On 26 March, the day after the Feast of the Annunciation, Perth Auxiliary Bishop Donald Sproxton gave this homily at the annual Mass for the Unborn Child, focusing on the Church’s need to support women and families in their time of need to build up the culture of life
To begin, I want to greet the members of the other Churches who have come to join us in prayer.
Your presence here encourages us all in this work of the defence of the defenceless, the unborn children. We thank you as well for being the ones who developed the concept of 40 Days for Life.
Our parishes and communities in the Archdiocese and throughout Western Australia have embraced it as a means of giving a focus to our prayer and fasting throughout the 40 days of Lent.
40 Days for Life aims at reducing the incidence of abortion in our society and, through our campaign of prayer and fasting, we work for the complete elimination of abortion from our community.
The Gospel we have received today spoke of the Annunciation that was given to Mary, the mother of Jesus. The clarity and directness of her response to the plan by God for her is remarkable. It is her profession of faith.
God would make what seemed impossible happen, if only she would accept His plan for her.
The plan that God revealed would take Mary in a new and unexpected direction in her life. Her plan was to be changed.
There is some possibility that Mary had already made a vow of chastity so that she could become a maidservant for the Temple priesthood in Jerusalem.
This was not unknown and devout young women would offer themselves for this perpetual service, for their love of God.
Her plan was changed to a degree by Joseph seeking her to become his wife. The opportunity appeared then for God to call her to the motherhood of the Saviour. She was set now on a new path, with all of its fears, complications and difficulties.
Thanks be to God she did not succumb, for our Saviour was born. Mary believed that with God’s power anything was possible and all obstacles could be overcome. It is many years ago that (Perth) Archbishop (Launcelot) Goody made this pledge: that the resources of the Catholic Church would be made available to support a woman who was contemplating an abortion so that she might be able to accept the child.
This pledge has been repeated by the Archbishops since, and I want to do so again today.
The effect of this pledge is to clear away the seemingly impossible obstacles so that a woman may choose to become a mother.
We know from our experiences of making the most serious of decisions, that freedom is essential.
We have to be as free as possible to be able to make the best decision which delivers justice, respect and wellbeing to all parties.
The eventual decision to go through with an abortion often is because some form of pressure to abort remains and the child’s reality is explained away. I want to offer this Mass in the first place for the unborn and for their wellbeing.
But I also wanted to offer it for the other victims, the women who have procured abortion.
The last statistical data from the Health Department of Western Australia on abortions shows that in the period 2002 to 2005, just over 30,000 abortions were performed throughout the State.
This is 18.2 per 1,000 of all the recorded pregnancies in that time.
There was a small decline in abortions and this was considered a favourable figure when compared with the national estimate of 19.7 per 1,000.
What these statistics do not record is the effect that these abortions have on women.
There is a growing awareness and acceptance that women are victims, following their dark decision to abort the child.
Statistics are appearing now that indicate that women who have had an abortion are 3.6 times more likely to do hard drugs.
They are twice as likely to be binge drinkers in later life.
Thirty-nine per cent have had another abortion later in life. Many fall into depression and consider suicide as an option to be rid of self-loathing.
I am confident that what we are seeing is trauma, and I am grateful for the work that has been done to raise this awful reality to our attention by Julie Cook, the director of Abortion Grief Australia.
The traumatised women, who are as well the victims of abortion, urgently need both our prayers and support.
40 Days for Life does help us all to focus on the works to eliminate abortion from our community by prayer and the effort to stand with the women, helping to resolve their fears and the other obstacles they see before them.
Our celebration of the Mass today is of the Annunciation. The faith of Mary can be a wonderful light for us all.
Her strong and clear decision came from her firm conviction that God loves us and will always provide the strength and courage we need to begin again.
God alone has the power to undo and create anew. Mary’s faith enabled her to set out in a new path, certain that the obstacles, complications and difficulties would be overcome for her.
Let us walk with this sort of faith. Let us announce the love of God to the victims of abortion.