1. The Pro-Life Movement Has to Break With Trumpism, By David French, The New York Times, November 21, 2022, 5:00 AM, Opinion The midterms were hard for pro-life Americans. In every state where abortion referendums were on the ballot, the pro-choice side prevailed, even in red states such as Kentucky and Montana and a swing state, Michigan. The overturning of Roe v. Wade helped keep the Senate blue. It almost stopped the G.O.P. from taking the House. Exit polls indicate that abortion was the second-most-important issue for voters — just behind inflation — and 76 percent of those voters voted Democratic. … These electoral losses do not mean that members of the pro-life movement should regret the Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs. Those of us who fought in the legal trenches to overturn Roe believed that it was both constitutionally unsound and fundamentally unjust. The Constitution was never intended to prohibit the state from protecting unborn life. … Yet the bargain the pro-life movement made with Trumpism to end Roe is now costing it dearly as the argument moves from the courtroom to the hearts and minds of everyday voters. The ethos of the Trumpist-dominated G.O.P. is fundamentally incompatible with the ethos of a healthy pro-life movement. The reason is simple: Trumpism is centered around animosity. The pro-life movement has to be centered around love, including love for its most bitter political opponents. … The sheer force of law cannot end abortion. Even where it is prohibited, mothers can find ways to end a pregnancy. Not even the best (or most draconian) policy can replace the necessity of millions of Americans demonstrating — through word and deed — to friends and foes alike that every pregnancy is a blessing and that each and every person is of incalculable worth. That must be the message because that’s the morality. There is no other path to a culture of life. David French is a senior editor at The Dispatch and a contributing writer for The Atlantic. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/21/opinion/midterms-abortion-trump.html__________________________________________________________ 2. Attacks on pro-life facilities make up most of FBI abortion cases, Wray reports increase after Supreme Court ruling in June, By Valerie Richardson, The Washington Times, November 21, 2022, Pg. A5 About 70% of the FBI’s abortion-related cases since the leak of the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson involve attacks and threats against pro-life facilities, according to FBI Director Christopher A. Wray. Mr. Wray insisted in Thursday testimony before the Senate Homeland Security Committee that the bureau has treated violence against pro-life and pro-choice organizations equally while disclosing that anti-abortion groups have been the primary targets of post-Dobbs violence. Citing the 70% figure, he said “we have quite a number of investigations as we speak into attacks or threats against pregnancy resource centers, faith-based organizations, and other pro-life organizations.” … More than 100 pro-life offices, crisis pregnancy centers and Catholic churches have been attacked since the May 2 leak of the Dobbs decision, including incidents involving arson, vandalism and pro-choice graffiti. The perpetrators in some cases left behind spray-painted messages referring to the radical pro-choice group Jane’s Revenge, but the FBI has announced no arrests in the cases. Meanwhile, the bureau has arrested 26 pro-life activists in the last few months on charges related to the FACE Act, spurring fears that the Biden administration is weaponizing law-enforcement agencies against the pro-life movement. https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2022/nov/17/christopher-wray-fbi-says-70-post-dobbs-abortion-r/__________________________________________________________ 3. The Anti-Abortion Movement, After Dobbs and the Midterms, By Andrea Picciotti-Bayer, The New York Times, November 20, 2022, Pg. SR13, Letter to the Editor Re “The Dobbs Decision Revealed How Weak the Pro-Life Movement Really Is,” by Matthew Walther (Opinion guest essay, Nov. 5): Mr. Walther ignores the heroic advocacy on behalf of the unborn outside the legal arena. The pro-life movement includes staff and volunteers at pro-life pregnancy resource centers who selflessly accompany women in need during and after pregnancy. It includes adoption agencies to help find loving homes for children. It includes sidewalk counselors who pray for and speak with women who mistakenly think abortion is their only option. The pro-life movement has always engaged in “questions of biology and metaphysics” that the author says the “future of the cause will require.” Second, the author insults the work of the originalist legal movement and its constitutional philosophy. It is the means by which our Constitution is preserved. Originalism’s application in Dobbs will save countless unborn lives. The writer is director of the Conscience Project and a fellow at the Institute for Human Ecology at the Catholic University of America. