Pro-lifers hopeful about outcome of Dobbs case, urge prayers for court

A pro-life activist holding a crucifix joins a protest outside the U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington Dec. 1, 2021, ahead of the court hearing oral arguments in the case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, an appeal from Mississippi to keep its ban on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. (CNS photo/Jonathan Ernst, Reuters)

WASHINGTON (CNS) – The chairman of the U.S. bishops’ pro-life committee Dec. 1 urged Catholics, people of other faiths and all people of goodwill to unite in prayer that the U.S. Supreme Court will overturn Roe v. Wade in its eventual ruling on Mississippi’s ban on most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

His statement was issued the same day the court heard oral arguments in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, an appeal from Mississippi. Its ban was struck down by a federal District Court in Mississippi in 2018 and upheld a year later by the New Orleans-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit.

The Mississippi law is being challenged by the state’s only abortion facility, the Jackson Women’s Health Organization. It’s the first major abortion case the court has heard in decades.

“In the United States, abortion takes the lives of over 600,000 babies every year,” said Baltimore Archbishop William E. Lori, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities. “Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health could change that.”

“We pray that the court will do the right thing and allow states to once again limit or prohibit abortion, and in doing so protect millions of unborn children and their mothers from this painful, life-destroying act,” he added. “We invite all people of goodwill to uphold the dignity of human life by joining us in prayer and fasting for this important case.”

If the court’s ruling, expected in July, upholds the ban, it possibly also could overturn Roe and send the abortion issue back to the states to decide laws on it.

Archbishop Lori directed people to www.prayfordobbs.com for Catholic and ecumenical prayers and resources for community engagement and action “as we await the court’s decision in this case.”

Pro-life advocates and supporters of keeping abortion legal gathered outside the Supreme Court rallying for their respective positions on the issue as the justices heard oral arguments in the case inside the court.

Beyond the court building’s steps, statements about the Mississippi law and predictions about the outcome of the case came from all quarters.

U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., predicted there would be “a revolution” if Roe v. Wade is overturned.

Shaheen, who is on record as a supporter of widespread access to abortion, said that young people in particular would find it unacceptable if the court strikes down the legal precedent set by Roe in 1973 legalizing abortion nationwide.

U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., called on the Senate to Pass the Women’s Health Protection Act. The measure, passed by the House Sept. 24, codifies Roe and establishes the legal right to abortion on demand at any stage of pregnancy in all 50 states under federal law.

“The Mississippi case brought before the Supreme Court is a product of Republican attacks on reproductive rights spanning decades,” said DeLauro, a Catholic. If Roe is overturned, the court will be “depriving individuals across the country of their right to choose to have an abortion,” she said.

Many pro-lifers hoping Roe will be overturned emphasized how many scientific advances have been made in the nearly 50 years since that decision was handed down, advances they argued that have led to unprecedented information on the developmental stages of the unborn child from conception to birth.

Father Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life, pointed to what he called the “utterly weak and time-worn arguments” that he said were made by Justices Stephen Breyer, Elena Kagan and Sonya Sotomayor, considered the liberal members of the court.

Among their comments was Sotomayor’s claim that only “fringe” doctors believe in the existence of fetal pain as a reason to restrict abortion.

“They do not acknowledge that the changes in science are real, or that the confusion thrust upon judges and legislators by the court’s approach to abortion is also real,” Father Pavone said in a statement.

“These and other objective reasons have led us to the day when Mississippi, and other states, believe it is time to enact stronger protections for the unborn, and for unelected judges to stop imposing policies that the legislatures should be responsible for instead,” he said.

At the rally outside the court, Grazie Pozo Christie, a radiologist and a senior fellow with The Catholic Association, similarly commented that “incredible advances in science and fetal medicine have rendered viability a totally incoherent legal standard.”

“Science and common sense tell us children in the womb are as undeniably human as the rest of us,” remarked Brian Burch, president of CatholicVote, an independent political advocacy group. “We know for instance that by 15 weeks they already have beating hearts, can suck their thumbs, and even feel pain.”

“It is time to overturn Roe and allow Americans to once again pass laws that reflect these basic values,” he said in a statement.

He added that “millions of faithful Catholics across the nation are hopeful after today’s oral arguments that the Supreme Court of the United States will restore sanity to its abortion jurisprudence which has enabled over 62 million American children to be aborted since 1973 when Roe v. Wade was decided.”

“Protecting innocent life is the preeminent moral issue for Catholics but it is also the condition of any just society, and abortion robs our most vulnerable citizens of that most basic human right,” Burch said.

