Pastor's Column 1-28-2024
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January 28, 2024Dear Parishioners,
Bishop Henning has started a new initiative: each month he will send parishes newsletters to put in our bulletins. These newsletters allow him to speak to us directly, keep us informed, and share important information.
Just last week the March for Life took place in Washington D.C. While the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in Dobbs, the fight to save lives and change hearts continues especially here in Rhode Island. That includes properly educating ourselves about the reality of life in the womb.
Part of the abortion debate revolves around the question of ensoulment. Ensoulment is the time or process when the soul and body come together to form a human being. Hence, the question of when ensoulment occurs is a pivotal part of the abortion debate.
Some pro-choice proponents argue that ensoulment occurs several months after conception based on the writings of some famous church theologians. In 2008 on Meet the Press, when asked about the timing of ensoulment, Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi stated: “I would say that as an ardent, practicing Catholic, this is an issue that I have studied for a long time. And what I know is, over the centuries, the doctors of the Church have not been able to make that definition. St. Augustine said at three months. We don’t know.” Likewise, one of Catholicism foremost theologians, St. Thomas Aquinas argued that ensoulment occurred around forty days after conception. Regardless of some of her theologians, Church teaching has consistently upheld that life is to be protected from the moment of conception. So, what are we to make of these claims about some of our greatest minds?
St. Thomas Aquinas argued for delayed ensoulment on the basis of the inaccurate biology of his time. Importantly, the Magisterium holds Thomas in high regard. While Thomas’s biology is no longer tenable today, his philosophical and metaphysical principles are still applicable. Thinkers today claim that if St. Thomas had our current advanced understanding of human conception, then he would argue that ensoulment occurs right at conception. Some argue that Thomas’s philosophy commits him to delayed ensoulment, but this too is not the case. We see this clearly when we understand that for St. Thomas, in order for a living being to develop, it must have a principle of development. Just like a car needs fuel to run, and the fuel is the principle of motion, likewise a living being needs a principle which allows it to run and mature. We call this principle of motion of a living being the soul. Generally speaking, there are three types of souls distinguished by their proper activities: vegetative, sensitive, and rational. Importantly, a living being can only have one type of soul/principle and souls do not develop/evolve from one to the other (gasoline can run a car, but it cannot change itself and power an animal). Hence in order for a human embryo to develop to a mature human person, it must already have a rational (i.e. human) soul. You can’t give what you don’t have after all. Hence using St. Thomas’s philosophical insights we can say that ensoulment occurs right at conception.
God bless,
Fr. Barrow