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/19/opinion/letters/abortion-dobbs-midterm-elections.html__________________________________________________________ 4. New USCCB Pro-Life Chairman Discusses Pro-Life Outreach and Scandal of Pro-Abortion Politicians, Bishop Michael Burbidge discusses pro-life efforts in the wake of Dobbs, as he takes over leadership of the U.S. bishops’ pro-life committee, By Lauretta Brown, National Catholic Register, November 20, 2022, Interview Bishop Michael Burbidge of Arlington, Virginia, was elected on Nov. 16 to serve as chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, because its former chairman, Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore, was elected to serve instead as vice president of the conference. Bishop Burbidge, 65, has served previously within the conference as chairman of the bishops’ Committee on Communication and has been vocal on pro-life issues in the past. He spoke with the Register following his election about his vision for pro-life outreach and how to address the scandal of pro-abortion Catholic politicians. [Interviewer:] In this post-Dobbs climate, what do you see as some priorities for the committee, and what do you foresee as some challenges? [Bishop Burbidge:] The priorities will be the same: continuing the great work that Archbishop Lori, our new vice president of the conference, has done, consistent with advocacy, witnessing on behalf of human life, and also service on behalf of human life. While we celebrate the overturning of Roe v. Wade — it’s a great pro-life victory — I’m so mindful of those who, for all these years — many have gone home to God — but for many years prayed for that day when we would see that overturned. God used their patience, their perseverance, their witness in a miraculous way. Our work is not any less because we know the focus is now changed to the states, and we have a lot of work to do in education, even among our own faithful, to know that this work of protecting life is at a very critical time, where we’re seeing laws in various states — referenda being proposed that are extreme, with no restrictions, and federal funding of abortion. … [Interviewer:] We have a president who describes himself as Catholic but advances legal abortion. What are your thoughts on addressing the confusion that causes? [Bishop Burbidge:] We have to be continually clear on the teachings of our Catholic Church, and we can’t allow anyone, especially in the public arena, including elected officials, to serve as if they’re the teachers when they put themselves forward as a Catholic and act contrary, in complete opposition to what we have always held to be true and will always hold true. … https://www.ncregister.com/interview/bishop-michael-burbidge__________________________________________________________ 5. 7 questions for Archbishop Cordileone, By Zelda Caldwell, Catholic News Agency, November 20, 2022, 12:00 PM, Interview Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone of San Francisco sat down with CNA for an interview during a break in the proceedings of the U.S. bishops’ fall meeting in Baltimore last week. Cordileone, a staunch advocate for the unborn, spoke out against Proposition 1, a ballot initiative to add the “right to abortion” to California’s constitution, which received over 66% of the vote in the 2022 midterm elections. One week later, the archbishop shared his thoughts on what is next for the pro-life movement, his hopes for the bishops’ Eucharistic revival initiative, and how to address a lack of trust that priests have for their bishops. This interview was edited for length and clarity. [Interviewer:] The pro-life movement suffered a defeat in California with the passage of Proposition 1. What advice do you have for opponents of abortion in this post-Dobbs political climate? [Archbishop Cordileone:] We have to keep doing what we have been doing. I think the key is this “Walking with Moms in Need” [the U.S. bishops’ nationwide initiative to assist pregnant and parenting women]. We have to continue holding up what is real compassion for a woman in that situation, who’s scared, isolated, full of anxiety, under all kinds of pressure, and feeling lonely. She needs to be surrounded with love and support. The answer is not violence. The answer is not killing. The answer is love and support. And we need to hold up, and I would hope – but I see a growing resistance to it – that even those who favor keeping abortion legal would favor giving women the full range of options. If she’s given information about what’s going on inside of her, if she’s given information about what her options are, and is given love and support and we walk with her, she will opt for life. I know this from crisis pregnancy clinics, that when they’re given that information, and they’re given love and support, 95% opt for life. So what we really need is for women to have real choice. Unfortunately, women who are in the lower income [brackets] don’t really have choice. So we need to give them real choice. I think that’s the way we build the culture of life. Laws are important, and political advocacy is important. Our pro-life manifestations are important to help raise consciousness about it. But in a bitterly polarized society, we need to support the women in these situations and show where true love and compassion is. That’s why I’m horrified at the hostility toward crisis pregnancy clinics. That’s all about love and support, and even beyond the birth of the child, making sure she and her baby are OK. This is the most worrying sign to me — the attacks on the crisis pregnancy clinics. And our leaders are not speaking out against it and being active in protecting them, and in fact, are denigrating them. … https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/252867/exclusive-interview-7-questions-for-archbishop-cordileone__________________________________________________________ 