Not all eyes on the court were in the nation’s capital.

In Illinois, Tom Brejcha, president and chief counsel of the Thomas More Society, said the country has “the first real legal opportunity in over a decade to topple” Roe, which “has left a tragic trail of human carnage: more than 62 million dead children and countless broken families and wounded souls.”

He said the Thomas More Society, a public interest law firm, has assisted thousands of clients, including some of the nation’s leading pro-life figures, “all of whom have either spoken to the opportunity now facing the Supreme Court or are actively engaged in the cry to ‘Overturn Roe.'”

Louisiana Right to Life associate director Angie Thomas said that while no one can predict the outcome of a Supreme Court case on the basis of oral arguments, she was heartened that at least six of the nine justices asked questions that seemed to support Mississippi’s ban.

In a news conference outside the pro-life organization’s New Orleans headquarters, Thomas noted that Justice Brett Kavanaugh stressed the court should remain “scrupulously neutral” on issues “that are just this complicated and this divisive,” allowing those issues to be decided by individual states and their elected representatives.

In addition, Thomas said, Justice Samuel Alito interjected during the nearly two hours of oral arguments that the rights of the unborn child had to be considered along with the rights of the mother.

“Alito mentioned that the fetus has an interest in life, too, when the other side was talking about the women’s interest,” she said. “He mentioned how there are two interests there that actually are difficult to hold together.”

“These justices are really digging into the difficult issues of where there is an objective line of protection (for the unborn child) and how do you truly balance these interests, and should the court even be doing that?” Thomas said after the news conference. “It’s more important that the Supreme Court just remain neutral and allow the states to work this out.”

“New York is going to be very different than Louisiana, but it is the power of the people to make that decision,” she told the Clarion Herald, newspaper of the Archdiocese of New Orleans.

Thomas said advances in science have proven beyond a shadow of a doubt about the humanity of the unborn child from its earliest stages.

“At 15 weeks, the child is moving, the child has a beating heart and the child’s organs are formed,” she said.

“We have the chance to protect that child. … We could have a significant change in abortion law in America today,” Thomas added. “And, if that change happened, in Louisiana we are ready to be a post-Roe, abortion-free community where women are truly helped and babies are protected.”

WASHINGTON (CNS) – In the Supreme Court’s first major abortion case in decades – which looked at Mississippi’s ban on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy – the majority of justices Dec. 1 seemed willing to let that ban stay in place.

But it was unclear if they would take this further and overturn Roe.

While the justices considered the state law and the possible ramifications of supporting it or not, people on both sides of the issue were on the steps of the Supreme Court revealing the divide on this issue by what they were shouting or with their placard messages calling abortion murder or an essential right.

At several points during the argument, Chief Justice John Roberts continued to bring the focus back to the question at hand: the 15-week ban on abortions in Mississippi, which was struck down by a federal District Court in Mississippi in 2018 and upheld a year later by the New Orleans-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit.

A 15-week ban is not a “dramatic departure from viability,” Roberts said.

The point of viability – when a fetus is said to be able to survive on its own – was key to the discussion because the Supreme Court has consistently ruled that states cannot restrict abortion before 24 weeks or when a fetus is said to be able to survive on its own.

Roberts seemed hesitant to take this further, asking if the court were to overturn Roe v. Wade, if it also would be asked to reconsider several other cases that people could say have been wrongly decided.

And that discussion of previous court decisions, the use of “stare decisis” came up frequently. The term, which literally means to stand by things decided, was used in reference to previous abortion cases but also several other cases with some justices pointing out that precedence should not always be a deciding factor and that some cases did need to be overturned.

Justice Stephen Breyer indicated the court was treading on contested ground and was concerned that its decision could be seen as merely being political.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor took this a step further, saying the court would be seen as highly politicized if it were to overturn Roe and other related rulings. “Will this institution survive the stench that this creates in the public perception that the Constitution and its reading are just political acts?” she asked. “I don’t see how it is possible.”

But as the arguments continued, more reflection seemed to be on the issue of abortion itself and the possibility of bringing the issue “back to the people,” as Mississippi Solicitor General Scott Stewart suggested.

Stewart stressed that Roe and Casey court decisions “haunt our country” and “have no home in our history or traditions.”

Roe v. Wade is the 1973 decision that legalized abortion. Casey v. Planned Parenthood is the 1992 decision that affirmed Roe and also stressed that a state regulation on abortion could not impose an “undue burden” on a woman “seeking an abortion before the fetus attains viability.”

