Bishop Bambera’s Letter for Respect Life Sunday 2020

Dear Friends,

As we prepare for our annual celebration of Respect Life Sunday on October 4, 2020, we do so at a moment that is unprecedented in its focus on care for the human person.

For over eight months, our world has waged war with a virus that has currently attacked more than 29 million people and has left close to a million deaths in its wake. In the process, we have engaged behavior that has isolated us one from another and prompted actions from wearing masks to shuttering churches, schools, stores and factories, all in an effort to protect and preserve human life. In the midst of such upheaval and pain, as a nation, we have also been forced to confront the ongoing reality of racism, which continues to raise its ugly head and tragically disregards the same lives that we are trying to protect from the global pandemic.

Ironically, these challenging realities that prompt us to focus on efforts to preserve and respect life continue to unfold in our own land amid a climate of polarization that has bitterly set lives against one another. And all of this division is fueled by an election cycle that only seems to complicate our search for truth and justice for all.

The theme for this year’s Respect Life commemoration is Live the Gospel of Life! Sadly, a reflection on the current reality of life in our land reveals that as a nation and people, we have yet to embrace and respect human life in its totality as we should. In an introductory letter to the US Bishops’ teaching document on the political responsibility of Catholics, Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship, the Bishops quote Pope Francis’ words taken from his exhortation, Gaudete et exultate, as he addresses our role as disciples of Jesus in confronting the struggles of our time:

Your identification with Christ and his will involves a commitment to build with him that kingdom of love, justice and universal peace. … You cannot grow in holiness without committing yourself, body and soul, to giving your best to this endeavor.

The call to holiness that the Holy Father references requires that we, as Catholics, stand firm in our respect and reverence for the human person as the very foundation of a moral vision for society. As such, in that same letter, the US Bishops affirm that “the threat of abortion remains our preeminent priority because it directly attacks life itself, because it takes place within the sanctuary of the family, and because of the number of lives destroyed. At the same time, we cannot dismiss or ignore other serious threats to human life and dignity such as racism, the environmental crisis, poverty and the death penalty.”

The Bishops stress that “our efforts to protect the unborn remain as important as ever, for just as the Supreme Court may allow greater latitude for state laws restricting abortion, state legislators have passed statutes not only keeping abortion legal through all nine months of pregnancy but opening the door to infanticide. Additionally, abortion contaminates many other important issues by being inserted into legislation regarding immigration, care for the poor, and health care reform.”

The upcoming election provides us with a vital platform through which we, as Catholics, can give voice to core Gospel values rooted in the dignity and worth of every human person, having been created in the image and likeness of God.

While Church leaders have often been accused of siding with one party or another, the fact remains that no one candidate perfectly reflects the broad and encompassing social and moral teachings of our Catholic Church. As such, it is incumbent upon us as Christians that, regardless of party affiliation, we thoughtfully and prayerfully vote for those candidates for office who not only personally reflect but clearly support legislation upholding our obligation to live the Gospel of Life.

In examining our consciences and in seeking to inform them in a responsible manner according to the tenants of our Catholic faith, may we be encouraged in our efforts by the words of Saint John Paul II in his encyclical, Christifideles Laici:

The right to health, to home, to work, to culture is false and illusory if the right to life, the most basic and fundamental right and the condition for all other personal rights, is not defended with maximum determination.

Brothers and sisters, our responsibility as disciples of Jesus is clear. We are called to live the Gospel of Life. We do so, however, not solely by speaking of our resolve to respect human life or by self-righteously criticizing those whose beliefs may appear to be different than our own. We do so by treating one another with reverence, respect and dignity as children of God. We do so by serving the broken lives and hearts that God has placed in our midst, whomever they may be. And this year, in particular, we Live the Gospel of Life by exercising our right to vote for those candidates who best respect the dignity and worth of all those lives that will be entrusted to their care.

