SIR – As a Manorhamilton man, I am writing to you from Japan, where for the past 47 years I have the privilege of sharing the great gift of the faith I inherited from the people of Leitrim.
SIR – As a Manorhamilton man, I am writing to you from Japan, where for the past 47 years I have the privilege of sharing the great gift of the faith I inherited from the people of Leitrim.
I read in The Japan News recently that there is going to be a referendum in Ireland on the question of abortion. I am at a loss to understand how anybody can be silent when the State is asking people to agree that it is all right to pass the death sentence on the weakest member of society, the child in the womb?
Pontius Pilate found a man he knew to be innocent standing before him. He wanted to release him. He thought that having him flogged would appease the politicians who had him arrested and the mob. But to no avail!
‘What am I to do with Jesus who is called Christ?’ he asked and the reply thundered back ‘Crucify Him! Crucify Him! Crucify Him!’ Pilate should have released Him, but he had his future to think about and a riot would not be popular in the halls of power! He was a weak man and failed to do what he knew to be right.
We all know that one day we will stand before God and give an account of our lives. There will be no excuses because we will be in the presence of ‘Truth’ itself. We know what the basis of each one’s judgement will be. How did you look after the sick, the poor, the hungry, the elderly, the prisoner, the refugee, the migrant and the unborn child?
Every single vote to legalise the killing of the unborn child is in fact once again a roar in the face of Heaven ‘Crucify Him!’
I can see that many people who call themselves Christians might be confused when the political world and the weight of mass media opinion are so vociferous in their support for what is called the ‘liberal agenda.’ The presumption is that these are good and intelligent people who would never do anything underhanded. They think that if these people say its okay, then it must be so. And so the result is one election after another which have been an unrelenting attack on and an undermining of the family and life, its transmission and all that supports it.
No court, no State, no politician, no study group, no international organisation, no individual has the right to pass the death sentence on the unborn child. I write to you because silence is taken as agreement and evil flourishes when good people are silent.
Looking at Ireland over this last several years I am reminded of what they say about the frog: They say that if you put the frog into boiling water it will jump out but that if you put it into lukewarm water and turn up the heat slowly it will adjust itself to the rising temperature and eventually be cooked!
I would like to be able to shout to the whole of Ireland: ‘Wake up! You have been lulled into a kind of stupor! You are losing your soul, the only thing of real value that you have to offer to a sick world!’
The frog is almost cooked! Who do you think is turning up the heat?
Fr Harry O’Carroll,
Columban Fathers,
Catholic Church,
1-8-2 Honmachi,
Yatsushiro Shi,
Japan 866-0861.
