“Radical Solidarity and the Protection of Preborn Life”
Address to the Plenary Assembly of the U.S. Bishops
Most Reverend William E. Lori
Chairman, USCCB Committee on Pro-Life Activities
Baltimore, Maryland
November, 2022
Radical Solidarity
Fleeing food shortages, hyperinflation, and political unrest, Maria came to the United States seeking a better future. Arriving here, her situation went from bad to worse. Though trained as a nurse, she couldn’t find work. When she found out she was pregnant, her boyfriend kicked her out. Because her visa had expired, immigration officers put a tracking device on her ankle. She found herself homeless, facing deportation, and searching for an abortion.
By God’s grace, she ended up at a pregnancy help center where she saw an image of her unborn son via ultrasound. More than anything, Maria wanted to give birth to her baby, but she was fearful. She was worried she would be deported before giving birth, and feared that if she had to return to Venezuela, her child would be malnourished and be deprived of basic medical care. She was still leaning towards having an abortion.
Through the combined efforts of the pregnancy help center, pro-bono attorneys, a local parish, and Catholic Charities, Maria was provided with emotional support, encouragement, housing, and medical care. She was also helped to get a work permit through her political asylum. With that kind of support, she found hope – and she chose life for her son.
Like Maria, many pregnant women in need face overwhelming hurdles. Many are cut off from family, abandoned by the father of their child, and face a grim future – with no one to turn to. Others have adequate or more than adequate means of material support, but have been deceived into thinking of abortion as just a medical procedure, a “choice” with no long-term consequences for their peace of mind and heart. Having made that “choice”, they often find themselves abandoned – emotionally isolated and spiritually bereft. We bishops cannot pretend to understand what women in all such circumstances are going through – but this much we do know: They are our sisters, and we are their brothers. They are our neighbors, and we are their neighbors. Their distress is our distress. Their struggle is our struggle. Their lives and the lives of their children are precious in our sight – and God willing, in the sight of those whom we serve and with whom we minister. Human wisdom itself teaches that we are bound together by a common humanity, that we owe one another care and compassion, that no one should be left out or left behind. Yet, all too often authentic human wisdom loses its focus or is overridden. But as a community of faith, worship, and service – whose heart and center is the Son of God who assumed our humanity – our vision should be sharpened, deepened, far more acute, far more insistent: Yes, we are bound to these women and their unborn children by bonds of a common humanity, by bonds of radical solidarity. Or, as Mother Teresa put it so simply, “we belong to one another”.
Abortion is a gruesome sign that we have forgotten that we belong to one another. Mother and child are not strangers. The child in the womb is already bound by flesh and kinship to the mother. The life developing under the mother’s heart is situated in a network of relations including family, neighbors, and fellow citizens. Abortion destroys innocent human life … It weakens the fabric of society … It weakens the sense that we are all brothers and sisters.
Building a Culture of Life “Ad Intra”
In this pivotal moment in our culture, this “post – ‘Roe’ moment”, you and I, the shepherds of the Church in the United States, need to take stock. Our Catholic schools are doing heroic work in educating the poor. Our Catholic charities are doing heroic work in assisting the poor. Our Conference and our state conferences are voices for justice and peace, and the great work of so many parishes across our country often goes unheralded. But we have more work to do.
You and I know that some of our parishioners are conflicted about abortion. Some consider themselves to be “pro-choice” because they accept some limited exceptions for abortion, even when they agree with the majority of Americans who want significant restrictions on abortion. For others, there is a disconnect between the works of mercy which the Church performs every day and their perception of Church’s teaching on the need always to protect innocent human life. In the meantime, many absorb their views on abortion from social media, or from news they watch or read, or from partisan talking points. Indeed, the demise of Roe was a great victory, but it will be a pyrrhic victory if we fail to win the minds and hearts first and foremost of our fellow Catholics. We must not hesitate to engage with our fellow Catholics and encourage them to be closer in heart and mind to the Church.
We do not win minds and hearts by changing our teaching but rather by laying open its heart and soul – the innate human dignity of both mother and child, and our radical solidarity one with another. This means expressing our love and concern both for mother and child, not merely during pregnancy or at the moment of birth – but rather, the kind of love and concern we saw in the story about Maria – when the Church surrounded her with love and helped her and her child to have a brighter future. It is not just words but witness, ‘love in living deeds’, that help to convince many of our own people of the rightness and the compassion at the heart of Church’s teaching on life. At its heart is a thirst for justice that gives rise to “an unfailing determination to respect, protect, love, and serve life, every human life, at every stage, and in every situation” (cf. Evangelium Vitae).
