Respect Life 2008-09

A reflection on the African American family and the culture of life

By Most Rev. Martin D. Holley

The 2008-09 Respect Life column series continues with the piece below.

As an African American Catholic bishop who was born in a family of 14 children, it should not be surprising that the issue of abortion, particularly in the African American family, is of extreme importance to me.

My knowledge that my father, mother, and siblings were all baptized into the Catholic Church on the same day (June 20, 1954), while my mother was six months’ pregnant with me, had a lot to do with forming in me a pro-life attitude. The witness of my parents taught all my siblings and me to respect the dignity of every human person and to always welcome the gift of life.

Over hundreds of years, African Americans have traditionally been pro-life. A pregnant unmarried couple could count on someone in their families to help raise, love and educate their child well into adulthood. This has happened more than once in my own family.

Today, discerning what is morally correct is a difficult challenge for many in the African American community because the Roe v. Wade decision of 1973 “legitimized” abortion as a legal “option.” The voices that would normally alarm the community, in the pulpits of many of our predominantly black churches, are now often silenced or muted.

In my own homilies, I have often referred to African Americans as an endangered species.  Statistics show that abortion has the greatest impact on black, unwed women who live in an urban environment where there may not be much support from family, friends or social service networks.

Today the number one cause of death in the African American community is abortion. We have lost over 13 million lives. To put that in perspective, that is one third of our present black population: 1,452 black children are lost each day to abortion!

The abortion challenge in the African American community is deeply interwoven with many other concerns. The black family constantly strives for social justice in confronting racism, poverty, violence, a lack of education, high unemployment, substance abuse, incarceration, AIDS, teen pregnancy, a lack of affordable housing, and many other needs. These concerns often tend to push the primary moral issue of abortion onto the back burner, when in reality it clearly must be at the heart of our discussion on the survival of African American people.

Through evangelization, preaching, and solid catechesis, the Catholic Church will need to intensify its efforts to reach the broader African American community. Stated plainly: With abortion in the black family, there is no future, only further extinction.

What can be done?

First and foremost, the local ordinary and his diocesan staff need to make the issue of abortion in the African American community a priority. This entails a commitment to allocate funds to conduct workshops to train the laity in Pope John Paul II’s “theology of the body” and his encyclical “The Gospel of Life,” along with the encyclicals of Pope Benedict XVI.
African American Catholic laity should be trained in the various life issues and become more involved with the parish pro-life committee.

We have a profound social justice obligation to continue to provide funding and volunteer support for programs that offer assistance to unwed pregnant teens, women and families in the black community.

Because the black family has been affected physically, psychologically, emotionally and spiritually by racism and social injustice, and is being damaged even further by the trauma of abortion, there is an urgent need to offer healing to all those involved in an abortion decision. The invitation of Pope John Paul the Great to women who have had an abortion needs to resound in every Catholic Church:

“Do not lose hope. … Give yourselves over with humility and trust to repentance.
“The Father of mercies is ready to give you his forgiveness and his peace in the sacrament of reconciliation.

“… As a result of your own painful experience, you can be among the most eloquent defenders of everyone’s right to life …” (“The Gospel of Life,”  No. 99).

In addition to caring for those wounded by abortion through the Church’s Project Rachel ministry, greater emphasis must be placed on helping the Christian family through better catechesis on the sacrament of marriage, the gift of children, and the resources of natural family planning.

Evangelization is truly the key, as it leads to developing a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and to a deeper understanding of his teachings. The Church should be willing and ready to share its resources, information, and catechesis within the African American ecumenical community.
The culture of death will be defeated in the African American community and throughout our nation when we—as individuals and as Church—proclaim and witness with our lives to God’s love, the sacredness of human life, and the meaning of human sexuality and marriage. Let us embrace this task with the urgency and the enthusiasm it demands!

Auxiliary Bishop Martin D. Holley of the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., is chair of the USCCB Subcommittee on African American Affairs.