Faithfully yours in Christ,

Most Rev. Joseph C. Bambera, D.D., J.C.L.
Bishop of Scranton

Pope Francis arrives to lead his general audience in the San Damaso courtyard at the Vatican Sept. 30, 2020. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

By Junno Arocho Esteves, Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — In an apostolic letter dedicated to Sacred Scripture, Pope Francis said that even today, Christians can learn new things from the countless translations of the Bible that exist.

The variety of translations of the Bible in the world today “teaches us that the values and positive forms of every culture represent an enrichment for the whole church,” the pope said in his apostolic letter, “Scripturae Sacrae affectus” (“Devotion to Sacred Scripture”).

“The different ways by which the word of God is proclaimed, understood and experienced in each new translation enrich Scripture itself since, according to the well-known expression of Gregory the Great, Scripture grows with the reader, taking on new accents and new resonance throughout the centuries,” he wrote in the letter released by the Vatican Sept. 30.

Earlier in the day, before concluding his weekly general audience, the pope told pilgrims he had signed the document to coincide with the 16th centenary of St. Jerome’s death.

“May the example of this great doctor and father of the church, who placed the Bible at the center of his life, awaken in us a renewed love for the Sacred Scripture and the desire to live in a personal dialogue with the word of God,” he said.

The letter itself said that marking the 16th centenary of St. Jerome’s death is “a summons to love what Jerome loved, to rediscover his writings and to let ourselves be touched by his robust spirituality, which can be described in essence as a restless and impassioned desire for a greater knowledge of the God who chose to reveal himself.”

Catholics today, he said, must heed “the advice that Jerome unceasingly gave to his contemporaries: ‘Read the divine Scriptures constantly; never let the sacred volume fall from your hand.'”

In his apostolic letter, the pope delved into the history of St. Jerome’s life and his love of Scripture. His “monumental work” of translating the Old Testament from Hebrew, as well as his commentary on the Psalms and St. Paul’s letters, are an example for Catholics today, he said.

“As an enterprise carried out within the community and at the service of the community, Jerome’s scholarly activity can serve as an example of synodality for us and for our own time,” the pope said.

“It can also serve as a model for the church’s various cultural institutions, called to be ‘places where knowledge becomes service, for no genuine and integral human development can occur without a body of knowledge that is the fruit of cooperation and leads to greater cooperation,'” he said, quoting a speech he gave in 2019 to the pontifical academies.

St. Jerome’s life and work also highlight the need for true witnesses of Christ who can faithfully interpret Scripture which often seems as if it is “‘sealed,’ hermetically closed to interpretation.”

“Many, even among practicing Christians, say openly that they are not able to read it, not because of illiteracy, but because they are unprepared for the biblical language, its modes of expression and its ancient cultural traditions,” he said. “As a result, the biblical text becomes indecipherable, as if it were written in an unknown alphabet and an esoteric tongue.”

The pope said that “the richness of Scripture is neglected or minimized by many because they were not afforded a solid grounding in this area,” not even from their families, who often seem unable “to introduce their children to the word of the Lord in all its beauty and spiritual power.”

Nevertheless, the celebration of the 16th centenary of St. Jerome’s death, is a reminder of “the extraordinary missionary vitality” throughout the centuries that has led to the Bible’s translation in more than 3,000 languages, he said.

“To how many missionaries do we owe the invaluable publication of grammars, dictionaries and other linguistic tools that enable greater communication and become vehicles for the missionary aspiration of reaching everyone,” Pope Francis said.

“We need to support this work and invest in it, helping to overcome limits in communication and lost opportunities for encounter. Much remains to be done. It has been said that without translation there can be no understanding: we would understand neither ourselves nor others,” he said.

WASHINGTON (CNS) — The U.S. Catholic Church’s observance of October as Respect Life Month “is a time to focus on God’s precious gift of human life and our responsibility to care for, protect and defend the lives of our brothers and sisters,” said the chairman of the U.S. bishops’ pro-life committee.

“Live the Gospel of Life” is this year’s theme for the month, prompted by commemorations of the 25th anniversary of St. John Paul II’s encyclical “The Gospel of Life” (“Evangelium Vitae”), which was issued March 25, 1995.

