I've been thinking a bit about this news item about how the Society of St Vincent de Paul responded to a query about how it stood in relation to the upcoming referendum that seeks to remove protection for the unborn from the Irish Constitution:
The Society of St Vincent de Paul has announced it will not be taking a stance in the upcoming referendum on abortion, and will not be issuing any advice to its members on what choice to make on polling day.
Contacted by The Irish Catholic this week the Church-founded organisation said in a statement that it is a “personal decision for each member, based on their own views, on how they wish to vote”.
However, the statement backed away from an earlier draft obtained by this newspaper which said the stance was based on the fact that SVP is a “member-led organisation”. The statement issued by the spokesman does not contain this line.
Now, I have huge respect for the Society of St Vincent de Paul. Over the past decade of parish ministry I've seen how much they do in tackling poverty in both urban and rural Ireland. I'm happy to support them, and I'm happy to encourage my parishioners to support them. However, I'm unhappy about their response to the referendum question.
Now, I don't think that the SVP should be a campaigning organisation in this referendum. That's not what it receives money for, and I have concerns about the way that the activities of various charities sometimes drift into a form of activism that's removed from their key mission. (There are various legal issue to consider here as well, of course.)
What concerns me is that whilst the SVP might not be active in the current referendum, I do think it should do a better job at articulating an ethos that is supportive of life. In Pope Francis's recent document Gaudete et exsultete, he poses the following challenge:
Our defence of the innocent unborn, for example, needs to be clear, firm and passionate, for at stake is the dignity of a human life, which is always sacred and demands love for each person, regardless of his or her stage of development. Equally sacred, however, are the lives of the poor, those already born, the destitute, the abandoned and the underprivileged, the vulnerable infirm and elderly exposed to covert euthanasia, the victims of human trafficking, new forms of slavery, and every form of rejection. We cannot uphold an ideal of holiness that would ignore injustice in a world where some revel, spend with abandon and live only for the latest consumer goods, even as others look on from afar, living their entire lives in abject poverty.
It seems to me that Pope Francis is challenging us to root our Christian activism in a philosophy that values and cherishes the dignity of human life. It is, in part, a challenge aimed at those involved in pro-life activism to ensure that they are supportive of all just efforts to uphold the sacredness of human life. However, I think that challenge also cuts the other way - if our Christian vocation calls us to be active in the fight against, say, poverty, we need to understand that calling in the context of the unique value and dignity of every human life.
Even though the Society of St Vincent de Paul has as its mission the fight against poverty, one would not expect a statement of bland neutrality were the society asked about, say, the problems of racism or human-trafficking. Therefore, I do not understand why the Society could not see its way towards making some kind of statement affirming the value of human life.
As part of the Catholic community I certainly see the Society of St Vincent de Paul as being part of our Pro-Life activities. I know the Society is at the coalface in terms of supporting families in meeting the financial challenges that parenthood brings. I know that the Society works to create an society where human life flourishes and is welcomed. I just wish that it was better at joining the dots in terms of supporting those values which affirm the dignity of those it cares for.
