Scottish Catholic Observer

When I was asked if I’d like to write a new monthly column for The Scottish Catholic Observer, my first answer was: ‘Thanks, but no thanks. I’m a talker, not a writer’ (as may well become obvious!)

However, I was persuaded that it might be a good way to give more people an insight into some of the things that I care passionately about in life, and to share my experiences on the life of a religious sister and our pro-life work. So here goes… let’s start at the very beginning… admit it, you’ve just had a little Fraulein Maria moment and started singing! Anyway, I digress.

I, like every single person reading these words, began my life at conception. Now unless you’re me, my conception is neither a very interesting nor a very startling fact. But it is a fact and, in my life, the recognition that every human life begins at the moment of conception was to prove a real turning point and a real challenge.

As a teenager, I was not pro-life, in fact, I would have described myself as pro-choice, pro a woman’s right to choose. It wasn’t until I came to realise what that choice involved—the taking of an innocent human life and the destroying of something very deep and damaging in so many women—that I changed my mind.

And if I can change my mind and heart and go from pro-choice to pro-life, from very lukewarm cradle Catholic to committed religious sister, then anybody can. Conversion is at the very heart of our Faith and conversion is a lifelong business.

We live in a society where it is easy to get into a defensive mentality in which we apologise all the time for our Catholic beliefs—we don’t want to rock the boat. We don’t want to make a ‘big issue about it’ we just want to be left to get on with it. But that’s never going to happen, and it never should. From the very beginnings of our Catholic Faith, believers have had to suffer for their beliefs. In the early days of the Faith, we were persecuted and even martyred for daring to preach the Gospel in all its fullness. This we know still happens in many places throughout the world.

Here in our country, in our times, the greatest challenge is to overcome the often deliberate misrepresentation of the Church and Her teaching, and even more prevalent is the sheer indifference of so many who are caught up in secularism and relativism. There are no easy answers to the problems that beset us, in our own personal lives or as a society, but there are answers—intelligent, coherent and life-giving answers—which are to be found in the teachings of Jesus Christ and His Church, if only we could open our minds and hearts to them.

In our lives as Sisters of the Gospel of Life and in all our pro-life work at the Cardinal Winning Pro-life Initiative, there is one line of Scripture which we have adopted as our own: ‘I have come that they may have life, and life in abundance.’ John 10:10.

For me, John 10:10 sums up all that I believe. I don’t simply want to be an anti-abortion Catholic, I want to be a radically, enthusiastically and lovingly pro-life Catholic.

Every day I try to reflect upon these words of Christ and put them into practice. I fail often, but at least I am trying, and hopefully practice (along with a massive dose of grace) will make perfect!

Over the next few months, I hope to help and encourage you to take up or renew this challenge in your own life and in your own circumstances. Until then, here are some points to ponder:

—  Am I living my life abundantly?

— Do I love and respect all others?

— If I were to die today would I be happy with the way I have tried to live my life?

— Despite my sins, my faults and weaknesses, have I tried my very best to love?

— Do I really believe that Jesus Christ came so that I could have abundant life?

— Sr Roseann Reddy works with the Sisters of the Gospel of Life on the Cardinal Winning Pro-Life Initiative. Visit http://gospeloflifesisters.wordpress.com/