“Pope John Paul’s masterfully articulated defense of the right to life for children in their mothers’ wombs, the elderly, persons with disabilities and the marginalized is more relevant today than ever before,” said Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of Kansas City, Kansas, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities.

Respect Life Sunday falls on Oct. 4. New parish resources for the month’s observance have been developed around the theme of “Living the Gospel of Life” and are available at www.respectlife.org.

“‘The Gospel of Life’ provides a blueprint for building a culture of life and civilization of love,” the archbishop said in a Sept. 24 statement. “The important work of transforming our culture begins by allowing the Gospel of Christ to touch and transform our own hearts and the decisions we make.”

Archbishop Naumann noted that during their fall general assembly last November, “the U.S. bishops reaffirmed that ‘the threat of abortion remains our preeminent priority because it directly attacks life itself, because it takes place within the sanctuary of the family, and because of the number of lives destroyed.'”

“While we noted not to ‘dismiss or ignore other serious threats to human life and dignity such as racism, the environmental crisis, poverty and the death penalty,’ we renewed our commitment to protect the most fundamental of all human rights — the right to live,” he said.

Archbishop Naumann also recalled how in January of this year he “shared with Pope Francis that the bishops of the United States had been criticized by some for identifying the protection of the unborn as a preeminent priority.”

Their conversation came during the “ad limina” meeting of the bishops from Kansas, Missouri, Iowa and Nebraska at the Vatican.

“The Holy Father expressed his support for our efforts observing that if we fail to protect life, no other rights matter. Pope Francis also said that abortion is not primarily a Catholic or even a religious issue, it is first and foremost a human rights issue,” the Kansas archbishop said in his Sept. 24 statement.

Later this January, the archbishop relayed that story to pro-lifers gathered for the Jan. 23 opening Mass of the National Vigil for Life at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington. Pope Francis “has our backs” in the pro-life cause, he said in his homily.

“May we strive to imitate Christ and follow in his footsteps, caring for the most vulnerable among us,” he said Sept. 24. “Through the intercession of Our Lady of Guadalupe, may Our Lord grant us the grace to live courageously and faithfully his Gospel of life.”

SCRANTON – Having successfully completed their second year of formation for ordination to the permanent diaconate, Bishop Joseph C. Bambera will install nine men from the Diocese of Scranton in the Ministry of Lector at the Cathedral of Saint Peter this Saturday, Oct. 3, 2020, at a 12:10 p.m. Mass.

The nine candidates are:

John F. Bankus, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, Swoyersville;

John F. Bubb, St. Joseph the Worker, Williamsport;

Martin J. Castaldi, Sr., Divine Mercy, Scranton;

Matthew R. Eisley, St. Joseph the Worker, Williamsport;

William D. Flowers, St. Nicholas, Wilkes-Barre;

Thomas A. Kostic, SS. Cyril and Methodius, Hazleton;

Steven J. Miller, Our Lady of Victory, Tannersville;

Nicholas M. Rocco, St. Eulalia, Roaring Brook Twp.;

Frank H. Zeranski, St. Catherine of Siena, Moscow.

Because of the current COVID-19 pandemic, actual attendance at this Mass in the Cathedral is strictly limited.

The Rite will be broadcast live on CTV: Catholic Television of the Diocese of Scranton, in addition to being available on YouTube and other social media links. You will be able to watch the Rite at this address: https://www.dioceseofscranton.org/media/ctv-catholic-television

Please join in prayer with these men as they faithfully continue their preparation to serve the people of our Diocese in the Order of Deacon.

Five educators from the Diocese of Scranton Catholic School System receive the Saint John Paul II Award for 25 or more years of dedicated service to Catholic education in the Diocese of Scranton. The recipients received the awards at the Catholic Schools Opening Mass at the Cathedral of Saint Peter on Sept. 30, 2020. Shown after the Mass are, front row, from left: Ann D’Arienzo, Our Lady of Peace School, Clarks Green; Yvonne Gordon, Holy Rosary School, Duryea; Sister Karen Steinberg, I.H.M., Saint Clare/Saint Paul School, Scranton. Back row, Jason Morrison Diocesan Secretary of Catholic Education/Chief Executive Officer; Shari Hilfiger, All Saints Academy, Scranton; Most Rev. Joseph C. Bambera, Bishop of Scranton; Kristen Donohue, Superintendent of Catholic Schools. Award recipient Patricia Hopkins, All Saints Academy, was unable to attend the Mass.

