[Salvation]

If the Didache, early Church fathers, etc. are correct about this, then why aren't all of their views accepted? I don't think too many of them veered off the path.

[Salvation]

Catholic Discussion Ping!

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[johngrace]

Great read!

[marron]

Excellent piece.

[MNDude]

I believe in the Apocrypha, in The Wisdom of Solomon, it says that parents that have abandoned their children in the streets would have to answer to these children for these crimes in the after-life. I imagine it would probably be the same for abortion.

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Thanks for posting!

BTTT

[Sergio]

Catholic history bookmark.

[lightman]

Excellent.

Every great movement of renewal in the Church has drawn much of its inspiration from the pre-Nicene Fathers.

Next to the Scriptures themselves, they are the best.

[Slyfox]

One of the most touching things I ever read in the Anti-Nicene Fathers was the counseling one of the fathers gave to a couple who had handed their child over to be sacrificed to "the gods." They were repentant and tearful. The father who counseled them did not have to reprimand them, but offered absolution for their sin and words of comfort for their pain.

I wish I could remember which father it was.

[Aliska]

Excellent. So St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Augustine were wrong from my understanding of them, doesn't necessarily detract from their sanctity because they may not have had all these early documents like are available to us today. Hard to know. I don't know exactly when the Didache surfaced, just that it is the oldest or one of the extant documents apart from the scriptures.

In any case, the church has spoken, clearly and repeatedly against abortion, perhaps more than any other church. Sometimes I wish they'd DO more about it by way of sanctions, not to be mean but to back up their words by actions which they have the authority to do. Also I wish the bishops took a collective position, because I don't know how a bishop will be judged if they aren't as firm about as we know a relative minority have been. It's like can't do something in one diocese, move to one where you can, doesn't seem right.

In my own case, we have paid a personal price to have had the great grace not to have procured abortion insofar as I know, and for that I am truly thankful because for one small period of time, I might have done it myself. There was one exception over which no family member had any influence whatsoever, but the woman involved may have used it to lay a guilt trip by lying.

That's why it is so important for males to understand that if they impregnate a woman, whether they try to stop the abortion or not, they will share some of the blame I would think. But just because I think it may not make it so.

Oh yes, abortions may appear to be the easy way out, and one has to stand firmly on their faith. And I do most definitely feel compassion for women who have had abortions and come to regret it.

[Jaded]

Thanks for posting this.

[sayuncledave]

Thank you again, Salvation, for some great reading. I agree with you about this. It seems obvious that the views expressed in the Didache and expressed by the Early Church Fathers should win the day.

[0beron]

This is great stuff, ping for later.