USCCB chair: After Roe, Catholics must help 'build a world' that welcomes all
September 23, 2022 at 3:26 p.m.
"We must move beyond a paradigm shift in the law in order to help the people of our nation better see who we can be as a nation by truly understanding what we owe to one another as members of the same human family," said Baltimore Archbishop William E. Lori, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Pro-life Activities.
"To build a world in which all are welcome," he said, Catholics "must heed" the words of St. Teresa of Kolkata "and remember 'that we belong to one another.'"
"We must shift the paradigm to what St. John Paul II described as 'radical solidarity,' making the good of others our own good, including especially mothers, babies – born and preborn – and families throughout the entire human lifespan," Archbishop Lori said.
He made the remarks in a Sept. 21 statement for the U.S. Catholic Church's observance of Respect Life Month, which is October. The theme of the observance is "Called to Serve Moms in Need."
The first Sunday of October is designated as Respect Life Sunday, which is Oct. 2 this year.
In their June 24 ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, a majority of the justices ended the court's nearly 50-year nationwide "regime of abortion on demand," the archbishop said.
This "regime" was "based on the indefensible view that the U.S. Constitution implicitly forbids government from protecting the preborn child in the womb from the violence of abortion," he said.
The court "concluded that there is nothing in the Constitution's text, history, American legal tradition or the court's precedents that justified the extreme holding of Roe," he said.
Dobbs was a challenge to a Mississippi law banning abortion after 15 weeks. The court affirmed the law 6-3 and also voted 5-4 to overturn the 1973 Roe ruling, which legalized abortion nationwide, and 1992's Casey v. Planned Parenthood ruling, which affirmed Roe.
The ruling returned the issue of abortion to the states.
With Dobbs, the high court "cleared the way for a paradigm shift in American law, allowing it to enlarge its boundaries to again welcome a segment of the human family that had been outside of its protections for close to half a century," he added.
He called Dobbs "a victory for justice, the rule of law and self-governance."
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"We must move beyond a paradigm shift in the law in order to help the people of our nation better see who we can be as a nation by truly understanding what we owe to one another as members of the same human family," said Baltimore Archbishop William E. Lori, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Pro-life Activities.
"To build a world in which all are welcome," he said, Catholics "must heed" the words of St. Teresa of Kolkata "and remember 'that we belong to one another.'"
"We must shift the paradigm to what St. John Paul II described as 'radical solidarity,' making the good of others our own good, including especially mothers, babies – born and preborn – and families throughout the entire human lifespan," Archbishop Lori said.
He made the remarks in a Sept. 21 statement for the U.S. Catholic Church's observance of Respect Life Month, which is October. The theme of the observance is "Called to Serve Moms in Need."
The first Sunday of October is designated as Respect Life Sunday, which is Oct. 2 this year.
In their June 24 ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, a majority of the justices ended the court's nearly 50-year nationwide "regime of abortion on demand," the archbishop said.
This "regime" was "based on the indefensible view that the U.S. Constitution implicitly forbids government from protecting the preborn child in the womb from the violence of abortion," he said.
The court "concluded that there is nothing in the Constitution's text, history, American legal tradition or the court's precedents that justified the extreme holding of Roe," he said.
Dobbs was a challenge to a Mississippi law banning abortion after 15 weeks. The court affirmed the law 6-3 and also voted 5-4 to overturn the 1973 Roe ruling, which legalized abortion nationwide, and 1992's Casey v. Planned Parenthood ruling, which affirmed Roe.
The ruling returned the issue of abortion to the states.
With Dobbs, the high court "cleared the way for a paradigm shift in American law, allowing it to enlarge its boundaries to again welcome a segment of the human family that had been outside of its protections for close to half a century," he added.
He called Dobbs "a victory for justice, the rule of law and self-governance."