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St. Clare Church |
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St. Clare Church |
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What Is the "Seamless Garment?" |
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The
Seamless Garment The Call to a Consistent Ethic of Life by Fr. James Scullion, O.F.M. The Image of the Seamless Garment (John 19:23). The seamless garment is a prominent but puzzling symbol in John’s Gospel. The soldiers cast lots for this garment so they would not have to tear it since “the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from the top” (John 19:23). This seamless garment, like the seamless net (21:11), seems to be a symbol of unity or oneness, the unity that Jesus brought and calls us to live out. The late Joseph Cardinal Bernardin used the seamless garment as an image for a unified or consistent ethic of life. This image challenges us to have a seamless respect for life from the womb to the tomb. Pope John Paul II has forcefully stated that a consistent ethic of life must oppose a “culture of death.” This culture is one in which . . . the powerful predominate, setting aside and even eliminating the powerless . . . unborn children, helpless victims of abortion; the elderly and incurably ill, subjected at times to euthanasia; and the many other people relegated to the margins of society by consumerism and materialism. Nor can I fail to mention the unnecessary recourse to the death penalty. . . . This model of society bears the stamp of the culture of death, and is therefore in opposition to the gospel message. (Ecclesia in America, #63, Apostolic Exhortation of Pope John Paul II, January 1999). As the Holy Father brings out, a culture of life must address a whole host of moral issues including abortion, pornography and obscenity, poverty, health care, and the death penalty. There is need for a prayerful listening to the word of God and openness to the promptings of the Spirit, since on some of these issues not only people of goodwill but even Christians are divided, and the seamless garment of respect for life risks being torn. |
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The text of Cardinal Bernardin's talk introducing the "Seamless Garment:"
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