Justice Brett Kavanaugh emphasized the court was being forced to “pick sides” on a contentious issue and questioned why the court had to be the arbiter here.

“The Constitution is neither pro-life nor pro-choice,” he said, noting that it “leaves the issue to the people to resolve in the democratic process.”

Justice Clarence Thomas asked what those opposed to the state ban thought was the constitutional right to an abortion, and Justice Samuel Alito spoke of the fetus having “an interest in having a life.”

Julie Rikelman, of the Center for Reproductive Rights, who represented the Jackson Women’s Health Organization in its challenge of Mississippi’s abortion law, said keeping the law in place would cause “profound damage to women’s liberty, equality and the rule of law.”

U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar went on to argue that overturning the court’s previous abortion rulings would have “severe and swift” effects causing abortion restrictions in other states.

If the court sides with Mississippi, it would be the first time the court would allow an abortion ban before the point of viability and could lay the groundwork for other abortion restrictions that other states could follow.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, in a court brief supporting Mississippi, stressed that abortion is not a right created by the Constitution and called it “inherently different from other types of personal decisions to which this court has accorded constitutional protection.”

Referring to the court’s major abortion decisions, the brief warned that if the Supreme Court “continues to treat abortion as a constitutional issue,” it will face more questions in the future about “what sorts of abortion regulations are permissible.”

Just as the arguments started, the USCCB issued a statement from Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore, chairman of the Committee on Pro-Life Activities, which said: “We pray that the court will do the right thing and allow states to once again limit or prohibit abortion and in doing so protect millions of unborn children and their mothers from this painful, life-destroying act.”

A ruling in the case is expected in July.

WASHINGTON (CNS) – When the Supreme Court hears oral arguments Dec. 1 for the biggest abortion case in decades, all eyes – and ears – will be on the court.

The Supreme Court building is seen in Washington Nov. 29, 2021. On Dec. 1 the court was scheduled to hear oral arguments in when the court hears oral arguments in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which is an appeal by Mississippi to remove a lower court’s injunction on its law banning most abortions after the 15th week of pregnancy. (CNS photo/Leah Millis, Reuters)

Diocesan websites across the country have posted links to the arguments as well as churches where prayers will be taking place at this time. Several dioceses also encouraged Catholics to take part in an online national prayer event in mid-November to pray for the outcome of this decision.

Reaction on social media, multiple briefs in support and opposition to the case and the likely presence of protesters and supporters on the court’s steps Dec. 1 are just a small indication of how divided the nation is on abortion and on the court’s potential to significantly restrict it or perhaps even overturn Roe v. Wade.

The case before the nation’s high court, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, is an appeal from Mississippi to keep its ban on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. This ban was struck down by a federal District Court in Mississippi in 2018 and upheld a year later by the New Orleans-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit.

The Mississippi law is being challenged by the state’s only abortion facility, the Jackson Women’s Health Organization.

When the court announced this spring that it would take this case, after considering it more than a dozen times since 2020, the justices said they would only review one of the three questions presented to them: “Whether all previability prohibitions on elective abortions are unconstitutional.”

That point of viability – when a fetus is said to be able to survive on its own – is key because the Supreme Court has consistently ruled that states cannot restrict abortion before 24 weeks, or when a fetus could survive on its own. Mississippi’s ban on abortions after 15 weeks is more restrictive than current law.

When the court agreed to take this case, Kat Talalas, assistant director for pro-life communications at the U.S Conference of Catholic Bishops, said the justices could potentially establish criteria other than viability, such as fetal pain, for restricting abortions.

A friend-of-the-court brief submitted by Mississippi’s Catholic dioceses of Jackson and Biloxi focused on fetal pain and said the court should “find that the state’s interest in protecting unborn children who have the capacity to feel pain is sufficiently compelling to support a limited prohibition on abortion.”

The brief also urged that a “sense of morality, and indeed, logic, must prevail in the courts on this issue. How is it that Mississippi law recognizes that an unborn baby can be a victim of a crime, and can have property rights, and yet the label of personhood at 15-weeks gestation is denied them?”

The USCCB, in its brief, stressed that abortion is not a right created by the Constitution and called it “inherently different from other types of personal decisions to which this court has accorded constitutional protection.”

The court’s two big decisions on abortion were Roe v. Wade, the 1973 court case which legalized abortion, and Casey v. Planned Parenthood in 1992, which affirmed Roe and also stressed that a state regulation on abortion could not impose an “undue burden” on a woman “seeking an abortion before the fetus attains viability.”

