In Memoriam

I do not get out much, what with all the Tavern Keeping to do, so I was very pleasantly suprised to receive an invitation to attend the dedication of a memorial at the weekend.  It was to follow a Mass for the many who had been killed: it was a sombre reminder.

We have seen and heard of a lot of death these past few weeks, with the memory of  the Manchester and London  atrocities very fresh in our minds. Dozens of young people, little ones even, innocents, grieved over very publicly, with #hashtags and teddy bears and outpourings of lerve from Politicians and pop singers.  Bodies torn apart and limbs torn off; sharp knives chopping into tender flesh. It is difficult to 'forgive' the killers and those same politicians who have facilitated such carnage.

But this memorial was for the hundreds of thousands killed in the womb, also facilitated by those politicians. Very little is heard, very little public grief expended over these little ones. Victims of Abortion. 

So it was to Richmond, that small village outside of Hobart which retains an air of yesteryear in its architecture and its slower pace. And to the small Church of St John the Evangelist with its country churchyard.

There in a small copse of trees, calming and quiet,  set apart from the graves and personal monuments, we gathered and prayed and spoke warmly under the afternoon sunshine.

There must have been about 100 people there, old and young, some carrying personal grief from a long time ago. There were some tears and some comforting, but also many smiles and kind faces.

It was a simple memorial in two types of stone. A Marble baby in a shawl, lying on a Granite plinth. 

The ladies of The Catholic Women's League of Tasmania commissioned a local sculptor to create the memorial and he held many discussions with the Ladies to get exactly what they wanted. He was greeted and praised by all for his work. 

The babe looked peaceful in its soft shawl. 

So, while the TV and newspapers were loud and strident in their calls for 'calm' and their politically correct implorings against Islamophobia, omitting the fact that islamophobia has killed no-one, we looked to the opposite message from the same PC people that it is a woman's right to choose and she can do whatever she likes with her body.  

Translated, that means kill a baby. 

Islamic killers who use their bodies to kill innocents are not given the same excuse.  They can use a knife to randomly stab people to death and the media goes into overdrive. A Doctor can reach her knife into a woman's body and tear a baby's limbs off, crush its little chest and puncture its tiny head, and the media say nothing at all. 

Britain kills 250,000 babies in the womb every year. Oz kills 100,000. There are no calls condemning such slaughter.  No enraged media. Only encouragement. What are they compared to a dozen 'victims' that we can all get incenced about?

When the small crowd went in to tea, this old, tired man sat in the sun on the seat beside the baby monument and quietly wept.

Father forgive us.

Pax