SCRANTON (Sept. 30, 2020) – Five educators in the Diocese of Scranton Catholic School System are being honored for their commitment to Catholic education and being faith-filled examples to young people.

During the Catholic Schools Opening Mass, held Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2020, at the Cathedral of Saint Peter, each educator received the Saint John Paul II Award for 25 or more years of dedicated service to Catholic education in the Diocese of Scranton.

The recipients include: Ann D’Arienzo, Our Lady of Peace School in Clarks Green; Yvonne Gordon of Holy Rosary School in Duryea; Shari Hilfiger of All Saints Academy in Scranton; Patricia Hopkins of All Saints Academy in Scranton and Sister Karen Steinberg, I.H.M., of Saint Clare/Saint Paul School in Scranton.

“I feel very proud and humbled,” D’Arienzo said after receiving her award from the Most Rev. Joseph C. Bambera, Bishop of Scranton.

During their many years of service, each educator has created an environment to help young people grow and learn.

“I love watching their faces as they connect. It is just amazing,” Sister Karen Steinberg, I.H.M., explained.

The Catholic Schools Opening Mass, celebrated by Bishop Bambera, was broadcast live to all 19 schools throughout the diocese and made available to students taking part in the Diocesan Virtual Academy. Parents and community members were also invited to join in watching the Mass.

Hilfiger, who teaches third grade at All Saints Academy, credits her students for continuing to make her educational experience enjoyable. Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, her students have remained positive.

“It has been absolutely amazing. The children have been so receptive. They come in every day and they’re so eager to follow the rules so that we can be there and engage and learn,” Hilfiger said. “We can tell by the smiles on the children every morning that this is where we’re supposed to be.”

Gordon says leading young people to know, love and serve God has been a privilege.

“It is sharing your faith, helping them along the way. It’s a commitment, a vocation, where you want to share with the children what you know about God and your own relationship with God,” she explained.
As she announced the recipients of the Saint John Paul II Award, Catholic Schools Superintendent Kristen Donohue thanked each educator for their service.

“To them, who so diligently teach, lead, inspire, challenge, mentor, affirm and encourage, we express our sincerest gratitude and our heartfelt prayer for their faithful service to the ministry of Catholic education in the Diocese of Scranton,” Donohue said.

SCRANTON (Sept. 30, 2020) – With cooler temperatures quickly approaching, the Saint Francis Free Clothing Store will once again begin serving clients on Thursday, October 1, 2020.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the clothing store temporarily scaled back operations earlier this year for the health and safety concerns of staff and visitors. Over the last several weeks, as clients have expressed needs to staff members, efforts have been made to assist them.

Starting Oct. 1, 2020, the Saint Francis Free Clothing Store will be able to serve men and women at the door between the hours of 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Face masks will be required and social distancing will need to be maintained at the door.

Additionally, the Saint Francis Free Clothing Store will once again begin accepting clothing donations from the public during the same hours that the facility is available to clients.

The Saint Francis Free Clothing Store is located at 500 Penn Avenue, Scranton, next to Saint Francis of Assisi Kitchen.

For more information: https://stfranciskitchen.org/

2020 Voter Guide
State Legislative Races
Scranton Diocese

The Pennsylvania Catholic Conference is the public affairs arm of the Catholic bishops across the state. We monitor hundreds of pieces of legislation throughout the year and determine whether or not to take a position for or against what we feel are the ones most important to our faith.

This Voter Guide includes a cross-section of seven bills spanning seven categories to show how incumbent legislators have voted. We have also invited their challengers in the general election to indicate how they would vote on these same bills. This guide is meant to be an educational piece, which we hope will provide you with information so that you can make your own decisions.