In a Nov. 28 op-ed in The Washington Post, Lynn Fitch, Mississippi’s attorney general, who is defending the state’s abortion law, said the case before the court was about “overturning Roe v. Wade and returning decision-making about abortion policy to the people.”

She acknowledged the contentiousness of the case saying: “There is no question that the issues involved in abortion policy are tough, complex and emotionally charged. But it is precisely because of such challenges that the Constitution gives the people the difficult task of balancing competing interests, devising compromises and developing policy.

“It is the core principle of democratic self-governance that U.S. citizens act on hard issues through the men and women they elect and can hold accountable at the ballot box.”

When the Supreme Court decided Roe, she said, “it took abortion policymaking out of the hands of the people. It set it apart from all sorts of other difficult policy issues and created a special set of rules that have acted to keep abortion policy behind the bench, where unelected judges decide the fate of the people’s laws.”

O. Carter Snead, law professor at the University of Notre Dame, similarly noted in a Nov. 29 statement the strong feelings in this Mississippi case and said that “despite the intense emotions” surrounding it, the fundamental issue for the court is: Does it have the constitutional authority to create a rule regarding viability? He said it does not.

As he put it: “The court’s abortion jurisprudence has for decades imposed on the nation, without constitutional justification, an extreme, incoherent and deeply unjust regime pursuant to specious reasoning and constantly changing rules, standards and rationales.”

Snead also filed an amicus brief in favor of the Mississippi law, as did other Catholics and Catholic organizations.

But while several Catholic leaders have spoken in favor of dismantling Roe v. Wade, Catholics across the board have not. Last year, a survey by the Pew Research Center showed 68% of U.S. Catholics said Roe should not be overturned and 56% said abortion should be legal in all or most cases.

During the oral arguments of this case many people will be protesting while others will be praying and some listening in.

But when the arguments – which are likely to go beyond the allotted 70-minutes – are over, those on both sides will be united in one thing: waiting for the court to announce a decision, which will likely be in early July 2022.

INDIANAPOLIS – While things may have looked different at this year’s National Catholic Youth Conference, the spirit of the event was unchanged.

Eighty-five young adults and chaperones from the Diocese of Scranton participated in this year’s event, traveling together by bus to the Indiana Convention Center and Lucas Oil Stadium for the Nov. 18-20 conference.

“It was fun that we all got to be together and get to meet new friends and hear all the speakers and go to Mass,” Lucas Bower, 15, Saint Joseph the Worker Parish in Williamsport, said. “Adoration was really neat. Everyone was quiet. Inside the whole stadium you could hear a pin drop.”

“Originally, I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into,” Olivia DeScipio, 15, Saint Eulalia Parish in Roaring Brook Township, said. “My older brother went and he said he had such an amazing experience. I was always on board with going once I got into high school but after this weekend, I really realize how big of an event this is and how amazing it was to be in such an accepting community of Catholics.”

This year, nearly 11,000 young adults from across the country participated in NCYC. Organizers decided to limit registrations to only half of the normal 20,000 because of COVID-19 concerns.

“The number this year was almost more impressive because of all the restrictions that are in place right now. It was crazy to see how many people were still willing to go through that,” Luke Magnotta, 16, Saint Eulalia Parish in Roaring Brook Township, said. This year was Magnotta’s second trip to NCYC.

In order to maintain a safe environment, all participants from the Diocese of Scranton were required to show a negative COVID-19 test result within 72 hours of the event. Face masks were also required during indoor events.

Adoration leads teens to experience ‘true love of God’

Father Leo Patalinghug speaks to the nearly 11,000 participants at the National Catholic Youth Conference while kneeling before the Blessed Sacrament during adoration at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis Nov. 19, 2021. (CNS photo/Natalie Hoefer, The Criterion)

For many youths, group adoration on the second night of the conference is the part of the event they find most memorable.

As soon as the Eucharist was brought into Lucas Oil Stadium, all of the teens started kneeling, watching in silence as the monstrance was placed on the altar.

“There were 10,000 kids in that stadium, an echoing stadium, and there was no noise. Everyone was silent, praying to the same God,” Jacob Chechel, 14, Our Lady Queen of Peace Parish in Brodheadsville, said.

“I feel like the 10,000 of us, all getting together for quiet Adoration was just very special. It’s rare that you’ll see something that big,” Shaylee Kimmick, Our Lady Queen of Peace Parish in Brodheadsville, added.

