Is this an acceptable pro-life technique?

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UKcatholicGuy

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This is what I recently experienced at a pro-life conference last week. I have chosen not to name the conference or the person who led it, but this person is not a priest. Please read the following and share your thoughts on the morality / appropriateness of this:

After an initial pep-talk, the speaker announced that we were going to witness a moving ceremony that could possibly change our lives. The lights were then dimmed. Slow, solemn, dark-toned chant began to play, along with some dark-toned organ music.

From the back of the room, 2 men carried a tiny casket down the aisle and placed it at the foot of the stage, and opened the casket for viewing. 2 women followed, each carrying a candle that was placed on either side of the casket. Another women placed flowers at the side of the tiny casket.

The audience was then invited to come, 1 or 2 at a time, and kneel before the open casket, and ask God what He was asking of each of us personally in the pro-life movement. One woman wept bitterly as she knelt before the casket. Another young man stood off to the side and wept while praying his Rosary.

I was one of the last people to go up and kneel before the casket. I can attest that what I saw inside the casket was a little girl who had been killed by abortion. She must have weighed no more than 2 pounds and would easily fit in your hand. She was not in any kind of container, but lay immediately on the casket lining.

The whole ceremony was being filmed by at least 3 camera persons, several of whom were gathered around the casket. From what I understand, the entire conference is being taped and will be made available for sale.

The casket was then processed out, and the lights were brought back up.

Thoughts? Comments?
 
I certainly hope that child then received a proper burial. It is our duty to bury the dead, not use them as props. I’m sure that sort of technique is considered very effective, but I don’t consider it morally sound.
 
Sr_Sally said:
I certainly hope that child then received a proper burial. It is our duty to bury the dead, not use them as props. I’m sure that sort of technique is considered very effective, but I don’t consider it morally sound.
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My thoughts exactly. It definitely seemed like the child was being used-- ironic, considering that the pro-life movement is supposed to uphold the humanity of the unborn child. Yet this child did not receive a proper burial. This child was not baptized. Instead of using the child as a pro-life prop, we should bury her and pray for the repose of her soul.

Please keep the comments coming. This is very helpful to get a feel for what other Catholics think about this practice.
 
It seems a proper wake, if it was followed by a funeral and burial.
 
The baby was being treated with far more dignity and respect and humanity than either her mother or her executioner did.

I hope they follow through on that and give the child a proper burial…not just stick her in a jar of formaldehyde and put her up on a shelf like a jar of pickles.

The Franciscan University of Steubenville has a very tasteful Tomb of the Unborn with an eternal flame, that has aborted babies buried there. Perhaps the people who have this baby could have her buried at a similar monument, or start such a monument themselves, to keep the prayer and reflection going.
 
Joe_Kelley said:
It seems a proper wake, if it was followed by a funeral and burial.
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Under normal circumstances I would agree. However, the OP said clearly that this was a conference. That is not a wake. People attend wakes knowing fully that they are participating in a funeral rite.

This was disrespectful towards the poor child and disrespectful towards the pro-life attendees.

The organizers of the event should be ashamed of themselves.:mad:
 
My immediate thought: so pictures are not enough now?

Sorry, but having been delivered from the grips of emotionalism and “feel good” religion, I tend to resent any attempt to base moral decisions on people’s feelings/shock reaction.

Abortion is an affront to God and His supremacy over life. It is a violation of the baby’s God-given right to life. Its wrongness does not rely on how many fingers and toes the baby has. There really is an early stage when human form is less recognizable - this doesn’t make abortion at that point any less wrong.

Catholics do not need an aborted baby in a casket to teach us any of the above. 😦
 
Creepy?..Yes

Over The Top?..Maybe

I don’t concern myself so much with the thought that this child was not baptized, as I am absolutely convinced that our Good Lord has this child, and all aborted children in His loving arms in heaven.
This precious little girl had NO voice while in the womb, no way of yelling STOP!! I WANT TO LIVE!!! If this video can save the life of just one pre-born baby, if just one mothers heart is turned to the baby growing in her womb, then let this be her voice now!, Let her body lying in the casket scream of the horrors of abortion.

Lets pray for her soul and that she received a proper burial.
 
I don’t think so. I think that borders on being disrespectful for the baby’s body. I think pictures and descriptions in pamphlets, like I’ve seen and read, are very graphic and enough to make me woozy. I can’t imagine seeing an aborted human up close.

But, I think that could be an option for some people–it might change their minds, you know? I just personally couldn’t do it. I wonder if it could be an optional tactic, where someone who wants to go with a group of fellow Catholics to a medical research place and see if they wanted to. But this little ceremony? It gives me the creeps.
 
I see nothing wrong with it. I assume that the baby was given a funeral afterwards, and treated with all respect.
It was a pro-life conference. People were aware that it was a casket, I presume they didn’t need to view the body if they chose not to.
We need to realize what is happening in our society. It IS disturbing. Germans living near enough to the concentration camps to see the smoke from the furnaces chose to ignore it. Some people need to be jolted into action, others don’t.
One-third of abortions are performed on Christian girls. Something needs to be done, and having a wake for one of the victims seems like as good as wake-up call as any.
 
seekerz said:
My immediate thought: so pictures are not enough now?

Sorry, but having been delivered from the grips of emotionalism and “feel good” religion, I tend to resent any attempt to base moral decisions on people’s feelings/shock reaction.
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I completely agree.
It bothers me when people do the right thing for the wrong reason.

