September 2009 Study Guide

Bible Blurbs

“Can a mother for­get her infant, be with­out ten­der­ness for the child of her womb? Even should she for­get, I will never for­get you.”

Isa­iah 49:15

“Chil­dren, too, are a gift from the LORD, the fruit of the womb, a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a war­rior are the chil­dren born in one’s youth.”

Psalm 127: 3-​​5

“You formed my inmost being; you knit me in my mother’s womb… My very self you knew; my bones were not hid­den from you, When I was being made in secret, fash­ioned as in the depths of the earth… my days were shaped, before one came to be.”

Psalm 139:13-16

For at the moment the sound of your greet­ing reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy.

Luke 1:44

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Cat­e­chism Clips

1738: “.…Every human per­son, cre­ated in the image of God, has the nat­ural right to be rec­og­nized as a free and respon­si­ble being. All owe to each other this duty of respect…”

1931: “Respect for the human per­son pro­ceeds by way of respect for the prin­ci­ple that “every­one should look upon his neigh­bor (with­out any excep­tion) as ‘another self,’…”

2227: “Chil­dren in turn con­tribute to the growth in holi­ness of their parents.”

2271: Since the first cen­tury the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every pro­cured abor­tion. This teach­ing has not changed and remains unchangeable…

2323: Because it should be treated as a per­son from con­cep­tion, the embryo must be defended in its integrity, cared for, and healed like every other human being.

Ever won­der what the church REALLY says about some­thing? Ever hear peo­ple talk­ing about what Cathoics believe and think, “That doesn’t sound right?” CLICK HERE and check it out for yourself!

Pope Quotes

“How bit­ter the irony of those who pro­mote abor­tion as a form of ‘mater­nal’ health­care! How dis­con­cert­ing the claim that the ter­mi­na­tion of life is a mat­ter of repro­duc­tive health!”

Pope Bene­dict XVI, Angola, March 23, 2009

“… we ask Mary, Mother of the incar­nate Word and our Mother, to pro­tect every earthly mother: those …together with their hus­bands, …and those that, for so many rea­sons, find them­selves alone in fac­ing such an ardu­ous task.”

Pope Bene­dict XVI, Sept 7, 2008

“Self­ish­ness and fear are at the root of (pro-​​abortion) leg­is­la­tion. We in the Church have a great strug­gle to defend life… The Church says life is beau­ti­ful, it is not some­thing to doubt, but it is a gift even when it is lived in dif­fi­cult cir­cum­stances. It is always a gift.”

May 9, 2007

“Chil­dren are the major rich­ness and the most pre­cious good of a family.”

Pope Bene­dict XVI, Dec. 3. 2005

“…This unique con­tact (of a mother) with the new human being devel­op­ing within her gives rise to an atti­tude toward human beings - not only toward her own child, but every human being - which pro­foundly marks the woman’s personality.”

The Gospel of Life, Pope John Paul II

CLICK HERE to see all the Pope’s writ­ings! You might be sur­prised at what they have to say!

Vir­tu­ous Ver­biage Verification

abor­tion - end­ing the life of a human being in the womb at any stage of development.

(The med­ical term Spon­ta­neous Abor­tion refers to a mis­car­riage, which can sadly occur nat­u­rally and is not the result of a human action. A Pro­cured Abor­tion is when the baby’s life is ended whether directly, or as a result of some other med­ical pro­ce­dure and is immoral.)

choice - the act of select­ing one of two or more options.

(In the con­text of Life issues, the word choice is often used incor­rectly. First, an alarm­ing num­ber of women who have abor­tions state that they feel they have no other “choice”. Sec­ond, in moral sit­u­a­tions, if some­one knows some­thing is wrong, it isn’t really a choice. But pro-​​abortion activists know that by label­ing it a choice, they make it polit­i­cally incor­rect to tell a woman that abor­tion is not a moral option.)

com­pro­mise - when 2 sides of an argu­ment come to an agree­ment by giv­ing up something.

(Com­pro­mise can be good, unless the thing one gives up is their morals, beliefs or conscience.)

deci­sion - some­thing some­one has made up their mind about and is com­mit­ted and resolved about.

guilt(guilty) - 1) the acknowl­edge­ment that one has done some­thing wrong. 2) feel­ings of remorse or sor­row for some­thing one has done

(Guilt can be good if it leads us to repent and change. But guilt is a seri­ous prob­lem if we pun­ish our­selves with these feel­ings to the point of despair and neglect of God’s mercy.)

post-​​abortive - a term used to describe the psy­cho­log­i­cal, emo­tional and spir­i­tual state of a woman who has expe­ri­enced the tragedy of abortion.

