that sex trafficking is illegal and ask him to leave, but not report him to the authorities?
Offer to provide abortions or contraception to the girls he's trafficking without informing the authorities?
Respond in some other way?
What if the pimp really has an underage girl that got pregnant while he was trafficking her? If you choose option 1, aren't you denying her what is currently a legal medical procedure? If the pimp really has an underage girl that is pregnant, and you had the clinic give her an abortion, would you inform her parents?
Many people on Twitter are amazed when they find out that I advocate abstinence-only (ab-only) sex education. They tell me that ab-only sex education doesn't work, because people are going to have pre-marital sex regardless.
While some people are against ab-only sex education all together, most people advocate sex education that provides information on abstinence and the use of artificial birth control as a means of preventing unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases (STD's). While this may sound reasonable to most people, as a Catholic, I cannot advocate sex education that teaches people that it's ok to have pre-marital sex, as long as they use "protection" (artificial birth control). Here's why:
The Catholic Church teaches that pre-marital sex is wrong (see http://www.catholic.org/featured/headline.php?ID=724&page=1). It would be a sin for me, as a Catholic Christian, to tell a person that it is ok to have pre-marital sex, whether it's protected sex or not.
Since I believe that pre-marital sex and the use of artificial contraception is immoral, I cannot advocate sex education that teaches that it's ok to have pre-marital sex, or that it's ok to use artificial contraception.
I imagine that some people who read this post will say "that's fine for you to believe that way, but I don't have to believe that way because I'm not Catholic." I believe that each person is free to believe whatever they want to believe, but I also believe that truth is absolute. In regards to pre-marital sex, I believe it is wrong for everybody, not just for those who believe it's wrong. I don't ascribe to the belief that what's wrong for one person can be right for another person. An apple is an apple, regardless of what a person may think it is. Pre-marital sex is either wrong for everyone, or right for everyone. It can't be right if you believe it's right, and wrong if you believe it's wrong. I believe pre-marital sex is wrong for everyone because the Catholic Church, which was founded by Jesus Christ himself, and the Bible that came forth from the Church, teaches it is wrong. I believe Jesus when he said that the Holy Spirit would guide the Church to all truth, including the truth about pre-marital sex.
The following YouTube videos by Christopher West provide an introduction to the famous series of talks on human sexuality given by Pope John Paul II called "Theology of the Body".
Are you a Catholic whose beliefs have been challenged by a "bible Christian"? If you had difficulty answering their challenges, I strongly suggest that you read the following book by Karl Keating called "Catholicism and Fundamentalism". The book does an excellent job at answering the many questions that fundamentalist Christians ask Catholics.
If you'd prefer to preview this book on the Google Books web site, click here.
When I was single, I read a book called "The Faith of Millions", by John A. O'Brien. The book is an easy to read overview of the teachings and beliefs of the Catholic faith. It is an excellent refresher for Catholics, and is a good book for non-Catholics interested in learning more about the Catholic Church. I gave a copy of the book to a good friend of mine, who eventually became a Catholic priest. He told me that the book inspired his calling to the priesthood.
Below is a preview of a book. If you'd rather view the book on the Google Books web site, click here.
Below is a preview of a book called "One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic", by K. D. Whitehead. Here is an overview of the book from the Google Books web site:
"Very often in the history of Christianity, "reformers", by whatever name, have aspired to return to "the early Church". The Church of their own day, for whatever reason, fails to live up to what they think Christianity should be] in their view there has been a falling away from the beautiful ideals of the early Church. Kenneth Whitehead shows in this book how the early Church has, in fact, not disappeared, but rather has survived and persisted, and is with us still. "Reformers" are not so much the ones needed by this Church as are those who aspire to be saints -- to follow Christ seriously and always to fulfill God's holy will by employing the means of sanctification which Christ continues to provide in the Church. Whitehead shows how the visible body which today bears the name "the Catholic Church" is the same Church which Christ established to carry on and perpetuate in the world his Words and his Works -- and his own divine Life -- and to bring salvation and sanctification to all mankind. Despite superficial differences in certain appearances, the worldwide Catholic Church today remains the same Church that was originally founded by Jesus Christ on Peter and the other apostles back in the first century in the ancient Near East. The early Church, in other words, was always -- nothing else but -- the Catholic Church."
If you'd like to view the book on the Google Books web site, click here.
The Nicene Creed is the profession of the Christian faith. Background information on the Nicene Creed can be found here. The video below is a musical setting of the Nicene Creed, recorded by Musica Sacra. Other musical settings of the ordinary of the Mass can be found here.