It should be noted that we share our emotions with the beasts and our intellects with the angels.
Also, emotions are subjective and prone to (sometimes rapid) changes based on all sorts of internal and external conditions.
They are an extremely poor guide.
seekerz said:
Abortion is an affront to God and His supremacy over life. It is a violation of the baby’s God-given right to life. Its wrongness does not rely on how many fingers and toes the baby has. There really is an early stage when human form is less recognizable - this doesn’t make abortion at that point any less wrong.

Catholics do not need an aborted baby in a casket to teach us any of the above. 😦
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Absolutely. We have the Magesterium to teach is. None of us should need any more than that.

I would also add that graphic images are useful at shocking people to their senses. Some people are not easily reached by reason and a good shock can often get the message through to them.

The trick is taking them from that point (most people already believe that late-term abortions are wrong) to the point where they recognize the child as a human being even before implantation (and long before recognizable fingers and toes). For that, graphic images aren’t going to cut it.
Responding to the original post, I find the casket display to be in extremely poor taste. Emotion over intellect. Absolute stupidity.

To me, it is questionable enough using images of dead babies, but at least they can convert people. In this case, an actual dead baby was used to increase the conviction of those already converted.

I hope that the baby wasn’t real; only a highly realistic model. Most people think that pro-lifers are crazy as it is (one more reason that this was a stupid idea - can you imagine what the secular media would do with such a story…).
 
Graphic pictures are NOT enough to shock some people and this I say from experience. I grieve to this day for my grandchild who was aborted 4 years ago. I showed my daughter ALL the pictures from the Priests For Live web site, but she turned a cold heart to them by saying that the sight of blood was “cool” and that she was not going to give up this child as well, (I have custody of her son, thank God).

Pictures are 2 dimensional flat pieces of paper that can be easily put away and hidden from sight. A baby in a casket on the other hand, sends a message for more powerful. If pictures worked, then there would be no abortions.

The media and Hollywood have done wonders through out the years desensitizing us to the sight of blood and death that it no longer has the same impact on us as it once did.

This little girl is now in heaven being cradled by our Blessed Mother for all eternity, and like I said before, she had NO voice to say STOP when she was being murdered, but if her little body can save the lives of other innocent babies, providing this is done with total dignity and that a proper burial followed, then let her body in the casket now be her Voice to the world.
 
love4mary said:
Graphic pictures are NOT enough to shock some people and this I say from experience. I grieve to this day for my grandchild who was aborted 4 years ago. I showed my daughter ALL the pictures from the Priests For Live web site, but she turned a cold heart to them by saying that the sight of blood was “cool” and that she was not going to give up this child as well, (I have custody of her son, thank God).
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It is terrible that she would rather kill her child than have her raised by another. It sounds like you did all that you could, so I hope that you don’t feel guilty about it.
love4mary said:
Pictures are 2 dimensional flat pieces of paper that can be easily put away and hidden from sight. A baby in a casket on the other hand, sends a message for more powerful. If pictures worked, then there would be no abortions.
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That’s not true. They work enough of the time to prevent some abortions. As long as people have free will, we won’t live in a world with no abortions.
love4mary said:
The media and Hollywood have done wonders through out the years desensitizing us to the sight of blood and death that it no longer has the same impact on us as it once did.
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I certainly agree with that, but I hope that infanticide still strikes a nerve with most of us.
love4mary said:
This little girl is now in heaven being cradled by our Blessed Mother for all eternity, and like I said before, she had NO voice to say STOP when she was being murdered, but if her little body can save the lives of other innocent babies, providing this is done with total dignity and that a proper burial followed, then let her body in the casket now be her Voice to the world.
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I think that her body should be laid to rest.
If she is in heaven (as I hope she is), then I have no doubt that her prayers will do more for us all than having her corpse on display will.
 
**love4mary **

Your post was heartbreaking and truely inspired. I would pray that everyone has the love and courage that you have. The Lord will protect and defend and avenge that baby and He will bless and honor you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
 
^
“she was not going to give up this child as well, (I have custody of her son, thank God)”
I dont think its that simple. Its likely that love4mary played a big role in how her daughter turned out to be.

theres always 2 sides to a story. and most people are only doing their best from what is given them.
 
If you’re speaking of the pro-life conference that I suspect you are, I can assure you that the children were given a proper burial. I have heard the organizer of that particular event speak and was posed that very question in regards to the previous use of similar tactics. They always give the children a proper burial, far more than most aborted babies get. The last thing they would want to do is to disrespect the unborn.

I totally understand being creeped out and skeptical of such techniques. I’m still not sure what I think of it myself. But I know that the intent is certainly not to dishonor the unborn, but to honor them. These techniques are used in order to not let the horrible reality of abortion slip out of public awareness. They want people to see abortion for what it is: brutal murder.

And even though it was a conference, it might still be considered a funeral. They also have Mass at many Catholic conferences. I can’t really say, though, as I was not there.
 
iamrefreshed said:
The organizers of the event should be ashamed of themselves.:mad:
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I completely agree with this. I think this STUNT was absolutely disrespectful and immoral. This child has been though enough already, then to be used as a prop in a photo shoot. That is the most irresponsible and unthinking thing I’ve heard yet.

Totally disgusting.

That child should have been put to rest properly as soon as possible after death. Not held somewhere until the photo op was over. :mad:

~Liza
 
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