A listing of the bills used for this comparison and their descriptions are below. Please understand we continue to work with legislators from all parties on various pieces of legislation. Unlike these, not all of that legislation has been sent to the Governor.

The Conference neither supports nor opposes any candidate or political party. The Catholic Conference aims to educate and inform Catholics about a wide range of issues.

List of issues included for comparison:

Pro Life:
House Bill 321 was a prolife measure which would prohibit the aborting of a fetus solely on the basis of a possible diagnosis of Down syndrome. The PCC strongly supported this bill and worked with prolife lawmakers to gain its passage. The bill passed both the House and the Senate but was vetoed by Governor Wolf.

Criminal Justice Reform:
Senate Bill 637 is a bill that will remove procedural boundaries that have prevented many ex-offenders from getting professional licenses in a number of professions. The PCC supported this measure, which got bi-partisan support. It’s a bill that many law enforcement professionals say will result in a reduction of crime. The bill passed both chambers and was recently signed by the Governor.

Disability Rights:
Senate Bill 906 was a measure that would delay the closing of two state long-term centers. The Wolf Administration had called for the closing of both facilities, but the PCC had concerns about what would happen to the residents. We supported the bill, which passed both the House and Senate but was vetoed by the Governor.

Health Care:
House Bill 427 required that health insurers stay out of decisions between doctors and patients suffering from Stage IV metastatic cancer. The PCC supported this measure.

Human Trafficking:
Senate Bill 60 increased penalties for those connected with crimes of human trafficking. The PCC actively supported this measure in continuing with our efforts to work against human trafficking. This bill was one such bill that was passed and signed into law by the Governor this session.

Poverty:
House Bill 33 was a move to eliminate public assistance due to a purported lack of accountability of recipients. Voting ‘yes’ on the bill would advocate the ending of that $200 per month payment. The PCC opposed this bill. The bill ultimately was signed into law.

School Choice:
House Bill 800 was a bill that would have provided tax credits toward children who were attending a failing public school and wanted to attend another school of their choice. The PCC supported this measure as we do with all bills designed to further school choice. Both the House and Senate approved the measure but it was vetoed by the Governor.

Detailed voting breakdown of legislators voting with or against PCC’s position:

Senate

District	Candidate	HB 321	SB 637	SB 906	HB 427	SB 60	HB 33	HB 800
23	Gene Yaw (R)*	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
23	Jaclyn E. Baker (D)
25	Margaret Satterwhite Brown (D)
25	Cris Dush (R)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
27	John R. Gordner (R)* (R)*	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
27	Michelle Lynn Siegel (D)

*incumbent

House

District	Candidate	HB 321	SB 637	SB 906	HB 427	SB 60	HB 33	HB 800
68	Clint Owlett (R)*	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
83	Jeff Wheeland (R)*	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
83	Airneezer J. Page (D)
84	Joseph D. Hamm (R)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
84	Amanda R. Waldman (D)
110	Tina Pickett (R)*	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
111	Jonathan Fritz (R)*	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
112	Kyle Mullins (D)*	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
113	Marty Flynn (D)*	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
113	William John Kresge (R)
114	Bridget Kosierowski (D)*	Yes	Yes	NVA	Yes	NVA	Yes	No
114	James E. May (R)
115	Maureen Madden (D)*	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No
115	Dulce Maria Ridder (R)
116	Todd Eachus (D)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	—-
116	Tarah Toohil (R)*	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
117	Karen Boback (R)*	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
118	Michael B. Carroll (D)*	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
118	Andrew Michael Holter (R)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
119	Gerald J. Mullery (D)*	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
119	John W. Chura (R)
120	Aaron D. Kaufer (R)*	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
120	Joanna Bryn Smith (D)	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No
121	Eddie Day Pashinski (D)*	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
139	Michael T. Peifer (R)*	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
139	Marian S. Keegan (D)	No	Yes	—-	Yes	Yes	No	No
176	Jack Rader (R)*	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
176	Claudette Williams (D)	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No
189	Rosemary Brown (R)*	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
189	Adam A. Rodriguez (D)	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No

Pope Francis delivers a prerecorded address to the 75th session of the U.N. General Assembly; the recording from the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace was aired Sept. 25, 2020. (CNS screenshot/Chaz Muth)

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis asked members of the United Nations how they think they can respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and build a more peaceful, more just world when many of their countries spend billions on military weapons and when their treatment of the unborn, of refugees and of women shows so little respect for human life.

