We must offer women who have had an abortion hope and encouragement and avoid judging their internal guilt

It was St. Augustine, Father and Doctor of the Church, who said, "Interficere errorem, diligere errantem" - Kill the error, love the one who errs.  I have actually taken that as the motto for this Blog.  Gaudium et Spes of the Second Vatican Council put it this way: "..it is necessary to distinguish between error, which always merits repudiation, and the person in error, who never loses the dignity of being a person even when he is flawed by false or inadequate religious notions. God alone is the judge and searcher of hearts, for that reason He forbids us to make judgments about the internal guilt of anyone." (No. 28).

This teaching isn't always understood by some.  In an article on abortion which may be found at LifeSiteNews, Stacy Trasancos, who writes a column for The Catholic Free Press, writes, "It's a faulty question to ask whether or not a woman suffers mental anguish after she kills her own child.  Of course she does, a woman with her sanity and dignity intact doesn't do that in the first place....a woman  who kills her child in the womb is suffering mentally and will suffer mentally afterwards.  Something is terribly wrong in her soul and in her life." See here.

But here we encounter an immediate problem.  To say that there is something "terribly wrong" in the soul of a woman who has had an abortion and that her sanity and dignity are not intact is to make a judgment about her internal guilt and her motives.  The very thing which the teaching of the Church forbids.


Pope John Paul II, in his wonderful Encyclical Letter Evangelium Vitae, explains that many factors influence the decision which a woman makes when she is burdened with an untimely pregnancy.  He writes, "As well as the mother, there are often other people too who decide upon the death of the child in the womb. In the first place, the father of the child may be to blame, not only when he directly pressures the woman to have an abortion, but also when he indirectly encourages such a decision on her part by leaving her alone to face the problems of pregnancy...Nor can one overlook the pressures which sometimes come from the wider family circle and from friends. Sometimes the woman is subjected to such strong pressure that she feels psychologically forced to have an abortion: certainly in this case the moral responsibility lies particularly with those who have directly or indirectly obliged her to have an abortion. (EV, No. 59)

The Holy Father also places responsibility for the tragedy of abortion on, "doctors and nurses...when they place at the service of death skills which were acquired for promotion of life," and on "legislators who have promoted and approved abortion laws," and, "to the extent that they have a say in the matter, on the administrators of the health-care centers were abortions are performed” (EV, No. 59).

It is always a tragedy when a woman makes the decision to have an abortion.  But this decision to have an abortion is made in the context of multiple personal and societal pressures in what Pope John Paul II so aptly termed the "culture of death." Although the responsibility for the abortion decision is not entirely, nor perhaps even primarily hers, she must bear its burdensome consequences almost entirely alone for the rest of her life. So perhaps it's best to avoid questioning her sanity and dignity?

Perhaps instead, we should follow the lead of Pope John Paul II, whose pastoral outreach to women who have had an abortion is a model of tenderness and compassion [rightly understood] as well as being hopeful:

"I would like to say a special word to women who have had an abortion. The Church is aware of the many factors which may have influenced your decision, and she does not doubt that in many cases I was a painful and even shattering decision. The wound in your heart may not yet have healed. Certainly what happened was and remains terribly wrong. But do not give in to discouragement and do not lose hope. Try rather to understand what happened and face it honestly. If you have not already done so, 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." (EV, No. 99).

Notice how the Holy Father does not condone sin or error?  He rightly stresses that an abortion is, objectively speaking, a grave wrong even as he offers hope and encouragement by reminding women who have had an abortion that forgiveness and peace may be theirs in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. 

One would think that Stacy Trasancos would understand this better than most.  For she has herself admitted, at the website Catholic Online, that she got pregnant in college, has had an abortion, that she's taken drugs and worked as a stripper, that she's been divorced, and that her seven children are from three different men.

The same Good God Who forgave Stacy her sins offers His Mercy to every woman who has had an abortion.  Perhaps instead of questioning the souls of such women or their dignity and sanity, Stacy could follow Pope John Paul II's lead?  As should we all.

Kill the error, love the one who errs.  Hate the sin, love the sinner.

Words of warning and encouragement from Our Lady

Our Lady to Fr. Stefano Gobbi (taken from the book To the Priests: Our Lady's Beloved Sons):

Message # 548, August 5, 1995, Feast of Our Lady of the Snows
Along the road of my messages, I am bringing you to the understanding of that which is written in the Book which is yet sealed. Many pages of what is contained in the Apocalypse of Saint John have already been explained to you by me. Above all, I have pointed out to you the great battle which is taking place between the Woman clothed in the sun and the Red Dragon, assisted by the Black Beast, namely, Masonry.

I have also revealed to you the subtle and diabolical snares set for you by Masonry, which has entered into the interior of the Church and has established the center of its power there where Jesus has established the center and the foundation of her unity. Do not be disturbed, because this forms part of the mystery of iniquity, which the Church has known from her very birth. In fact Satan - who drove Judas, one of the twelve, to become the traitor - has entered even into the Apostolic College.

In these times of yours, the mystery of iniquity is on the point of manifesting itself in all its terrible power.

Message # 560, December 31, 1995

I am the great sign of Divine Mercy -For this, I am manifesting myself, in so powerful and extraordinary a way, through my apparitions, my numerous weepings, and the messages I give to the heart of this little son of mine, whom I myself am leading along all the roads of the world, in search of sinners, of the sick, of those who have fallen, of the straying, of the despairing, of those who are succumbing to the seductions of sin and evil.

Message # 561, January 1, 1996, Feast of Mary, the Most Holy Mother of God

Now the events will follow one upon the other in rapid succession, toward their complete unfolding. My secrets will be revealed to you by the very events through which you have been called to live.

Because of this, seeing with motherly concern all that is now awaiting you, I once again invite the Church and all humanity to enter into the safe refuge of my Immaculate Heart. Only here will you be protected and consoled by my very own self. Only here will you find peace and will you cross with joy the bright threshold of hope.

Because in the safe refuge of my Immaculate Heart, which the Most Holy Trinity is offering to you as an ark of salvation in these last times, you will await, in confidence and in prayer, the return in glory of Jesus, who will bring His Kingdom into the world and make all things new.

Message # 562, January 19, 1996

How can you take shelter in the painful hours of the great trial, which has now come for the Church and for humanity? Where can you find refuge in the tremendous squall which is shaking heaven and earth because of the hatred which is spreading everywhere; of the violence which is exploding; of the evil which is being committed; of the sin which is being exalted; of the impurity which is submerging the whole world?

You are all being called to find assistance and protection in the heavenly garden of my motherly love. For thus it will become ever clearer and clearer to the Church and to humanity how my Immaculate Heart is the sure refuge, which the Most Holy Trinity has prepared for your salvation, in the hour when justice will become manifested in all its divine power.

I am the Mother of Love and of Mercy.

At the moment when the world will be set free from the Evil One and the earth purified by the painful trial which, in many ways, has already been foretold to you, my Immaculate Heart will be the place where all will see fulfilled the greatest prodigy of Divine Mercy.

Thus the Holy Spirit will pour out upon the world His Second Pentecost of grace and of fire, to prepare the Church and humanity for the return of Jesus in the splendor of His divine glory, to make all things new.

This is not a message of "doom and gloom." Unless of course you are an unrepentant sinner. It is a message of hope. For those who really love the Lord Jesus (John 14: 15), it is an exciting time. We say along with the Apostle John in the Book of Revelation: Maranatha! - Come, Lord Jesus!

Amen.