The good news on youth

In honor of Ambrose

By Christopher Stefanick

A few months ago my wife and I had the very sad experience of our first miscarriage.  As we waited in ER unsure of exactly what was going on, considering any number of life threatening possibilities and what difficult decisions we might have to make, my wife said, “I would be honored to be a witness for life.”

I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything that looked more like God than her face at that moment.  Natalie was an icon of the purest love, willing to die for an 8-week-old fetus she had never met.  His only merit for such love was that he was hers.  God loves us like this—simply because we are his.  “I will never forget you.  See, upon the palms of my hands I have carved your name.”

We named him Ambrose, which means immortal, and after the great saint who baptized Augustine.  His name will be forever carved on our hearts.  Death doesn’t sound as scary knowing I’ll have a son to greet me.  Very shortly after grieving our miscarriage we found out there was a twin.  Our child is due in January.  Thanks be to God!

While Natalie was definitely experiencing a surge of grace during her miscarriage, I don’t think her love in those moments was entirely supernatural. There is something divine written into the nature of things, but especially in the love of a mother for her children.  It is natural for a mother to lay down her life for her children.  God wanted us to know how precious life is so he hardwired his own love into the hearts of our mothers and fathers to teach us.

It seems that many of us are forgetting our divine and natural commission to teach our children about the preciousness of life this election year.  Human life issues like abortion and euthanasia seem to fall well below “more pressing concerns” like taxes, gas prices, and the health of the stock market (all issues ultimately dealing with money) in debates, presidential ads, reporters’ questions, and the way many of us vote.  When asked when a human baby gets its rights, Senator Obama (arguably the most radically pro-choice candidate ever) brushed off the question by saying it was “above my pay grade.”  To him, it wasn’t even worth thinking about for too long.  I’m also unimpressed by the lack of prevalence given to life issues by the McCain campaign—as if it’s not as important as other issues.

All of this teaches our young people that their inherent dignity as human beings is not as important as wealth.  It’s no wonder that so many stories abound about young people disregarding life, health, safety, and the feelings of others in their relentless pursuit of popularity and fun.  It’s nothing more than a teenage version of their parent’s priorities when they put the all important dollar above human life concerns and family values in their consideration of a presidential candidate.  Life itself, what it means to be a person, and what it means to become truly happy, takes a backseat to which candidate will make it easier for them to accumulate more “stuff.”

In honor of my little Ambrose and the 48 million plus babies aborted in America since Roe v. Wade with whom he now beholds the face of God, I am proud to be a one issue voter.  I vote pro-life not just because I want to make abortion—which has ended more lives than all wars combined—illegal, but because I want to teach my own children that their lives and the lives of others are more important than anything else.  I vote to uphold the principles of human dignity that form the foundation of our western civilization.  For what good is it for our country to gain the whole world, but lose its soul in the process?

Christopher Stefanick is director of the Denver Archdiocese’s Youth, Young Adult and Campus Ministry Office.