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Herald Staff Writer |
"Abortion is never just about the act of abortion itself. It's always, always about women, women's lives, their futures, family, children, sex, death.... and it's inevitable that it will bring you face-to-face with some of the core issues in feminism," said Helen Alvare, director of planning and information for the Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, speaking at George Mason University in Fairfax on April 8.
The title of her talk, "A New Christian Feminism....and Not Just for Women" is one about which she feels strongly.
"My topic today is one that I am committed to -- not only as a Catholic, but as a woman and a human being -- from a very long time ago," she said.
Alvare was speaking at the university's 1999 Ellis Lecture, sponsored by the Catholic Campus Ministry led by Father Bob Cilinski. The Ellis Lecture were named in honor of Msgr. John Tracy Ellis, who taught Church history for over 40 years at Catholic University in Washington, and was the first speaker at the campus series in 1987.
"She (Alvare) is someone who evokes the gift of life; is filled with joy and affirms life in so many ways," said Father Cilinski in his introduction.
A wife and mother, Alvare has been in her current professional position since 1990. As the national spokeswoman on abortion for the American Catholic bishops, she communicates through television, radio and public lectures, as well as writing columns for the Catholic press and op-ed pieces for secular newspapers. On behalf of the bishops, she also testifies before federal congressional committees and Democratic and Republician party platform committees.
"I think I was calling myself a feminist at about the age of eight, when I first realized I was a girl and not a boy, and feminism seemed to come naturally to me," she said. "Pare of it is being a daughter in a house with wonderful parents, who were firm, but (conveyed) that there's really nothing that you're not capable of. And going to Catholic school, where sisters who taught me for 12 years were the world of capable people I knew. I mean, they ran everything. I thought they could run everything, even the things I hadn't seen them run before.
Before she took her position as spokeswoman for catholic bishops, Helen Alvare had been "intellectually pro-life." Working in the pro-life movement, she became "terribly interested, more than intellectually convicted; of the beauty of the Catholic Church in teaching about human life, the life of the unborn and the life and dignity of women all together. I was determined to at least have a public conversation about the marriage of these consistent principles from a Christian perspective.
"My work in the pro-life movement has given me a very particular perspective from which to consider feminism," said Mrs. Alvare. "I didn't intend to be someone with this much interest or expertise in the topic, but it's almost inevitable when one comes into the abortion issue."
She addressed the subject in three parts: "how the new Christian feminism has begun to arise; how abortion figures into an analysis of an old feminism (of the '60's and '70's) that built into the new one; and some of the basic principles of a new Christian feminism, in particular as they arise out of the pretty recent writings coming out of the Catholic Church.
Speaking of the Church's commitment to pro-life and women's well-being. Mrs. Alvare said that when she was in Rome last year attending a health conference, Pope John Paul II was at the last session and addressed the presenters.
"He stood up, and cracked one of his very cool smiles, raised his finger to us, and said, 'you know, I am the feminist pope.'"
During her discussion, Mrs. Alvare also extensively countered the pro-abortion movement's premise that their position promises women liberty.
True freedom is choosing what is good and having the strength to do that," she said.
Copyright ©1999 Arlington Catholic Herald, Inc. All rights reserved.
This article was published in the Arlington
Catholic Herald,
200 N. Glebe Rd., Suite 607, Arlington, VA 22203; Vol 24, No 15,
dated Apr. 15, 1999, on page 10.
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A note from the Web Master:
It is noteworthy and honorable that some folks are willing to stand up for a ban on Partial-Birth Abortion. Let us not forget that ordinary everyday run of the mill abortion is also murder. We must understand that aborting the life of a baby is murder no matter the method. Because one method of abortion seems to be horrible does not make the other methods less so. We should be horrified and sickened by any abortion regardless of the method. The Fifth Commandment spells it out clearly:
"Thou shalt not kill."
A fetus is a person, a human being with a God given soul.
Imagine the pain the Lord must feel when any abortion occurs. Please
contact both of your Senators and Representative, via letter or phone,
to let them know how horrified you are that abortions are legal and to
stop, once and for all, Partial-Birth abortions and all other abortions
as soon as possible.
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