Newest Manifestation of the Culture of Death? Baby Boxes and Infant Exposure

By Deacon Keith Fournier
6/13/2012
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

We are witnessing a new front in the expansion of the Culture of death and we must act.

The early Roman Empire was a Culture of death. The Christian Church was called into it to transform it from within and build a Culture of life. They lived as leaven, light and salt for the world into which they were sent. Our situation at the beginning of the Third Millennium is similar.

A baby box or hatch where an unwanted newborn has been left

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CHESAPEAKE, VA (Catholic Online) - One of my favorite early Christian writings is the letter to Diognetus. A poignant portion of the letter can be read on the Vatican website here. It is one of the earliest examples of Christian "apologetics". The word does NOT mean apologizing for the faith but rather defending the faith.

The letter was written to a pagan inquirer to the Christian faith in the second century. The writer explains some of the practices of the early Christians which set them apart from the pagan cultures into which they were sent. One example of the Christian way of life was their faithful monogamous marriages (only between men and women) and their willingness to welcome children as a gift. They did not engage in non-marital sexual relationships. They did not abort children in the womb or expose their babies after birth.

The unknown writer notes of Christians, "there is something extraordinary about their lives. They live in their own countries as though they were only passing through. They play their full role as citizens, but labor under all the disabilities of aliens. Any country can be their homeland, but for them their homeland, wherever it may be, is a foreign country. Like others, they marry and have children, but they do not expose them. They share their meals, but not their wives.They live in the flesh, but they are not governed by the desires of the flesh".

In the ancient Roman and Greek world primitive forms of abortion were practiced. They did not have the sophisticated means we have at our disposal to kill the children by reaching into their first home, their mothers womb. Exposure, the practice of leaving unwanted children out on rocks to be eaten by birds of prey, picked up by slave traders, or die from the exposure to the elements, was also common. At times, the motive of leaving the baby was to prevent their death. However, the practice became a form of child abandonment and infanticide.

The first/second century Greek historian Plutarch, who became a Roman citizen, wrote of the practice of exposure, "the father took his child and brought it to the elders of the tribe. They examined the child, and if it was well formed and strong, ordered it to be raised, but if the child was ill-born and maimed, they discarded it in the so-called Apothetae, a kind of pit, on the grounds that it was not worth the rearing."

Ancient Rome had "paterfamilias" in their legal code. It gave men the power of life or death over children. The Romans adopted a pseudo-religious defense of the practice claiming that "Romulus (one of the purported founders of the Empire) compelled the citizens to raise every male child and the first-born of the females, and he forbade them to put to death any child under three years of age, unless it was a cripple or a monster from birth. He did not prevent the parents from exposing such children, provided that they had displayed them first to the five nearest neighbors and had secured their approval."

The Christians of the first millennium lived an entirely different way of life than the pagans around them on these matters. One of the earliest Catechisms, the "Didache" or teaching of the twelve , contrasted the way of life and the way of death. Christians were commanded "Do not kill a fetus by abortion, or commit infanticide." Christians rescued children left to die by exposure and took them into their homes, raising them as their own.

The early Roman Empire was a Culture of death. The Christian Church was called into it to transform it from within and build a Culture of life. They lived as their Lord had taught them and become leaven, light and salt for the world into which they were sent. As the letter to Diognetus recorded, "To speak in general terms, we may say that the Christian is to the world what the soul is to the body."

Our situation at the beginning of the Third Millennium is similar. The "empires" we live under may not be ancient Rome, but the worldview is similar. It is arguably more brutal when it comes to children in the womb. Abortion for any reason and at any time is now called a "right". The police power of the State, rather than protect the child, protects the ones who take their lives.

So, I was saddened but not shocked to read this week of the return of what could become a new practice of exposure - and the interesting complications posed in this age of sperm banks and new "reproductive" technologies. Randeep Ramesh of the Guardian newspaper in a Sunday June 12, 2012 article entitled "Spread of 'baby boxes' in Europe alarms United Nations" wrote concerning the growing practice.

The article reported on the growing use of "baby boxes where ...