6. German bishops assure Vatican but vow to proceed with reform, By Nicole Winfield, Associated Press, November 19, 2022, 12:49 PM Germany’s Catholic bishops insisted Saturday that their reform process won’t lead to a schism and vowed to see it through, after tense meetings with Vatican officials who want a moratorium on proposals to ordain women, bless same-sex unions and rethink church teaching on sexuality. The head of the German bishops’ conference, Bishop Georg Baetzing, briefed reporters on the weeklong series of meetings he and 60 other German bishops had with Pope Francis and the heads of the Vatican’s main offices. The periodic once-every-five-year visit took on far greater import this time given the demands for change and reform among Germany’s rank-and-file Catholics following the German church’s reckoning with decades of clergy sexual abuse and cover-ups. Summarizing the German position, Baetzing said the German church would not make decisions that were the Vatican’s to make, and said outsiders who fuel fears of the reform process leading to a separation from Rome were ignorant of what actually was getting debated. “We are Catholic,” Baetzing said at a news conference. “But we want to be Catholic in a different way.” … https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/german-bishops-assure-vatican-but-vow-to-proceed-with-reform/2022/11/19/261b044e-6806-11ed-b08c-3ce222607059_story.html__________________________________________________________ 7. Accused Albany bishop asks to be removed from priesthood, By Nicole Winfield, Associated Press, November 19, 2022, 2:16 AM The retired bishop of Albany, New York, who has admitted to covering up for predator priests and has himself been accused of sexual abuse, has asked Pope Francis to remove him from the priesthood. Emeritus Bishop Howard Hubbard, 84, announced the decision in a statement Friday, the day the United Nations designated as the World Day for the Prevention of, and Healing from Child Sexual Exploitation, Abuse and Violence. Hubbard said he wanted to be laicized, or returned to the lay state, because he could no longer function as a priest, given U.S. church policy that bars accused priests from ministry. If accepted, laicization would relieve Hubbard of his celibacy obligations. Asking the pope for voluntary laicization is unusual, especially for a bishop and particularly for a cleric who denies abuse allegations against him. … https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/accused-albany-bishop-asks-to-be-removed-from-priesthood/2022/11/19/1344333a-67da-11ed-b08c-3ce222607059_story.html__________________________________________________________ 8. Senators urge Biden to rejoin coalition finding no ‘international right’ to abortion, By Katie Yoder, Catholic News Agency, November 19, 2022, 10:00 AM U.S. Senators are calling on President Joe Biden to rejoin a growing coalition of 37 nations finding that there is no “international right” to abortion, after he previously withdrew the United States’ support. Republican Sens. Steve Daines of Montana and James Lankford of Oklahoma introduced a resolution Thursday requesting that Biden recommit the U.S. to the Geneva Consensus Declaration (GCD) — a declaration that promises to support women’s health and well-being, the family as the foundation of society, and the right to life of every human being. Two years ago, in 2020, the U.S. hosted the signing ceremony of the GCD. At that time, 35 nations signed on, representing more than 1.6 billion people. The United States later withdrew its signature under the Biden administration. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/252855/senators-urge-biden-to-rejoin-coalition-finding-no-international-right-to-abortion__________________________________________________________9. After a new report on clerical sex abuse, alleged victims need justice, By The Washington Post, November 18, 2022, 3:19 PM, Editorial The nearly half-million Catholics in the Archdiocese of Baltimore exceed the entire population of Miami, Cleveland or New Orleans, and on Thursday they heard from Maryland’s attorney general that scores of area priests and church officials allegedly abused hundreds of children and young adults over the course of eight decades. The attorney general’s long-awaited report, based on a nearly four-year investigation into clerical sex abuse, promises some accountability, at last. At the same time, there will be no justice in a court of law for the majority of victims. For that the blame lies with the Catholic Church and its lobbying in Annapolis. … To its credit, the Baltimore Archdiocese cooperated fully in the preparation of the report. However, state legislation enacted five years ago included a provision, slipped into the bill by church lobbyists, barring any future extensions of the period adult abuse victims have to seek restitution — even a brief time window for victims of any age to sue their abusers or those who shielded their abusers. That precludes a measure of justice for innocent victims. The Maryland report weighs in at 456 pages. In a 35-page filing, Mr. Frosh’s office asked a state circuit court to approve the release of the full report, which includes information from grand jury testimony. The court should grant that request; the era of secrecy around clerical sex abuse should be over. That assertion should not be debatable, but the church’s reckoning with its responsibility for clerical