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Kansas bishops react to Value Them Both Amendment’s failure to pass | Press Release
Press Releases
Aug 3, 2022
Kansas bishops react to Value Them Both Amendment’s failure to pass
We, the Catholic bishops of Kansas, join our people in expressing our disappointment that the Value Them Both Amendment did not pass. We are sorry to see that the most vulnerable human being in our society—the unborn child—will not be protected but further treated with indifference and injustice. Please be assured that we will continue our efforts to protect and support life. We fully believe that all life is sacred and valuable by God’s design, especially the unborn. Despite the outcome, the Church will continue to help mothers in crisis pregnancy situations. We will still promote ways in which a mother may say yes to life instead of choosing an abortion.
To those who voted “no” on the amendment, may we somehow work together in finding ways that support women’s rights but also the rights of the unborn. We also pray for those who have had abortions. The arms of the Church are always open so that those who are suffering may experience God’s mercy, compassion and healing by our words and actions.
We want to express our gratitude to the thousands of people who joined in voting “yes” for Value Them Both. Thank you for your courage, your generous support and hard work in promoting the Value Them Both Amendment.
There is much more to be accomplished in helping our society see the value and dignity of every human life from conception to natural death. We trust that God will bring good out of evil. In the end, the truth wins! No matter how deep the darkness is, no matter how long it reigns, no matter how much it grows, it cannot destroy the light. Too often, it can seem that evil is winning, but we know that the darkness will never defeat the light of Christ. We will continue to preach the truth with love and place all our trust in Jesus who gives us hope.“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” John 8:12
Most Reverend Gerald L. Vincke DIOCESE OF SALINA
Most Reverend Carl A. Kemme DIOCESE OF WICHITA
Most Reverend JOSEPH F. NAUMANN DIOCESE OF KANSAS CITY
Most Reverend JOHN B. BRUNGARDT DIOCESE OF DODGE CITY
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 14, 2022 / 10:26 am
Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City in Kansas has said he is “sad” over the way Pope Francis has handled the controversy surrounding the pro-abortion actions of President Joe Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, whose positions on the issue are at sharp odds with the teaching of their Catholic faith on the sanctity of human life.
“I think the pope doesn't understand the U.S., just as he doesn't understand the Church in the U.S.,” the archbishop told the newspaper, according to CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner.
"His advisers and the people surrounding him have completely misinformed him on this," Naumann added.
In an interview with CNA on Thursday, Naumann stood by his comments to the newspaper, saying, “I said what I said.”
However, Naumann clarified that he spoke to the German news outlet prior to becoming aware of Pope Francis’ most recent comments regarding Biden, in which the pope referred to the U.S. president’s pro-abortion position as an “incoherence” in respect to his Catholic faith.
In the interview with UnivisiĆ³n and Televisa broadcast July 12, the pope said he leaves the matter to Biden’s “conscience,” but he also suggested that Biden discuss the conflict with his pastor.
“I wasn’t aware of that statement by the Holy Father and I do think that’s helpful,” Naumann told CNA. “It’s very helpful because I think that’s exactly true, that his position is incoherent with Catholic teaching. So I’m grateful for that clarification by the Holy Father.”
In his comments to Tagespost, Naumann said, “Of course we have to be pastoral” when dealing with such matters.
"However, it is not pastoral to tell someone they are a good Catholic and can receive Communion as a matter of course, when that person has committed a grave evil,” he continued. “The fact that the pope received Pelosi was politically exploited. In doing so, Francis is doing exactly what he warns others not to do."
Though a Catholic, Biden has repeatedly supported abortion rights despite the Church’s teaching that human life must be respected and protected from the moment of conception. After meeting with Pope Francis in October, Biden said the pope told him to "keep receiving Communion." The Vatican has not confirmed Biden's account.
Biden, the archbishop told the newspaper, "knows what is right in this regard. There is no excuse. He should not keep presenting himself as a devout Catholic."