“We must ask ourselves if the principal threats to peace and security — poverty, epidemics, terrorism and so many others — can be effectively countered when the arms race, including nuclear weapons, continues to squander precious resources that could better be used to benefit the integral development of peoples and protect the natural environment,” the pope said in his video address, which was broadcast Sept. 25.

On the fifth anniversary of his visit to the U.N. headquarters in New York, Pope Francis returned to themes he has repeated since the COVID-19 pandemic began: Humanity faces a choice between trying to go back to an often unjust “normal” or taking the opportunity to rethink economic and political policies, putting the good of all people and the environment ahead of concern for maintaining the lifestyles of wealthy individuals and nations.

He drew particular attention to the pandemic’s impact on children, “including unaccompanied young migrants and refugees,” as well as to reports that “violence against children, including the horrible scourge of child abuse and pornography, has also dramatically increased.”

With millions of children still out of school, he said, there is a risk of “an increase in child labor, exploitation, abuse and malnutrition.”

“Sad to say, some countries and international institutions are also promoting abortion as one of the so-called ‘essential services’ provided in the humanitarian response to the pandemic,” he said. “It is troubling to see how simple and convenient it has become for some to deny the existence of a human life as a solution to problems that can and must be solved for both the mother and her unborn child.”

Pope Francis insisted that addressing the pandemic and building a more just and equitable world involves looking at every aspect of national and international life.

The pandemic “can represent a concrete opportunity for conversion, for transformation, for rethinking our way of life and our economic and social systems, which are widening the gap between rich and poor based on an unjust distribution of resources,” he said. Or “the pandemic can be the occasion for a ‘defensive retreat’ into greater individualism and elitism.”

The latter path, he said, “emphasizes self-sufficiency, nationalism, protectionism, individualism and isolation; it excludes the poor, the vulnerable and those dwelling on the peripheries of life. That path would certainly be detrimental to the whole community, causing self-inflicted wounds on everyone. It must not prevail.”

When companies, including those being assisted by government handouts during the pandemic, focus more on profits than on job creation, they contribute to the “throwaway culture,” which treats people as less important than wealth, he said.

“At the origin of this throwaway culture is a gross lack of respect for human dignity, the promotion of ideologies with reductive understandings of the human person, a denial of the universality of fundamental human rights, and a craving for absolute power and control that is widespread in today’s society,” he said. “Let us name this for what it is: an attack against humanity itself.”

The pope called on countries to work together to fulfill the ideals upon which the United Nations was founded 75 years ago, particular in peacemaking, defending human rights and caring for the world’s poorest and most disadvantaged.

“It is in fact painful to see the number of fundamental human rights that in our day continue to be violated with impunity,” he said, speaking of a “frightening picture of a humanity abused, wounded, deprived of dignity, freedom and hope for the future.”

“Religious believers continue to endure every kind of persecution, including genocide, because of their beliefs,” he said. “We Christians, too, are victims of this: how many of our brothers and sisters throughout the world are suffering, forced at times to flee from their ancestral lands, cut off from their rich history and culture.”

But the pope also drew special attention to situation of refugees, migrants and the internally displaced fleeing conflict, persecution and extreme poverty.

In an apparent reference to the situation in the Mediterranean, he denounced how “thousands are intercepted at sea and forcibly returned to detention camps, where they meet with torture and abuse. Many of these become victims of human trafficking, sexual slavery or forced labor, exploited in degrading jobs and denied a just wage. This is intolerable, yet intentionally ignored by many!”

Nations have entered into regional and international agreements to assist migrants and refugees, but often are lacking the political support at home to make them a reality or the countries just “shirk their responsibilities and commitments,” he said.

