A Response to the Bishops Statement on Biden

I just sent this email to the Newark Archdiocesan Pro-Life Office. I may submit it as a letter to the editor in some of the NJ papers.

I would like to hear your thoughts on the subject.

The bishops are responding to Biden on abortion but they say something very interesting about all life issues. I hope this statement is not overlooked by those who received this email:

“Which living members of the human species should be seen as having fundamental human rights, such as a right not to be killed? The Catholic Church’s answer is: Everybody. No human being should be treated as lacking human rights, and we have no business dividing humanity into those who are valuable enough to warrant protection and those who are not.”

Recently, Pope Benedict spoke in Guatemala where he linked the right to food to the right to life:

"This primary right to food is intrinsically connected to the protection and the defense of human life, the first and inviolable rock upon which the entire edifice of human rights is founded,"

This echoes the faithful citizenship statement recently issued by the USCCB:

"The right to life implies and is linked to other human rights—to the basic goods that every human person needs to live and thrive. All the life issues are connected, for erosion of respect for the life of any individual or group in society necessarily diminishes respect for all life. The moral imperative to respond to the needs of our neighbors—basic needs such as food, shelter, health care, education, and meaningful work—is universally binding on our consciences and may be legitimately fulfilled by a variety of means. Catholics must seek the best ways to respond to these needs. As Blessed Pope John XXIII taught, “[Each of us] has the right to life, to bodily integrity, and to the means which are suitable for the proper development of life; these are primarily food, clothing, shelter, rest, medical care,and, finally, the necessary social services” (Pacem in Terris, no. 11)

The bishops statement on “abortion” speaks to the use of torture, the death penalty and war. It speaks of health care, food and shelter. It speaks of the rights of immigrants in our country particularly those being held in detention centers. I hope the broader message does not get lost.