Through his behavior, Naumann said, the president was showing the public, "I support legal abortions and I'm a devout Catholic at the same time, so you can, too." Naumann said it crosses the line when politicians "flaunt their Catholic faith and advocate such evil."
"President Biden claims to be a devout Catholic, but it's not really clear from his actions," Naumann continued.
"In my view, he is using the rosary and his Mass attendance to portray himself as a faithful Catholic. If you look at Joe Biden's career, you see that he followed the Democratic line, not the teachings of the Church."
Last week Biden signed an executive order aimed at protecting abortion access in response to the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion throughout the U.S. Responding to Biden’s action, Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore, the chair of the U.S. bishops’ pro-life committee, called the move “deeply disturbing and tragic.”
In recent years the U.S. bishops have discussed and commented on the issue of “Eucharistic coherence” at length, especially in regard to Biden and other American Catholic politicians.
While the Eucharist document does not mention Biden or any Catholic politicians by name, it does reiterate the bishops’ prior guidance that Catholics who are not in communion with the Church’s teaching should not present themselves for Communion.
Miami Archbishop Thomas G. Wenski distributes Communion during Mass June 13, 2018, at St. Pius X Catholic Church during the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' annual spring assembly in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (CNS photo/Bob Roller)
It won’t be on the agenda, but it will dominate the meeting anyway. When the U.S. bishops gather for their fall general assembly, the big issue before them will be unity. And not unity with somebody else but among themselves.
What threatens to divide them are conflicting views on the Church’s preeminent sacrament of unity, the Eucharist — specifically, who can worthily receive holy Communion and who cannot.
That isn’t new. At their Nov. 15-18 meeting in Baltimore, the bishops will resume a debate that exploded publicly at their general assembly in June. Then, as now, the question dividing them was whether to say Catholic politicians who support abortion — a group notably including President Joe Biden — should be refused Communion unless they change their minds and repent.
Some bishops think the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops should say that, others are convinced it shouldn’t.
The focal point in Baltimore will be a statement on the “meaning of the Eucharist in the life of the Church” prepared by the USCCB Committee on Doctrine, chaired by Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Indiana. After a tense two-hour debate last June, the bishops voted 168-55 with six abstentions to move ahead on a draft.
But one result of that debate, together with a series of closed-door regional discussions since then, is likely to be a document with no sharp edges that would be offensive to pro-abortion politicians or anybody else. Instead, the statement is expected to stress the positive and avoid singling out politicians for criticism or suggesting that abortion is the only measure of worthiness to receive the sacrament. It will also reaffirm that the decision in particular cases is up to individual bishops rather than USCCB.
Almost certainly, though, the meeting’s main point of interest will be what the statement on the Eucharist says or doesn’t say about prominent Catholic pro-choicers like Biden. Since June, the president and his administration have continued their high-visibility support for abortion. Most recently, that included removing a ban on giving family planning funds to abortion providers, a policy that cost Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider, nearly $60 million yearly.
In September, Cardinal Wilton D. Gregory of Washington, who opposes denying Communion to Biden, nevertheless challenged the president on a key point of Catholic doctrine. The president had said human life doesn’t begin at conception, but the cardinal reminded a National Press Club audience that the Church teaches that it does; he added that Biden was “not demonstrating Catholic teaching” in saying differently.
But by far the most significant abortion-related development on the Church’s side in recent months was Pope Francis’ in-flight news conference, also in September, while returning to Rome from a visit to Hungary and Slovakia. Asked about the debate in the U.S. over giving Communion to pro-abortion politicians, the pope gave a typically freewheeling reply open to various interpretations.
Declining to comment specifically on events in America, he nevertheless took a notably strong stand against abortion, calling it “homicide” and saying that for the Church to accept it “would be like accepting daily murder.”
At the same time, however, he insisted that bishops should adopt a “pastoral” approach on Communion for pro-choicers and “not go around condemning.”
