Thursday of the Fifth Week of Easter

 Lectionary: 288

God made his choice among you that through my mouth
the Gentiles would hear the word of the Gospel and believe.
And God, who knows the heart,
bore witness by granting them the Holy Spirit
just as he did us.
He made no distinction between us and them,
for by faith he purified their hearts.

By the early 1970's, scholars were calling the Second Vatican Council one of the two or three most important in the history of the Church. It ranked with Ephesus and the Fourth Lateran Council and was more important than Trent. But I think the Council of Jerusalem, around 49 AD, as described by Saint Luke in the Acts of the Apostles, is the most important of all. On that occasion the surviving apostles made the critical decision to follow the Spirit's lead, accept Gentiles into full membership with few restrictions, and -- inevitably -- be separated forever from the Jewish religion. The rupture with the dominant Pharisees was irreparable. 

Saint Luke famously minimizes conflicts within the Church; he prefers to accentuate the peaceful influence of the Holy Spirit. And we have to agree with his preference as we hear of the debate among the attendees and listen to today's brief Gospel: 

Remain in my love.
If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love,
just as I have kept my Father’s commandments
and remain in his love.

Our secular news media prefer conflict. Journalists have a pronounced aversion to peaceful discussion and harmony. "Who wants to hear about that?" they might ask. I sometimes wonder if that preference hasn't, almost magically, created the fifty/fifty stasis of the US Senate which has persisted for several years. If the Senate were divided 61/39 it would not be half so exciting. And excitement is interesting; and interesting is news;  and news is profit for the news industry. Mr. Trump captured the presidency not for his political skills or new ideas -- he had neither -- but for his ability to generate conflict. How exciting is that?

Saint Luke's news from Jerusalem is of a peaceful discussion among religious missionaries who respected, admired, and loved one another. They were all Jews and, if the gospels are to be trusted, shared the Jewish predilection for argument. But the Spirit and our Evangelical Journalist created an almost unprecedented harmony which lay the foundation for the Church of all time. So long as we remain in his love we are the Church.

The Supreme Court, by way of a negative example, is sadly demonstrating the truth of that principle with its handling of the abortion issue. In the middle of a contentious and widespread debate in 1973, the justices suddenly intervened and attempted to put an end to all discussion. Pro-abortion lobbyists were delighted; those opposing abortion were caught flatfooted. They had not felt compelled to organize and resist a procedure that seemed clearly immoral and had been illegal for as long as anyone could remember. 

Many people today, apparently including the Supreme Court Justice John Roberts, agree that the 1973 decision was premature. It was wrong -- if for no other reason -- because the decision-making process itself was aborted.

I have seen smaller groups with poor leadership make similar mistakes. In an effort to settle an uncomfortable discussion they decided for the group before the group agreed to anything. Sometimes they acted when only a bare quorum were in attendance. Sometimes they stalled till the late hours of the night and many participants had gone home. They usually acted arrogantly, presuming they knew what was best for the ignorant majority. Chaos ensued and sometimes the organization disbanded altogether. 

The process of deciding is more important than the decision. 

Democratic states and organizations often fail to respect that principle as vocal minorities shout their demands  and skillful players manipulate procedural rules. The United States might never recover from the debacle of Prohibition when a highly organized and disciplined minority foisted their vision of sobriety upon the nation. Before the law had taken effect on January 1, 1920, organized crime had created networks to meet the consumers' demand. Those networks survive to this day, providing guns, drugs, and usurious credit. No doubt, some are already prepared to exploit the demand for abortion in Republican states, with the collusion of "conservative" preachers and politicians. 

Given the consumers' demand and the market's readiness to meet that demand, the "right" to abortion will be neither suppressed nor assured by state legislatures, the federal government, or the Supreme Court. This decision must be made by a nation prepared to follow the lead of the Holy Spirit in its respect for the gift of children, the dignity of women, the sanctity of marriage, and the mystery of human sexuality.