sex abuse is a work in progress, as Pope Francis himself has acknowledged. And this month, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops elected as its new president a prelate whose views on the scandal are unsupported by fact, and who served as a top aide to a senior Vatican official notorious for slow-walking investigations of prominent priests accused of sexual abuse. … His election, and Maryland’s report, are both signs that the church still has a distance to go. …  https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/11/18/baltimore-maryland-catholic-church-sex-abuse/__________________________________________________________ 10. Baltimore Archdiocese might contest Md. clergy sexual abuse report, By Michelle Boorstein, The Washington Post, November 18, 2022, 8:38 PM The Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore signaled Friday that it might object to a still-unreleased report by the Maryland attorney general into clergy sexual abuse of minors. The report, by the office of outgoing Attorney General Brian E. Frosh, took nearly four years to complete and tallies more than 600 young victims and 158 abusive priests over 80 years, according to a court filing Thursday. Because the 456-page report includes testimony that resulted from grand jury subpoenas, a judge must approve its release. The filing in Baltimore City Circuit Court requests its release. … https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2022/11/18/baltimore-archdiocese-appears-contest-md-clergy-sexual-abuse-report/__________________________________________________________ 11. Opponents file lawsuit targeting medication abortions, By Paul J. Weber, Associated Press, November 18, 2022, 6:52 PM Abortion opponents who helped challenge Roe v. Wade filed a lawsuit Friday that takes aim at medication abortions, asking a federal judge in Texas to undo decades-old approval of the drugs that have become the preferred method of ending pregnancy in the U.S. Even before the Supreme Court struck down the constitutional right to an abortion earlier this year, the use of abortion pills had been increasing in the U.S. and demand is expected to grow as more states seek abortion limits. The lawsuit was filed by the Alliance for Defending Freedom, which was also involved in the Mississippi case that led to Roe v. Wade being overturned. The lawsuit argues the U.S. Food and Drug Administration erred in approving the drugs mifepristone and misoprostol and overstepped its authority in doing so. … https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/opponents-file-lawsuit-targeting-medication-abortions/2022/11/18/83b1926a-679a-11ed-b08c-3ce222607059_story.html__________________________________________________________ 12. Georgia asks court to immediately reinstate abortion ban, By Sudhin Thanawala, Associated Press, November 18, 2022, 5:09 PM Georgia officials asked a court on Friday to immediately block a judge’s ruling striking down the state’s abortion ban. The ruling allowed the procedure to again be performed beyond about six weeks of pregnancy. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney’s decision earlier this week was “remarkable” and relied on a “wholly unsupported theory that has no basis in law, precedent, or common sense,” the state attorney general’s office said in court documents filed with the Georgia Supreme Court. It asked the high court for an order immediately putting McBurney’s decision on hold while the justices take more time to consider an appeal. Such an order would restore the state’s ban on abortion, which started roughly six weeks into pregnancy. … https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/georgia-asks-court-to-immediately-reinstate-abortion-ban/2022/11/18/ed2025e6-6780-11ed-b08c-3ce222607059_story.html__________________________________________________________ 13. Former auditor says Vatican will prosecute him to block lawsuit, Libero Milone is facing criminal prosecution in the Vatican, which he says is intended to block his lawsuit for wrongful dismissal., By The Pillar, November 18, 2022, 11:03 AM The Holy See’s former auditor general says he is facing criminal prosecution in the Vatican, which is intended to block his lawsuit for wrongful dismissal against the Vatican’s Secretariat of State. Libero Milone, the Vatican’s financial auditor from 2015 until 2017, said he is now facing an “Orwellian” process trying to clear his name in Vatican City. The former editor told press on Thursday that he and his former deputy met with Vatican City prosecutors for hours this week. Milone said that interrogations lasted for more than six hours on Nov. 14, well into the night. He added that prosecutors did not allow him or his former deputy access to the official files which were used to force their departure in 2017, but instead repeated allegations that the auditors used their office to “spy” on the senior curial officials whose departments they were charged with auditing. https://www.pillarcatholic.com/former-auditor-says/__________________________________________________________

TCA Media Monitoring provides a snapshot from national newspapers and major Catholic press outlets of coverage regarding significant Catholic Church news and current issues with which the Catholic Church is traditionally or prominently engaged. The opinions and views expressed in the articles do not necessarily reflect the views of The Catholic Association.
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