Dear Friends,

On May 26th, 2018—“a date which will live in infamy”— Ireland ceased to be a Catholic nation. The people of Ireland overwhelmingly voted to “legalize” the murder of innocent children in the womb. They thereby rejected, with full knowledge and intention, the constant and unchangeable teaching of the Catholic Church that abortion is murder.

So terrible is the crime of abortion that the Church has attached to it the punishment of automatic excommunication to anyone who procures it.

Shame on Ireland, once known for enthusiastically embracing large families even in the midst of persecution, poverty, and hunger but is now engaged in self-genocide. She has turned her back on her children, allowing them to be delivered to the knife of the abortionist.

Shame on Ireland for not following her ancestors and sainted heroes, who, for centuries, bore persecution for adhering to the Faith given to them by Saint Patrick.

Shame on Ireland because the perversion of abortion was not mandated by the state. It is not like wicked Herod slaughtering the Holy Innocents or Communist China killing every second child. Nor has a mandate come down from a Supreme Court denying the personhood of a child in the womb. No, the nation itself has chosen this wicked thing freely and of its own accord.

The dancing, rejoicing, and carousing in the streets after this so called “Victory for women’s rights” brings to mind the French Revolution with the mobs of Paris screech­ing and cheering as heads rolled at each crash of the guillotine.

The difficulties of child bearing came about as a punishment for the sin of Adam and Eve. A mother cannot shirk these difficulties without shame any more than a father can shirk earning bread for his family by the “sweat of his brow.”

Men who desert the battlefield in time of war bear the shame of cowardice even though they are sure to be killed. Soldiers, policemen, security guards at schools, and firemen often face death to save lives; it goes with the job. Those who give their lives are heroes. One who prefers to kill her child to avoid inconvenience or even death is a disgrace.

Our Lord cursed the barren fig tree, as is related in the Gospel. It withered away because it bore no fruit. Ireland, that once green and fertile island, is becoming barren by selfish­ness, contraception and homosexual unions. The little fruit she does bear is now subject to extinction by mere choice.

Ireland should come back to the Faith and cast off her self-imposed curse.

In the Immaculate Heart of Mary, 
Br. Thomas Augustine, M,I.C.M 
Superior