The U.S. bishops held their annual conference last week, and among the matters they took up, Carol Zimmerman reported for Catholic News Service, they “elected new officers and discussed challenges in the Church and the nation. They spoke of their renewed efforts to help immigrants, youth and young adults, pregnant women and the poor as well their steps to combat gun violence and racism.”
Zimmerman’s comments about the first day caught my attention: “At the start of their meeting Nov. 11, the bishops raised pressing issues that included the priesthood shortage, gun violence and the need to provide support services for pregnant women.”
And on the second and third days, “At the start of the meeting, the bishops voted overwhelmingly on a revised set of strategic priorities to take them into the next decade. The next day, they approved adding new materials to complement “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship,” their long-standing guide to help Catholics form their consciences in public life, including voting. The addition included the statement that called abortion the preeminent social issue of our time.”
In the reporting of issues to be discussed that had been proposed on the first day, there is no mention of abortion.
If abortion is “the preeminent social issue of our time” and considering that only a handful of countries worldwide, United States being one of them, allows late-term abortions to be performed, why don’t we see considerations or “renewed” efforts to stop abortion? States have recently passed laws allowing abortions up to birth, despite public outcry. The legal murdering machine that trumpets “choice” and “women’s reproductive rights” really only targets and victimizes the most vulnerable among us – pregnant women in need and their unborn children. Here in the Diocese of Charlotte, we see that Charlotte is the abortion capital of North Carolina, with four abortion clinics that kill more than 9,000 unborn children each year – the most of any city in the state.
Are our bishops running for political office or are they meeting to spiritually revive the Church, aiding the faithful to vote into public office those people who recognize the right to life for all human beings, from conception to natural death? Have these topics waned in the public arena? Shouldn’t abortion and its evil cousin euthanasia be on the top of the bishops’ list as prioritized in the previous “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship” from 2015?
Here is the current list of priorities Catholics should consider when voting, from “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship 2015”:
- The ongoing destruction of over one million innocent human lives each year by abortion
- Physician-assisted suicide
- The redefinition of marriage – the vital cell of society – by the courts, political bodies, and increasingly by American culture itself
- The excessive consumption of material goods and the destruction of natural resources, which harm both the environment and the poor
- The deadly attacks on fellow Christians and religious minorities throughout the world
- The narrowing redefinition of religious freedom, which threatens both individual conscience and the freedom of the Church to serve
- Economic policies that fail to prioritize the poor, at home or abroad;
- A broken immigration system and a worldwide refugee crisis
- Wars, terror, and violence that threaten every aspect of human life and dignity
According to reporting by Catholic News Agency, “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship” will undergo a “new” and updated look. From reading the talking points of the USCCB conference, I am concerned that the new “Faithful Citizenship” may not look like the list from 2015. Abortion and physician-assisted suicide will be moved because they were not major topics of discussion during this conference, as reported by the Catholic press.
The conference focused on how to get young people involved and back in the Church. I appreciated Los Angeles Auxiliary Bishop Robert Barron’s comments at the bishops’ conference that we must not be “dumbing down the faith,” but getting youth involved in the social justice work of the Church without first knowing their Catholic faith seemed a bit of a stretch. Perhaps our young people would be better spiritually equipped if their parents were better spiritually equipped and involved in their Church? Promoting social justice is great but unless one has a formed spiritual conscience rooted in God’s Word, how can one discern social justice?
The home is the beating heart of catechesis. Children learn by watching their parents. Fix the homes and you will fix the children.
I pray the revision of “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship” list will continue to designate the dignity of life as preeminent, reminding us all that God is the creator of all human life. This should always be the first concern when Catholics go to the poll using religious discernment, not political agendas. For we must obey God, not man (Acts 5:29).
Bobby Speers is an author who lives in Hickory. Her writing can be found online at www.writecatholic.com.