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1 - 8 of 8 Comments

Judy Claar
11 months ago
Dear Deacon Keith: This was an interesting and mixed article to me. I enjoyed the first page immensely. When I read about the UN.- I guess I am like my fellow posters: (A) The boxes do remind me of our system in the U.S.: Dropping off a baby/child at the hospital, fire station, police station etc. We do not know for what reason she is giving the child up...but praise God she has not aborted, or killed it, after the precious one has been born. (B) The boxes say: "I, the mother of this child, carried it to full term and did not abort. Someone please take care of my child." (C) Unless there is further clarification, I must conclude, on the basis of your well written article, that: The UN is questioning the use of baby boxes because it might prefer abortions, which will not litter streets. That their are women who humbly Demonstrate to the world, that there are lonely mothers, poor mothers, and others, who do believe in Life, and wish w/all their heart, for someone to Love their child, because for some reason or another, they think that they cannot care for it. This is my respectful take anyway. I guess I look for anything to prevent abortion. "Sacred Heart Of Jesus, We Place Our Trust In Thee."
suzanna
11 months ago
Baby boxes are a much better choice than abortion. Europe needs a population boom. The boxes are a good idea. The mothers are certainly doing what they believe is in the best interest of the children. Not every mother can offer their baby a safe and secure home. Boxes are the best solutions to extremely difficult situations.
mgm.
11 months ago
I read a social history of France that explained that the baby box was a humane advancement at the time they were introduced .That before then single women and families with too many mouths to feed would just abandon babies on the street and just hope for the best .some of the drop off points were run by nuns.Women in the ancient world had great knowledge of birth control ,it was'nt just a matter of (Ho! if I get in a family way I just give birth then put the kid on the trash pile) Women then knew and till the advent of modern medicine that women often died in giving birth or problems form it later.
Deacon Bill
11 months ago
It seems as if the parade of horrors presented by the Culture of Death never ends. The demand for Christian witness grows day by day. The practice referred to by Andrew in his comment is called Safe Haven, at least it is here in the Midwest.Keith, thank you for the article.
Marcy K.
11 months ago
I have to agree with Andrew. As an adoptee I understand not knowing who your birth parents are, but is it better for that child to be abused or killed or aborted before birth, or to be given up? Perhaps in the mind of a mother those boxes are a last resort and she would have aborted the child otherwise. She could think, I really don't want an abortion, but if I can't handle it there are always those boxes. Or perhaps that child could suffer horribly because of a home situation and the mother feels this is a way to save the child. It is unlikely a mother would abandon her child with little thought. Better for the baby to be abandoned then dead. I don't think that compares to not knowing who your parents are.
C.L.
11 months ago
I am very pro-life and pretty surprised at the way this article likens pagan practices of leaving babies to die in pits and baby boxes today. We don't live in a perfect world. At least these women are not killing the children in the womb and giving them a chance at life. At least their society is setting up a program to allow these babies to live.

Yes, it may be a bad practice overall, but that is 400 babies who were not aborted. Why do we have to put down people who are at least trying!?

I'm disappointed in this article.
Robert Burford
11 months ago
Wow! It is amazing and sad how history repeats itself. The path for correction is spelled out for us by Diognetus. Monogomous marriages, abstaining from illiciet sexual intercourse and respect for life. The world as we know it today is pagan. Our mission is to change and correct the culture around us. We still have the great commission. Matt 28:17-20 to make disciples of this pagan world. We can only do it with the help of the Holy Spirit and remembering that Jesus will be with us to the end of the age. These are dark times but there is hope.
Andrew
11 months ago
Isn't this practice of the "baby box" the same as when a mother here in the US takes her infant to a hospital, fire department, or police station to give the child up for adoption in an anonymous way? Many states have laws protecting such mothers from prosecution and it serves to protect the children by allowing them to be placed in adopted families where they will be loved and cared for. Sure, the best thing for a child is for him or her to grow up in a loving household with both the father and mother, but that is not always possible in this world which is still in conversion to a full life in Christ. This is a way of giving life to the child, isn't it? The article says that many of these boxes are outside hospitals, where a carer is near by to tend to the child's needs. A last line of protection for children born to unwed or ill prepared mothers should be protected. I don't see how this is in any way the same as the practice of exposing infants. Those poor exposed children were left for dead or left to be taken into slavery.

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