Archbishop's web site Denver Catholic Register Parishes Catholic Pastoral Center
June 20, 2001
Modern Medeas and their Jasons
Examining the ancient Greek tragedy and abortion
By Mary Beth Newkumet
The New York Times Arts and Leisure section recently had a lengthy story about the revival of the ancient Greek tragedy, "Medea," on stage in both Paris and London. The play, according to the Times, "is the talk of theatergoers on both sides of the Channel."
Medea, for those of you who snoozed through your literature classes, was the beloved of Jason (of Golden Fleece fame). After causing the death of her kingly father, they hook up, settle in Corinth and have two children together. Soon Jason betrays Medea by plotting to marry a woman of wealth and power. Distraught and vengeful, Medea kills their two children. "No one can sensibly be asked to endorse Medea's crime," the Times reporter observes, "yet hers is not an act of madness. It is the consequence of furious feelings and actions that trap her in the horrific logic of infanticide."
Isn't it fascinating that The New York Times has the sensibility not to endorse Medea's action, yet at the same time, adheres to the same cultural vision that trumpets a woman's ethical right to choose to end the life of her unborn child? As people linked to Christ, we share the culture's horror over Medea's act, and then, we see even more, right to the core of the human heart. Why can't they see what we see?
What event would push a woman to what The New York Times so brilliantly calls this "horrific logic"? What would push a woman to turn against her own child? In Medea's case, it is because she feels left all alone. Isn't this the same searing loneliness that could push a woman to abortion? Perhaps the father is still in the mother's life when she makes her fatal decision, but often the depth of his care is too shallow to allow her to feel secure enough to give birth to their child. Before abortion becomes a terrible act, then, there is a catastrophic failure of love between the parents.
In his beautiful document, "On the Dignity and Vocation of Women," Pope John Paul II points out the timeless consequences for men and women in this failure to love. In the Gospel of John, men are poised to stone the "woman caught in adultery" for her sin, yet our Lord calls them also to ponder their own. In a passage of profound insight, the pope declares: "The episode recorded in the Gospel of John is repeated in countless similar situations in every period of history. A woman is left alone, exposed to public opinion with `her sin,' while behind `her sin' there lurks a man — a sinner, guilty `of the other's sin,' indeed equally responsible for it. And yet his sin escapes notice. It is passed over in silence. He does not appear to be responsible for `the other's sin'!"
So often, this is what happens in the cultural debate over the life of the unborn child. For many people, abortion is a "women's issue." Mother and child are always depicted together. Almost always, the father is invisible. "The woman pays for her own sin," says the pope, "but she alone pays and she pays all alone! How often is she abandoned with her pregnancy, when the man, the child's father, is unwilling to accept responsibility for it?" And even when he does, sometimes, she is too hardened to move towards him and love.
There are a million scenarios for why a man and woman refuse to love their child together, but they all stem from their failure to love each other first. Anything less than a communion of great love for each other diminishes that child's life, which is destined for eternity whether the parents acknowledge it or not.
Let us ask the Holy Spirit to help us ponder these great truths to ensure that our experience of the sanctity of life is reflected in the way we care for each other. Clinging to the Lord of life, the Church asks us to cherish the relationship with each human person as a gift. Whether in friendship or marriage, she asks us to do nothing to harm or diminish the mind, soul, heart or body of this one who has been given.
With this truth about the relationship between men and women, Catholics can confidently lead the cultural debate on abortion laws and ethics, because at the heart of our stand is the living Presence of Jesus of Nazareth, whose penetrating gaze sees into the deep chasm between modern Medeas and their Jasons, and whose heart longs to bring them the fullness of his Father's love in the life of his Church.
Mary Beth Newkumet is the author of Life After Sunday, a monthly column currently running in Catholic diocesan papers
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