Finally, though, he dismissed as “a hypothetical” the conclusion that a pastoral approach necessarily meant giving Communion. “The pastor knows what he has to do at all times, but as a shepherd,” he concluded.
Having had five months to think things over, the bishops are likely to seek to soften the sometimes confrontational tone that marked their debate in June, threatening to shatter the appearance of collegial consensus much prized by the hierarchy. Students of the episcopal conference know bishops have been divided before on issues, to say nothing of conflicting styles and personalities. But it would be hard to recall a previous occasion when they disagreed quite so publicly as they do now.
In that context, many people will be waiting to see what line particular members of the hierarchy with a special stake in the outcome will take during the debate in Baltimore.
That includes, on one side, Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of Kansas City, Kansas, chairman of USCCB’s pro-life committee, and Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone of San Francisco, who has clashed publicly with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, a pro-abortion Catholic from his archdiocese, and on the other side Cardinal Blase J. Cupich of Chicago and Bishop Robert W. McElroy of San Diego, both of whom have strongly opposed denying Communion.
It hardly needs saying, too, that Pope Francis’ views will carry important weight with the bishops. If he has said any more than he did on the plane in September, it has been said privately and out of sight. Bishops and everybody else will therefore be listening carefully for any further indications in the talk traditionally delivered at the start of a bishops’ meeting by Archbishop Christophe Pierre, the papal Nuncio to the United States.
Russell Shaw is a contributing editor for Our Sunday Visitor.
What else to expect
The statement on the Eucharist is by no means the only issue facing the bishops. Among other things, they will have to elect a new general secretary of the conference — a task made necessary by the resignation last July of Msgr. Jeffrey Burrill following media reports that analysis of cellphone data had traced calls to a homosexual “hookup” app to his number. The choice to succeed him is expected to be Msgr. Michael Fuller, a priest of the Diocese of Rockford, Ill., who has been serving as interim general secretary.
The agenda for the meeting is also expected to include details on the national Eucharistic Congress planned for 2024. The bishops will also vote for a treasurer-elect for the conference, as well as chairmen-elect of five conference committees: Clergy, Consecrated Life, and Vocations; Divine Worship; Domestic Justice and Human Development; Laity, Marriage, Family Life, and Youth; and Migration.
Statement of Respect for Life Month from Most Reverend Joseph F. Naumann, Chairman U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities
The month of October brings with it our annual observance of Respect Life Month. As part of the Year of St. Joseph declared by Pope Francis, this year’s celebration highlights the example of that great saint.
As the faithful protector of both Jesus and Mary, we find in St. Joseph a profound reminder of our own call to welcome, safeguard, and defend God’s precious gift of human life.
Despite the mysterious circumstances surrounding Mary’s pregnancy, St. Joseph took her into his home at the word of the angel. He guided their journey to Bethlehem, found shelter, and welcomed the infant Jesus as his son. When Herod threatened the life of the Christ Child, St. Joseph left his homeland behind and fled with Jesus and Mary to Egypt.
Like St. Joseph, we are also called to care for those God has entrusted to us–especially vulnerable mothers and children. We can follow in the footsteps of St. Joseph as protector by advocating against taxpayer-funded abortion, which targets the lives of millions of poor children and their mothers here in the United States. We can imitate his care and provision by helping to start Walking with Moms in Need at our parishes, "walking in the shoes" of mothers experiencing a difficult pregnancy, especially low-income mothers in our communities.
At times, we may feel uncertain of our ability to answer the Lord’s call. But He invites us to faithfully respond, despite our own fears or weaknesses: “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor 12:9).
May we imitate St. Joseph’s faithful trust and courage as we work to uphold the dignity of every human life. St. Joseph, defender of life, pray for us!
Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of Kansas City, Kan., chairman of the the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Pro-Life Activities, and New York Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, chairman of the USCCB's Committee for Religious Liberty, are seen in this composite photo. (CNS composite; photos by Long Island Catholic and Gregory A. Shemitz)
WASHINGTON (CNS) — The House Committee on Appropriations is poised to mark up “the most extreme pro-abortion appropriations bill we have seen” because it excludes the 46-year-old Hyde Amendment and other long-standing bipartisan provisions that prevent tax money from being spent on abortion, two U.S. bishops’ committee chairmen said July 13.
If the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies appropriations bill is marked up as is, it is “effectively mandating health care professionals to participate in abortion, and forcing American citizens to pay for abortion with their tax dollars,” said Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York and Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of Kansas City, Kansas.
The cardinal is chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee for Religious Liberty and Archbishop Naumann is chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Pro-Life Activities.
“By eliminating the Hyde Amendment, and other Hyde-like policies, the financial fruits of Americans’ labor would advance the destruction of the smallest, most vulnerable humans,” they said in a joint statement.
In late June, Archbishop Naumann and Bishop David J. Malloy of Rockford, Illinois, chairman of the bishops’ international policy committee, issued a similar statement on Hyde provisions being left out of proposed spending bills for the District of Columbia, several federal agencies and U.S. foreign operations.
Hyde first became law in 1976 to prohibit federal funds appropriated through the Labor Department, the Health and Human Services Department and related agencies from being used to cover abortion or fund health plans that cover abortion except in cases of rape, incest or when the life of the woman would be endangered.
Hyde has been reenacted in spending bills every year since it was first passed.
Also left out of the spending bill addressed by Cardinal Dolan and Archbishop Naumann is the Weldon Amendment, which has been included in the annual appropriation for HHS since 2005. It allows health care providers as well as insurance plans to refuse to provide abortions, pay for them or refer women to abortion clinics.
“Eliminating the Weldon Amendment would be an egregious violation of conscience rights by forcing individuals and entities to perform, pay for, or otherwise participate in an abortion against their beliefs,” they said.
“We implore the House Committee on Appropriations to reverse course on these bills that currently expand taxpayer funding of abortion, and to restore the long-standing, bipartisan Hyde provisions and Weldon Amendment that have saved millions of lives and protected conscience rights,” Cardinal Dolan and Archbishop Naumann said.
“These bills include many other provisions and funding for critically needed services that we support,” they added. “Americans’ tax dollars should be used for the common good and welfare of all, not to finance abortion or force Americans to violate deeply held beliefs.”
In Congress, after hearings on a bill are completed, the measure is then considered in a committee session known as the “mark-up” session. At this time, amendments may be offered to the bill, and the committee members vote to accept or reject these changes.
Cardinal Dolan and Archbishop Naumann called on U.S. Catholics and “all people of goodwill to contact their legislators and make their voices heard” on the need to retain these amendments.
“The lives of millions of vulnerable children, and the well-being of their mothers, depend on our advocacy,” they said.
They also urged people go to www.NoTaxpayerAbortion.com and sign a petition on the site before July 16 to send “an urgent message” to Congress to preserve the Hyde Amendment. The petition is sponsored by the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities.
“Abortion is not health care nor a ‘human service’ to anyone,” Cardinal Dolan and Archbishop Naumann said. “Rather, abortion is inhumane. It is a painful death to an innocent baby, and often leaves women physically harmed and emotionally devastated.”
In recent days, a number of other Catholic leaders also have urged Congress to retain Hyde, including Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin of Newark, N.J., Baltimore Archbishop William E. Lori, and the New York State Catholic Conference on behalf of Cardinal Dolan and the other Catholic bishops of the state.
On July 9, Students for Life of America and Students for Life Action participated in “Save Hyde” rallies alongside Democrats for Life of America in Philadelphia and in Akron, Ohio, to urge U.S. Reps. Brendan Boyle, D-Pa., and Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, and all Democrats to support the Hyde Amendment.
