ON April 19 a very good symposium – Walking With Love – was held in Brisbane.
This most worthy initiative of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference focused on the trauma experienced by so many women as the result of an unwanted pregnancy.
Its aim was to show that support and help are available to women contemplating abortion, and to women suffering mental anguish after having an abortion.
All presentations at the symposium were excellent.
One speaker told of the pressure to abort which is placed on women who learn that their unborn child has a mental or physical disability. She has a child with Down’s syndrome whom she loves dearly and happily serves selflessly.
Three other courageous women gave moving accounts of their own unexpected and unwanted pregnancies.
One underwent an abortion, one gave birth and kept her child, and the third bore her child and gave it up for adoption. All three suffered grievous emotional shock during and after their pregnancies.
I’m sure all who came to the symposium were truly impressed and grateful to the ACBC and the actual organisers and participants.
Sadly, however, the number of attendees was most disappointing. I felt very sorry for the presenters and others involved, including Archbishop John Bathersby as host and Bishop Eugene Hurley of Darwin as the ultimate promoter.
The total number attending, including non-Catholics, would not have exceeded 200. Metropolitan Brisbane alone has more than three score parishes, but obviously many were not represented at all.
Why are we Catholics obviously so disinterested in such a vital moral issue as abortion?
Many are passionate about social matters such as homelessness and the environment; yet apparently they remain unmoved by the desperate plight of the unborn and their mothers.
I sincerely hope and pray that the apathy shown in Brisbane towards Walking With Love will not dishearten and deter our bishops from introducing other equally positive and practical initiatives in the future.
RICHARD CONGRAM
Carindale, Qld
