Foreword and forewarning: Trigger subjects. Religion. Belief. Abortion. If you would rather not read any further please leave now lest you be offended or upset. Also those of you who feel sardonic levity should be be included, well that’s me I fear.

On with the post:

So I’m Christian, Catholic by choice, but that’s another long narrative, and I will spare you the convolutions of the journey. Now to be honest I have not attended Mass for a long while which is yet another long narrative involves personal details I do not wish to go into, but do not involve much to do with the policies and attitudes of The Church itself. Anyway in trying to come to terms with not attending Mass it is my practice to go through the ‘Order of the Mass’ most days of the week, read passages from the bible known as ‘The Mass Readings’, offer up prayers while trying to keep my thoughts level on this most solemn of subjects- no easy task; be honest we all know how minds can wander.
December being of course a month filled with religious themes and symbolism there will be for the believer / follower a number of publications dealing with various aspects of the season, and in trying to balance non-attendance I purchased a couple to read either before, during or after the Order of Mass, as I felt necessary.
(By the way. Are you with me so far? I’ll be getting to the point of the post shortly, just felt some background was necessary) .

Yesterday, the fourth day of Christmas tide is known as The Feast of The Holy Innocents, based on Matthew’s Gospel (2:16-18) which states that Herod The Great on finding out the The Three Wise Men had not complied with his wishes to tell him where the Holy Child was had all male children under two years of age killed, apparently to make sure no one would usurp him. Naturally like all biblical events this is been a subject of debate as to whether it actually happened, historically. For further details here’s the Wiki link to give you a rough idea of the debate:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massacre_of_the_Innocents#:~:text=Modern%20scholarship%20finds%20no%20evidence,is%20congruous%20with%20Herod’s%20character.&text=The%20Feast%20of%20the%20Holy,the%20fourth%20day%20of%20Christmastide.  
Well as I was reading one of the aforementioned publications, on this occasion before The Order of The Mass I found the writer was likening this event (Yes I believe it was likely, history is full of mass-killing horrors) this event to the practice of Abortion.
At once I slammed on my reading brakes and sounded off an allegorical horn. ‘What!‘ and ‘Oh no. Oh no. Oh no-no-no’ were my comments. Relieved my auto-restraint actually work for once and no bad words were used, I ditched the publication into the bin. It was no use the writer adding a little PS at the end to the effect…‘Oh yes and the victims of child abuse too- mentioning no names or institutions’  I was far from happy with that cheap shot. And not reckoning I should approach the Order of Mass in my then current frame of mind opted for an abbreviated version and a likewise prayer.  

Being Catholic I believe in the Nicene Creed
https://www.usccb.org/prayers/nicene-creed 

And also Transubstantiation
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transubstantiation 

What I do not hold to is a dogma which as far I can tell is not mentioned in the Gospels is that Abortion is a murder. Do any of these accusers think for one moment that a woman goes into that process with a casual air and comes out of it with no more than thought than she’d just had a new hair-style? Have they any idea of the trauma prior, during and after that a woman is likely to experience? Do they think for another moment that they are helping any cause they have to pro-life be falsely heaping the charge of murder onto a person already suffering. And these are folk who are supposed to adhere to Forgiveness? What part of Forgiveness does the accusation of Murderer involve? And while we are about it, since there is only one record of Immaculate Conception in the Christian system, why are we not bringing the other person…. The Man…. into the equation. Why does not he get hauled up before this quasi-ecumenical court? I mean he played a part didn’t he?
Just like the Woman found Committing Adultery (John 8:1-11). You don’t commit adultery by yourself. Where was the guy involved, was he going to be stoned? Actually that was an attempt to trap Jesus on theological grounds- the mob failed. And there’s Adam blaming ‘The Woman’ for him eating that Apple….What a whimp! Couldn’t take his responsibility, had to try and shift it.   (Sorry strayed off topic a bit there…hope you got the general theme of the asides)

Personally, I am conflicted about Abortion. In my own ideal world the woman would be supported to go full term, give birth to the baby and the child would be passed to a well vetted and genuine couple, and the natural mother would still be supported afterwards. The only exceptions would be those tragic twists of nature where the woman’s health is at risk, the child has no chance of survival or in the cases of rape or incest (after the man involved has been ‘neutered’ – well that’s the All-Age friendly term I use….Hey! I never said I was a model of Tolerance – That’s my burden). But that is a perfect world. We all have them don’t we?
For the world is not like that, is it? It is a place filled with tragedies, bitter choices, imperfect solutions and unhappy outcomes. Trying the vilify a victim, is not going to help anyway, anyhow, anywhere.  

Am I giving up my Faith?

No, actually, no. Imperfect as I am in my attendance at Mass, I will place my Faith in God (there I said it!). I will still stick to the core beliefs, and if anyone wants to take a different theistic path it is not my place to object, just adhere to Compassion, Respect and Tolerance and I am fine with you.

Do I hold to all of the ‘teachings’ of the Catholic Church….No, I don’t. There’s one higher authority, the one I defer to, and I believe we are letting that Authority down in so many ways.

OK, I’m done for today.