Archbishop Naumann Commends Archbishop Cordileone’s Pastoral Letter: ‘The Protection of the Unborn Remains a Preeminent Priority’
Archbishop Naumann reiterated the archbishop of San Francisco's sentiments adding, ‘Catholics in public life who advocate for abortion create scandal by encouraging others to do evil.’
Archbishop Joseph Naumann (L) joined members of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' Region IX to celebrate Mass together in the grotto of St. Peter's Basilica on Jan. 16, 2020. Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone (R) performs an exorcism at Golden Gate Park after a statue of St. Junipero Serra was vandalized and toppled June 19, 2020. (photo: CNA/Archdiocese of San Francisco)
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Archbishop Joseph Naumann, the chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, commended Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone Tuesday for his pastoral letter on proper reception of Holy Communion by the faithful.
The Kansas City, Kansas, archbishop also urged the Catholic faithful in his archdiocese to read it.
“I commend and thank Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone for his pastoral letter, ‘Before I Formed You in the Womb I Knew You,’” Archbishop Naumann writes. “Archbishop Cordileone correctly identifies legalized abortion as ‘the axe laid to the roots of the tree of human rights ...’ and as a symptom of “... severely disordered society ....’
Archbishop Cordileone makes a compelling argument for:
1) the legal and scientific case for the protection of the unborn child as the foundation for all other human rights;
2) legislators and public figures who advocate and promote abortion’s availability share in the moral culpability for the evil of abortion;
3) the reception of Holy Communion while rejecting one of the Church’s most fundamental moral teaching is dishonest;
4) Catholics in public life who advocate for abortion create scandal by encouraging others to do evil.”
Archbishop Cordileone’s pastoral letter, issued on May 1 — the feast of St. Joseph the Worker and at the beginning of the month honoring the Blessed Virgin Mary — comes at a time of growing media coverage regarding whether practicing Catholics who publicly dissent from definitive Catholic teaching should be admitted to Holy Communion. Both President Joe Biden and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, who resides in Archbishop Cordileone’s archdiocese, are two such Catholics.
In his letter of support, Archbishop Naumann said, “The tone of Archbishop Cordileone’s pastoral letter makes clear his earnest desire for the immediate and eternal welfare of all those entrusted to his care. Archbishop Cordileone provides a tightly reasoned rationale why the protection of the unborn remains a preeminent priority among many other important concerns for upholding the dignity of each and every human person.
The Kansas archbishop stated, “I urge the people of the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas to read prayerfully ‘Before I Formed You in the Womb I Knew You.’”
Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of Kansas City, Kansas, at a Mass held on the eve of the 2020 March for Life in Washington, D.C.GREGORY A. SHEMITZ
Archbishop Joseph Naumann is anxious about President Joe Biden’s soul. The two men are in some ways similar: cradle Catholics born in the 1940s who witnessed John F. Kennedy become America’s first Catholic president. Both found a natural home in the Democratic Party—in Naumann’s midwestern family, asking Catholics if they were Democrats was a redundancy. Naumann became a priest and Biden became a politician, but their paths really diverged over the issue of abortion. Now in his 70s, Naumann watched Biden—America’s second Catholic president—transform into a vocal supporter of abortion rights while competing for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. Naumann runs the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas and also leads what the Catholic bishops describe as their pro-life activities. He has suggested that Biden should no longer call himself a devout Catholic. At the very least, Naumann says, Biden should stop receiving Communion, a holy sacrament in Catholic life.
Part of Naumann’s concern is theological: When Catholics receive Communion, they must strive to do so “worthily,” meaning they have repented of their sins and desire to live in keeping with the teachings of the Catholic Church. In the Bible, the apostle Paul warns of grave consequences for those who take Communion unworthily. But Naumann is also worried about the message Biden communicates to other Catholics when he takes Communion while continuing to support abortion rights: “Whether he intends it or not, he’s basically saying to people, ‘You can be a good Catholic and do similar things,’” Naumann told me.