So that we might speak credibly in a polarized society, we must continue our work of lessening, even eliminating, any divisions in our own house between our pro-life advocacy and ministry, and our ministries of charity and justice. A church which does more than any other institution except the federal government to address poverty, healthcare, education, housing, employment, addiction, criminal justice, and domestic violence – cannot remain silent about abortion. Similarly, a church that advocates passionately to protect the life of the unborn, recognizing the utterly defenseless condition of the preborn child – cannot ignore the deep social problems that push women towards having an abortion. Radical solidarity with mothers and their pre-born children calls us to move beyond stale debates and harmful divisions in our ministries. Now is the time to move ahead in bearing a robust and united witness to the truth, beauty, and inviolable dignity of human life at every stage.
Therefore, you and I must do away with “zero-sum-gain” thinking. Our commitment to the sanctity of life from the moment of conception is in full accord with our commitment to serve the poor or to welcome the stranger, or to work for juvenile justice reform, or to end capital punishment. Ministries that help support marriage and family do not detract from works of justice but rather help contribute to the common good and to human flourishing. Our commitment to help mothers bring their babies to term is wholly compatible with our commitment to work for a society in which both mother & child can flourish. The beauty of Walking with Moms in Need, Project Rachel – and similar efforts – is that they open the door for us to unify all our ministries, in thought and in practice, while inviting the very parishioners who are “on the fence” about abortion to participate in knowing, loving, and helping moms in need and their children, and working together to address their long-term needs holistically. It is a beautiful way of serving need and evangelizing “in one fell swoop”.
Building a Culture of Life “Ad Extra”
Let me repeat what I said earlier. We cannot speak credibly to a polarized society so long as our own house is divided. At the same time, we cannot wait until perfect unanimity has been attained before we bear witness to the ambient culture about human life and dignity. But the more unified we are, the more effectively our witness will be. For while we must work hard to evangelize and catechize from within, so too we must actively participate in building a world in which women are esteemed, children are loved and protected, and men are called to their responsibilities as husbands and fathers.
Here too, in the public square, radical solidarity is key. This is the cornerstone of a society that is just, peaceful, orderly – a society marked by the pursuit of the common good rooted in human solidarity and fraternity. Fraternity, solidarity is key to what Pope Francis calls “a new kind of politics”. In a fragmented world of competing interests and angry partisanship, our message and our witness before the culture of which we are a part must be that we are making the good of others our own, especially mothers and their babies, born and pre-born, together with their families, and that this is a commitment we make throughout the entire human lifespan. We are striving to create a culture in which abortion and other attacks on innocent human life become more and more unthinkable – unthinkable because our radical solidarity gives many new hope and because our radical witness makes clear that killing can never be the solution to our social challenges. This is the message we need clearly to send when we meet with politicians and public officials of every persuasion. This is the message we need clearly to send when we lead our people in taking part in state marches for life or take part in the National March for Life. We come, not angry demonstrators with narrow, partisan interests. We come rather to bear witness to the beauty of love and life, the preciousness and inviolable dignity of every human life, and the joy of welcoming children into the world. We come to build a culture of life within our own ranks, especially among the young, and to bear witness to the beauty and dignity of life before the wider culture. This includes those who do not share our faith but who do share our respect for life and respect our efforts to work for a society where human flourishing is more possible. Thus, I would encourage participation in the National March for Life even as I thank you for your leadership in the state marches for life – as efforts to secure legal protection for the unborn continue at both the federal and the state levels.
Building a culture of life demands that we win the hearts and minds of our fellow Catholics and many others. But it also demands that we speak forthrightly. In an era of disinformation, we must also courageously bear witness to the truth. We do not countenance false and misleading characterizations of immigrants, nor tolerate racial profiling nor derogatory descriptions of the poor. So too let us speak the truth in love, but speak it boldly and clearly, when false or misleading statements are made, especially by those in public life, about the Church’s teaching on abortion or about reality of abortion itself. Failure to speak the truth only aids and abets the deterioration of public discourse, while seeming to ignore the massive tragedy of abortion. An integral part of our “ministry of the word” is redeeming human wisdom in the public square!
If anything, the months since Dobbs have demonstrated that we face a long and difficult struggle. The state referenda held since Dobbs illustrate that. Even as we seek to win minds and hearts to the cause of life, we must also strive to win legal protection for the most vulnerable among us, confident that winning for them does not mean losing for others. Dear brother bishops, as disciples of the Savior who assumed our human nature in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary, let allow the Holy Spirit to unite us that we may speak with one voice and one heart in proclaiming the Gospel of Life and in defending human life from the moment of conception until natural death, and at every stage in-between, to the glory of the God who made us and redeemed us.
Thank you for listening!