In Alfonso Cuarón’s brilliant 2006 film Children of Men humanity is infertile. It is a grey, hopeless world of decay as the last generation of humanity struggles to figure out what to do in a world that quite literally has no hope.

The world of 2020 is not infertile but it definitely has a problem with babies. Ethical issues such as abortion, surrogacy and sperm donors add to the picture. But throughout the northern hemisphere and certain parts of the south, the world is ageing and birth rates are declining. We are facing, if not a world quite like the one Cuarón so vividly pictured, but a world in which we are witnessing the end of (secular) babies.

The end, of course, is a little dramatic but there is definitely not something in the water in the west. You wouldn’t know that in our church which has a ridiculously high ratio of kids per adult but we are definitely an outlier in the society around us.

The question is whether the church will follow the patterns of the world or not? In theory, we should begin to stand out. We have the full package of what it means to be pro-life at the beginning of the human journey. We are against abortion but for adoption. We see children as a blessing and not a limitation. We foster and we raise fathers and mothers to love being fathers and mothers. We see the image of God in every child. We are people of hope committed to a renewed world. And we picture the union of a bridegroom who loves his bride and their loving union brings forth life.