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops recently convened a working group to discuss how the bishops should interact with Biden, and how they should deal with the challenge of having a visibly Catholic president who defies Church teachings on a central issue. Naumann was part of that group. Conflicts have already arisen: Naumann recently co-authored a statement expressing moral concerns about the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which was developed and tested using cell lines from aborted fetal tissue. He also joined a statement from a group of the country’s top bishops celebrating the passage of the American Rescue Plan Act, but called it “unconscionable that Congress has passed the bill without critical protections needed to ensure that billions of taxpayer dollars are used for life-affirming health care and not for abortion.”
I spoke with the archbishop about why he sees Biden’s position on abortion as a problem, and what the bishops will do next. Our interview has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity.
Emma Green: The second-ever Catholic president of the United States—a man who attends weekly Mass and quotes Augustine and carries a rosary—also supports the expansion of abortion rights. Do you think this presents a challenge to the witness of the Church?
Archbishop Joseph Naumann: Yes. To have a president who is an engaged Catholic, but who acts in contradiction to some of our most fundamental moral teachings—we haven’t really faced that kind of challenge before.
Green: So what is the exact challenge? Do you think the teachings of the Catholic Church will be misinterpreted or misunderstood by people who see President Biden talk about his faith?
Naumann: One of the issues is the extent to which he supports legalized abortion, even to the point of wanting all Americans to fund abortion. But the bigger issue, for us, is the one you alluded to, which is that he does these things, and then in reply to questions about them, he or his press secretary says, “Biden’s a devout Catholic.”
Whether he intends it or not, he’s basically saying to people, “You can be a good Catholic and do similar things.”
Green: You have said that the president should not offer himself up to receive Communion. Why is Communion the place in Catholic life where this conflict between President Biden’s Catholic identity and his support for abortion should be adjudicated?
Naumann: If a non-Catholic Christian wants to enter into full communion with the Church, they’re asked to make a profession where they say, “I believe and profess all that the holy Catholic Church believes, teaches, and proclaims to be revealed by God.” Each time we receive the Eucharist, we’re also saying that profession. That’s why it becomes a point of confusion. Obviously, the president doesn’t believe what we believe about the sacredness of human life, or he wouldn’t be taking the actions that he is. And yet, he continues to receive the Eucharist. We can’t judge his heart. But we consider the action itself a grave moral evil.
Green: When you’re saying there’s a “grave moral evil” there, you’re saying that if Joe Biden participated in any legislative attempts, for example, to end the Hyde Amendment and allow federal funding for abortions—that would be the same moral evil as if he were to perform an abortion or assist some member of his family in having an abortion?
Naumann: I would say there is a similar gravity. They’re obviously not identical things. But he’s formally cooperating in abortion by his actions. He intends to make abortion available and accessible, to promote it, even help pay for it. He wants to force everybody else to do this as well, even if it violates their consciences.
Green: When Kathleen Sebelius, who is Catholic, was the governor of Kansas, you asked her not to receive Communion. Is this something you have done with other public officials?
Naumann: I had several conversations with her over a couple-year period about this issue, wanting to make sure she understood its gravity. At some point, I said, “Governor, we have to bring some closure to this.” I said, “I don’t really want to publicly embarrass you, but I ask that you don’t do this, because it’s what we would call ‘scandal in the Church,’ which means she could lead others into error by her actions.” Obviously Governor Sebelius wasn’t happy with that. Some months later, one of our priests called me and said she had been at a Mass and had come to Communion. So I chose to make it public that I had made that request to her. I’ve talked to other legislators about this issue. We haven’t taken the same actions at this time with others.
President Biden is not my parishioner. Governor Sebelius was. But obviously the president impacts us all. I want to protect my people from being misled. His actions, right now, do mislead. They do create confusion for people in terms of what the Church believes and teaches.