“The pandemic has shown us that we cannot live without one another, or worse still, (be) pitted against one another,” Pope Francis insisted. “The United Nations was established to bring nations together, to be a bridge between peoples. Let us make good use of this institution in order to transform the challenge that lies before us into an opportunity to bui

September 24, 2020

WASHINGTON — October is Respect Life Month, and Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of Kansas City in Kansas and chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on Pro-Life Activities has issued a statement encouraging Catholics to allow “the Gospel of Christ to touch and transform our own hearts and the decisions we make.”

Archbishop Naumann’s full statement follows:

“As Catholics in the United States, we will soon mark our annual observance of October as Respect Life Month. It is a time to focus on God’s precious gift of human life and our responsibility to care for, protect, and defend the lives of our brothers and sisters.

“This year’s theme, ‘Live the Gospel of Life,’ was inspired by the commemoration of the 25th anniversary of Pope John Paul II’s encyclical, The Gospel of Life. Pope John Paul’s masterfully articulated defense of the right to life for children in their mothers’ wombs, the elderly, persons with disabilities, and the marginalized is more relevant today than ever before.

“Last November, the U.S. bishops reaffirmed that ‘the threat of abortion remains our preeminent priority because it directly attacks life itself, because it takes place within the sanctuary of the family, and because of the number of lives destroyed.’ While we noted not to ‘dismiss or ignore other serious threats to human life and dignity such as racism, the environmental crisis, poverty, and the death penalty,’ we renewed our commitment to protect the most fundamental of all human rights – the right to live.

“This past January, I shared with Pope Francis that the bishops of the United States had been criticized by some for identifying the protection of the unborn as a preeminent priority. The Holy Father expressed his support for our efforts observing that if we fail to protect life, no other rights matter. Pope Francis also said that abortion is not primarily a Catholic or even a religious issue, it is first and foremost a human rights issue.

“The Gospel of Life provides a blueprint for building a culture of life and civilization of love. The important work of transforming our culture begins by allowing the Gospel of Christ to touch and transform our own hearts and the decisions we make. May we strive to imitate Christ and follow in his footsteps, caring for the most vulnerable among us. Through the intercession of Our Lady of Guadalupe, may Our Lord grant us the grace to live courageously and faithfully his Gospel of life.”

New parish resources have been developed around the theme of “Living the Gospel of Life” and are available at www.respectlife.org. Respect Life Sunday falls on October 4.

Dear Friends,

As we prepare for our annual celebration of Respect Life Sunday on October 4, 2020, we do so at a moment that is unprecedented in its focus on care for the human person.

The theme for this year’s Respect Life commemoration is Live the Gospel of Life! Sadly, a reflection on the current reality of life in our land reveals that as a nation and people, we have yet to embrace and respect human life in its totality as we should. In an introductory letter to the US Bishops’ teaching document on the political responsibility of Catholics, Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship, the Bishops quote Pope Francis’ words taken from his exhortation, Gaudete et exultate, as he addresses our role as disciples of Jesus in confronting the struggles of our time:

The right to health, to home, to work, to culture is false and illusory if the right to life, the most basic and fundamental right and the condition for all other personal rights, is not defended with maximum determination.

Brothers and sisters, our responsibility as disciples of Jesus is clear. We are called to live the Gospel of Life. We do so, however, not solely by speaking of our resolve to respect human life or by self-righteously criticizing those whose beliefs may appear to be different than our own. We do so by treating one another with reverence, respect and dignity as children of God. We do so by serving the broken lives and hearts that God has placed in our midst, whomever they may be. And this year, in particular, we Live the Gospel of Life by exercising our right to vote for those candidates who best respect the dignity and worth of all those lives that will be entrusted to their care.

Faithfully yours in Christ,

Most Rev. Joseph C. Bambera, D.D., J.C.L.
Bishop of Scranton

2020 Voter Guide State Legislative Races Scranton Diocese

2020 Voter Guide
State Legislative Races
Scranton Diocese