Province News

The Challenge of Being Pro-Life: A column by Fr. Ken Overberg, SJ
Monday, October 20, 2003

Fr. Ken Overberg, SJ
Fr. Kenneth Overberg, SJ, a professor of theology at Xavier University, writes this column for Cincinnati's Catholic Telegraph. A collection of his essays, focusing on the consistent ethic of life, titled 'Creating a Culture of Life' has recently been published by Thomas More Publishing.

Twenty years ago Cardinal Joseph Bernardin began a series of addresses on the consistent ethic of life. This challenging vision has become a centerpiece of the U.S. Catholic bishops’ moral teaching. Pope John Paul II has affirmed similar themes in his 1995 encyclical The Gospel of Life.

What is the consistent ethic of life? It is a comprehensive ethical system that links together many different issues by focusing attention on the basic value of life. In his attempts to defend life, Cardinal Bernardin first joined the topics of abortion and nuclear war. He quickly expanded his understanding of a consistent ethic of life to include many issues from all of life, such as genetics, capital punishment, and the care of the terminally ill.

Cardinal Bernardin also acknowledged that issues are distinct and different; capital punishment, for example, is not the same as abortion. Nevertheless, the issues are linked. The valuing and defense of life is at the center of both issues. Cardinal Bernardin wrote: “When human life is considered ‘cheap’ or easily expendable in one area, eventually nothing is held as sacred and all lives are in jeopardy.”

Along with his consistent linking of distinct life issues, Cardinal Bernardin acknowledged that no individual or group can pursue all issues. Still, while concentrating on one issue, the individual or group must not be seen “as insensitive to or even opposed to other moral claims on the overall spectrum of life.” The consistent ethic of life rules out contradictory moral positions about the unique value of human life--and it would be contradictory, for example, to be against abortion but for capital punishment or to work against poverty but support euthanasia.

This linkage of all life issues, the very heart of the consistent ethic of life, challenges us to move beyond the contradictions we may find in our own convictions about morality. Often these convictions seem to cluster around “conservative” or “liberal” viewpoints. But the consistent ethic of life cuts across such divisions. Indeed, the bishops have stated: “Our moral framework does not easily fit the categories of right or left, Republican or Democrat. We are called to measure every party and movement by how its agenda touches human life and human dignity.” Indeed, the consistent ethic of life was developed in part to help shape public policy. Political policies and economic structures provide means to create a societal environment that promotes the flourishing of human life. Unfortunately, no party is consistently pro-life, a sobering reality as we approach another presidential election.

We ought not underestimate the challenge of being pro-life. It is not sufficient to be pro-life on some issues; we are called to be pro-life on all issues--no matter what our political party or business or union or talk shows or advertising or family may say. These are powerful forces that significantly shape our convictions, often leading to the contradictions that separate us from a consistent ethic of life. Politics, media, money, and class--and not the Gospel--may well be the real source of our values.

The consistent ethic of life provides both a solid foundation and a profound challenge to live as faithful disciples and involved citizens. In our time of abortion, the desire for new nuclear weapons, war, and so many other forms of violence, how will you embody this moral vision in your choices and actions?