(PAS (Post Abortive Syn­drome), or PASS (Post Abortive Stress Syn­drome) is a term used to describe the symp­toms of this con­di­tion, which is very sim­i­lar to Post Trau­matic Stress Dis­or­der. How­ever, the Amer­i­can Psy­cho­log­i­cal Asso­ci­a­tion refuses to accept it regard­less of the num­ber of women reported to be suf­fer­ing from it.)

regret- sad­ness or dis­ap­point­ment, usu­ally related to some past thing done or left undone

sac­ri­fice - accept­ing suf­fer­ing or dis­com­fort for the sake of some good thing, for self or espe­cially others

selfish(ness) - a sin of pride, which con­sists of hold­ing one’s own wants and needs as being most impor­tant, above any other

testimony(ies) - when a wit­ness tells their story about what they saw or experienced

Third Order - some­one, usu­ally a mar­ried per­son, who does not actu­ally join a reli­gious order, but lives their life fol­low­ing the teach­ings and rules of that reli­gious com­mu­nity as best they can in their cur­rent state of life.

tur­moil - intense stress or suf­fer­ing, usu­ally lead­ing to chaos or disorder

Dis­cus­sion Questions

The APA, which gov­erns the prac­tice of psy­chol­ogy in the USA, refuses to accept Post Abortive Stress Syn­drome (PASS or PAS for short) as a form of post trau­matic stress dis­or­der. Even though tens of thou­sands of women report suf­fer­ing the symp­toms after hav­ing an abor­tion, the APA insists that abor­tion doesn’t have a side effect on women.
 
• Why do you think this is?
• What rea­sons might they have for not want­ing to acknowl­edge this syndrome?
• Should post abortive women be able to pay for treat­ment with health insurance?

1. Kourt­ney men­tions that she can keep her baby because she is well off and can afford it.
    
   • Do you think the poor or less for­tu­nate are lim­ited in their actual “choice” because they can’t finan­cially sup­port their babies?
   • Is that fair or just?
   • What can or should be done about it?

2. Mar­garet Sanger, founder of Planned Par­ent­hood Inter­na­tional, said, “We don’t want the word to go out that we want to exter­mi­nate the Negro pop­u­la­tion.” Dr. Alveda King reaches out to African-​​American women because she doesn’t believe they are pre­sented alter­na­tives to abor­tion equal to other social groups.
    
   • Is it pos­si­ble that race is a fac­tor in how and where abor­tion is mar­keted and made available?
   • Obvi­ously, not every abor­tion sup­porter thinks like Sanger, but could Planned Parenthood’s agenda be tainted by her ideas?
   • Should soci­ety work to make sure all women and babies are cared for and pro­vided for equally?

3. The Kar­dashian sis­ters have not behaved like very good role mod­els. Their provoca­tive style of dress, sex­u­ally loose lifestyle, and often self­ish and destruc­tive behav­ior, seem to make them an exam­ple of what NOT to do.
    
   • Can peo­ple who are far from God’s plan do really good things? How?
   • Do you think Kourt­ney is respon­si­ble for this change her­self, or is it a grace from God?
   • Ca­­n God reach us, and can we hear Him, even if we aren’t listening?

Jour­nal Writing

Write about the time when it was hard­est for you to do the right thing. Try and remem­ber what you were feel­ing and what influ­enced your deci­sion. Write about the peo­ple who either helped or hin­dered you from doing the right thing. Then, include a para­graph or two about wha­­t you might do dif­fer­ently or what you might do exactly the same if you were in that sit­u­a­tion again.

Activ­i­ties

1. One rea­son Kourtney’s deci­sion is so shock­ing is the sac­ri­fice she is will­ing to make for her baby. Peo­ple who live sur­rounded by glam­our and com­fort often find it hard to sac­ri­fice for oth­ers. Make a list of the peo­ple who have made sac­ri­fices for you. Pick a way to thank them: with a card, a call, a text, or in person.
2. With your teacher or par­ents per­mis­sion, visit some of the web­sites men­tioned in this arti­cle. Read some of the sto­ries pre­sented by women like Dr. Alveda King; the sto­ries that so deeply moved Kourt­ney. Make sure to pray for those women, and all women faced with the “choice” of abortion.

Debate

Split in two teams. The topic for the debate is:

“Can a baby ever be an acci­dent or a mistake?”

Be sure to use infor­ma­tion from the les­son, the Bible, the Cat­e­chism of the Catholic Church, your Parish priest, and other reli­able resources to back up your arguments.

Remem­ber, the point is to find the truth, not just to win!