June 29, 2010 – Catechism 362-368

The soul of a person is God’s creation and created immediately and is immortal. This is not something created by the parents. We can all sense that we have a soul. Something that is not physical about us. Our thoughts and ideas, our conscience. This is what makes us human. When we die our body and soul are then separated. I was thinking about what happens at an abortion. The parents do participate in the creation of the body, but not the soul. In an abortion, courts have said, mom’s have the right to destroy the body. Courts also don’t say that the baby is a person yet. The question that is considered in the gray area is when does the soul enter and make the person a human. From our reading we can see the Catholic Church says immediately, from conception. That is why the Church feels so strongly about abortion. When the soul enters a person, that is a human being, with their own soul and the parent, for as much responsibility as they may have, do not have the right to terminate a human life. When you hear discussions about the abortion issue and the Church’s stance, know that this understanding is its foundation. Life begins and conception and when life begins, no one has the right to terminate that life.