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The Canadian Parliament has disgraced itself again.Justin Trudeau / Flickr

October 20, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) – Canada's Parliament has disgraced itself again.

In rejecting a common sense bill to protect unborn victims of crime – unborn babies whose mothers have chosen to bear life – Canada's MPs showed yet again last night that they are more attached to pro-abortion ideology than to their “pro-choice” mantras.

We expected nothing less from the Trudeau Liberals, but this is not just a Liberal problem. The Conservatives under Stephen Harper were nearly as keen to stamp out any hint of protection for the unborn, no matter how “pro-choice.”

In fact, an earlier iteration of this bill actually had a chance to pass under Harper's minority government in 2008, until the party leaders killed it by direct intervention.

And of course, there was Rod Bruinooge's Bill C-510 to ban abortion coercion, another attempt to enshrine meager “pro-choice” protections that offended pro-abortion sensibilities. But that was so offensive that Prime Minister Harper personally showed up to the vote that defeated it in order to send a message.

It is obvious the Conservatives, especially at the grassroots, are better than the other parties currently in parliament. They're the only party to allow a modicum of freedom on issues like life and marriage. But that's not actually saying much, is it?

A vote like we had last night is an occasion for reflection.

We are a nation in crisis, in the midst of its death throes.

This crisis is surely political, but it goes deeper. It is a crisis of culture, and even more fundamentally, a crisis of faith.

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As people in the world, we have a duty to promote renewal in all areas of culture, including politics. The pro-life and pro-family movement needs to continue to fight – hard – in the political sphere, without despair over our apparent lack of success.

But at the same time, we are experiencing in a more and more visceral way that we cannot make our home in this world. The world is hostile, and we can only truly live our Christian call by separating ourselves from it.

All that we do in the world must draw its inspiration from an otherworldly gaze.

In other words, if our apostolic efforts, including our political advocacy, is not rooted in prayer, then it is worthless. Without pursuing an ever-growing union with God, through prayer and an active effort to overcome our worldly attachments, we really can't expect to have any success in this world, and certainly not any fruits from it in heaven.

We cannot neglect the potential impact the Church and faithful can have in the wider culture, but first and foremost we have a duty to impact those around us. In the West today, perhaps more than we've seen in millenia, families have a fundamental duty to preserve and protect the riches of our faith, and culture.

The growing attacks and failures we experience, rather than a cause for despair, should inspire us first and foremost to turn inward – to a deeper interior life of prayer and a deepening of our commitment to nurturing a family life rooted in faith.

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Patrick Craine is Chief Operating Officer for LifeSiteNews.com. He began as a journalist for LifeSiteNews in 2009, covering all facets of the battle to restore Christian civilization. Patrick lives with his wife Jenna and five young children in a small town two hours west of Ottawa, Ontario.

He did his undergraduate degree at the now Our Lady Seat of Wisdom College and Redeemer University-College, both in Ontario, and an M.A. in Philosophy at Holy Apostles College & Seminary.