Green: Do you believe the bishops should more widely discourage elected officials who support abortion from taking Communion, and should forbid priests from offering it to them?
Naumann: I do believe that we have an obligation as pastors to try to work for their spiritual good. If it’s a member of public life doing things that are moral evils, then I or their pastor need to help them be aware of the seriousness of what they’re doing.
I wonder whether a public effort to deny Communion to the most visible Catholic in the United States, Joe Biden, could be hurtful to those Catholics who don’t line up perfectly with the Catholic Church.
Naumann: Why is the abortion issue so morally important to us? The bishops of the United Statesrecently ratified a statement in which we called it the preeminent issue of our time. It attacks innocent human life when it’s most vulnerable. It happens within the context of the family and attacks the most precious of human relationships: that between a mother and a child. And the sheer numbers of abortions—there’s no other issue in terms of the numbers of lives destroyed. So that’s why. It’s not the only issue for us, obviously, but it’s one that we consider preeminent.
Green: Something I’ve heard in my reporting, talking to Catholics who would describe themselves as pro-life, is a kind of grief around the way in which they perceive the pro-life cause to have become aligned with the Republican Party—and over the last four years, with President Trump. There’s this phrase that gets tossed around—that President Trump is the most pro-life president in history—signaling that he’s someone the pro-life movement fully gets behind.
Do you think there’s any damage in aligning the pro-life movement with one party, and particularly with President Trump?
Naumann: Well, first of all, I’d say I share their grief. I grew up in a family that thought that, if you asked a Catholic if they were a Democrat, they’d say that was a redundancy. I firmly believe we’ll never really build this culture of life we want until we have members of both parties. It can’t be a single-party issue.
But that’s not something people in the pro-life movement have chosen. The political parties have chosen their positions on this. It’s a great sadness to me that the Democratic Party has become so intolerant of anybody who has pro-life convictions. They’ve driven a lot of people out of their party.
Green: Do you think President Biden presents opportunities for the Church on other issues that matter for the family? For example: immigration and family separations at the border, which he has said he opposes.
Naumann: Yes. One of the things Biden has done that I feel is very positive is to increase the number of refugees that our country will welcome. Also, his aspirations to bring legalization to those who weren’t born in this country but were brought here as children. Hopefully, his Catholic formation has helped him to have compassion for the poor and compassion for those fleeing violence and economic poverty. So yes, I think those are positive things that the president can do and will do, for the good of some of the people that are on the margins.
Green: President Biden has forcefully come out in support of gay rights. And there are a lot of Catholics in America who feel strongly that it’s important to support LGBTQ Catholics.Several members of the hierarchy and many more priests have been part of that advocacy effort. Do you think there is a way for Catholics to extend greater welcome to LGBTQ people into the Church, and to make sure they are protected and honored as equal citizens?
Naumann: Yes. Every human being, we believe, is made in the image of God. Because of that, they need to be respected and treasured. Everybody’s dignity comes from God. There’s no question about that. But there is a question about what actions are moral or immoral. The moral teaching of Christianity has been clear on this issue for 2,000 years. There are many efforts within the Church to help those who are conflicted because of same-sex attractions—to know that they’re loved and respected. But we can’t support people making moral choices that are really harmful to themselves and to society in general.
I think there’s a difference between loving and respecting and honoring all people, but that doesn’t mean that all choices can be respected or honored.
Green: I know you’ve been part of the USCCB working group on the bishops’ relationship with the Biden administration. Was there any final conclusion about what priests should do if and when Biden presents himself to receive the Eucharist?
Naumann: No. That wasn’t our job or our mission.
Green: Got it. And do you expect there to be further writings along those lines?
Naumann: Each bishop is responsible to teach the faith in his diocese. So I think each bishop will do that, to the best of his ability. They will continue to teach and exercise their pastoral ministry in trying to form their people in the truth of the Catholic faith.
