Teach us true respect for all / Stir response to duty's call / Strengthen us the weak to cherish / Give us vision
lest we perish.
These inspiring words are from the Jamaican National Anthem. They perfectly encapsulate the kind of commitment to the vulnerable that Jamaica needs to manifest if it is to have a future. The good pro-life people on this island are struggling hard — before abortion gets legalized — to convince their nation that abortion is a deal with the devil that will kill their national soul.
I am writing primarily to ask your prayers for Jamaica right now. Jamaica is a very Christian nation with deep-seated Christian values that often get trampled upon by hedonistic lifestyles that they have learned from their northern neighbors. Their unwed pregnancy rate is high, poverty is endemic, crime and murders are rampant and they always talk about themselves as a Third World Country. However, even though they are a relatively small island lodged in between two huge American continents they are second to none in their love for life. The vast majority of Jamaicans really understand that there is no reason to kill a baby, ever. They call in to radio talk shows and write letters to the editor to let their pro-life opinions be known, and their pro-life heart will save them.
The attempt to legalize abortion in Jamaica, however, is just another page of the abortion playbook. The international abortion lobby works closely with a few well-placed abortion promoters in any country, usually in the medical profession and government. These then set up committees to study the phenomenon of "unsafe abortion" which is nothing more than a euphemism for "illegal" abortion. They grossly exaggerate or skew the numbers of women being harmed and killed by illegal abortionists, and then on the basis of their voluminous reports to government and scare tactics, they push the agenda to legalize abortion claiming that they are the real champions of women.
True to form, in Jamaica, an Abortion Advisory Committee was set up in 2005 to "study" the issue of abortion for a proposed legal reform. The head of this committee is a retired doctor who had been head of Planned Parenthood in Jamaica — just imagine what she will "advise" her government! Predictably, this advisory group submitted a totally pro-abortion report to Parliament last year advocating abortion on demand up to 22 weeks and proceeded to fast track the effort to legalize abortion when a new, more liberal government came into power in October. Now, the situation has reached a critical stage. Parliament has set up a special Select Committee to "debate" the issue and create draft legislation for a vote. This is why Jamaica needs your prayers! The process is very far advanced.
Thankfully, an alliance of churches and concerned civic groups had a press conference at a hotel in Kingston yesterday in which they signaled to the government in no uncertain terms that they will not accept this plan to legalize abortion on demand in Jamaica. It was a magnificent show of solidarity and unity behind the singular purpose of rebuking this immoral effort to kill more babies. The interventions were just marvelous and you can look at the statements of these groups on the new website that has been set up for this purpose, www.defendlifejamaica.com. These people are the conscience of their nation.
The battle for life has only just begun in Jamaica, but the best part of it is that the defenders of life have a fighting chance because they are getting organized now. They are working very hard to keep their people faithful to their founding vision of "respecting all" and "cherishing the weak." Please pray the prayer to the Guardian Angel of Jamaica on the side bar of this email and keep their valiant efforts in prayer for at least the near future.
February 11th, 2008 at 9:14 am
Would it be to far out to assume these committee's with well placed medical personnel set up to study the phenomenon of unsafe illegal abortions may be the very ones DOING those abortions, then "oops'" they "by-accident-on-purpose" slash a uterus or two open…and there you go.
I mean, they killed women willy nilly to get the Pill on the road, at least a 1/2 dozen young women on that birth control patch, another dozen or so killed from RU486…whats a few more? You can't make a revolution without cracking a few egg's…right?
I love Jamaicans…they are warm, kind friendly people…and I will certainly pray for them.
"Then the dragon became angry with the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring, those who keep God's commandments and bear witness to Jesus. It took its position on the sand of the sea."
Madeline
February 11th, 2008 at 10:07 am
Dear Father, I am of the opinion that you go too far with your bombastic statement, "… hedonistic lifestyles that they have learned from their northern neighbors." My one, and only, visit to Kingston in the late 1960's left me with a very different view of Jamaica and the inhabitants. I witnessed women washing clothes in the gutter, groups of children roaming unsupervised in the street, and machete-welding criminals indiscriminately raping and killing their countrymen. In spite of an unscrupulous government, the prison was over full.
Nowhere did I see your "very Christian nation with deep-seated Christian values". I will gladly pray for the people of Jamaica, but please don't place the cause of their condition on my country's doorstep. Possibly, America is not the hedonistic northern neighbor of whom you speak?
February 11th, 2008 at 10:39 am
A country with poverty that is endemic will have the kind of conditions that nezatda describes. It also has the kind of twisted and nefarious plots that madhattertea describes. The first is homegrown and is the result of an empty treasury. The second is an import, yes, from the hedonistic north($$$- that's what it takes) and West and is the result of a barren soul.
February 11th, 2008 at 8:39 pm
I have to agree with nezatda in objecting to yet another spear thrown at the west. The deals men are willing to make with the devil for political or economic gain come from the fruits of original sin, not western civilization. the very concept of representative democracy has grown out of the western tradition and is zealously defended by this country. Fr., I will pray for Jamaica and I will continue to support the mission work to this poor nation but I do not accept that their problems are the fault of the U.S. Greed, selfishness, hedonism, amd immorality are not an export of this country but grow in the hearts of all men and require frequent weeding of the soul to uproot. Thank God for confession!
February 11th, 2008 at 10:41 pm
Father, I must agree with the comments above. Legalized abortion in the United States was never voted upon by the people, but a handful of judges thrust this upon us. Extremely poor formation of the electorate has perpetuated this tragedy, but I don't believe they "learned" hedonism from the United States–every culture has its good and bad. I'm amazed at how passionate AND civilized abortion opponents have here in the United States. Pro-Lifers have followed the law and not resorted to violence in order to remove this scourge from our midst–so much for hedonism.