Father Leo Patalinghug, a priest-member of a community of consecrated life called Voluntas Dei (“The Will of God”) led the adoration service.

Father Leo urged the teens to see the beauty of the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist.

“With Christ, all things are possible. You can be a saint – you are supposed to be a saint,” he said.

“I have always heard that Adoration at big conferences is really powerful … and it was very true for me,” Deirdre Drinkall said. Drinkall is currently working at Saint Ignatius Loyola Parish in Kingston as one of three ECHO apprentices currently serving in the Diocese of Scranton. “It was a sense of deep peace … there was just a palpable peace laying over us when Adoration came and it was really beautiful.”

Teens participate in projects that help others

When not attending breakout sessions or Masses, NCYC participants have the opportunity to meet other young adults from other dioceses across the country. The students trade hats, pins and other items, giving them an opportunity to meet one another.

“I met so many people,” DeScipio said. “It was just so cool to be in a place where everybody has the same beliefs as you and you just felt more open, like you could discuss anything with them.”

There is also a large expo room inside the Indiana Convention Center where the students can shop, learn about vocations and meet keynote speakers.

The NCYC participants from Our Lady Queen of Peace Parish spent time together packing bags of rice and beans as part of a service project for Cross Catholic Outreach.

“Seeing how people in third world countries live really opened my eyes to how blessed I am to have some of the things I have,” Kimmick said.

In all, with just a small amount of work, the Pocono parish was able to pack enough bags to feed 5,832 people.

“It was so effortless. We were just talking and having a good time and I didn’t realize how many people we were serving food to, that don’t get the same things that we do. I take for granted everything I have and when I see that, it just puts me in the right mindset,” Chechel added.

Closing Mass encouraged youths to ‘keep the fire alive’

Indianapolis Archbishop Charles C. Thompson celebrates the closing Mass of the National Catholic Youth Conference in Lucas Oil Stadium Nov. 20, 2021. (CNS photoNatalie Hoefer, The Criterion)

At the closing Mass of NCYC, Indianapolis Archbishop Charles C. Thompson encouraged all attendees to return home with the fire of the Holy Spirit.

“Let us go forth with that fire to more fully embrace the Lord’s mission in bringing about the kingdom of God, striving always to be Christ-centered in all that we are about,” Archbishop Thompson said.

The closing Mass was one of the most memorable experiences of the trip for Olivia DeScipio.

“I really enjoyed the Mass on the last night. It was just so amazing to see so many kids my age, from all over the United States all here for one reason. It was just really amazing to see how big of a community we are really a part of,” she said.

When asked how he planned to keep the ‘fire’ of his NCYC experience alive, Luke Magnotta was quickly able to respond.

“I have to go to Confession more. I went to Confession and the last time that I had gone to Confession was last NCYC so I definitely have to go in between more,” he admitted. “The priest who was giving Confession to me explained that it’s a beautiful thing that God gives us the opportunity to go to Confession so we need to take it. That is something that I need to do.”

“If an experience like this did nothing more than to increase your desire to have a personal relationship with Christ, that will rub off on other people,” Drinkall said. “If you are on fire, then the people around you will slowly start to feel that and be on fire as well.”

SCRANTON – The Diocese of Scranton will hold the Retirement Fund for Religious collection Dec. 11-12. The parish-based appeal is coordinated by the National Religious Retirement Office (NRRO) in Washington, D.C. Proceeds help religious communities across the country to care for aging members.

Last year, the Diocese of Scranton donated $50,029.74 to the collection. In 2021, the Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary received financial support made possible by the Retirement Fund for Religious.

“I am continually heartened by the generosity of U.S. Catholics,” said NRRO Executive Director Sister Stephanie Still, a member of the Sisters of the Presentation of San Francisco. “Even in difficult times, they find a way to give back to those who have tirelessly served our Church and our world.”

Hundreds of U.S. religious communities face a large gap between the needs of their older members and the funds available to support them. Historically, Catholic sisters, brothers and religious order priests — known collectively as women and men religious — served for little to no pay. As a result, many communities now lack adequate retirement savings.

At the same time, health-care expenses continue to rise, and an increasing number of older religious require specialized services. NRRO data shows that 26,330 women and men religious in the United States are older than age 70. The total cost for their care exceeds $1 billion annually.

To help address the deficit in retirement funding among U.S. religious orders, Catholic bishops of the United States initiated the Retirement Fund for Religious collection in 1988.

Distributions are sent to each eligible order’s central house and provide supplemental funding for necessities, such as medications and nursing care. Donations also underwrite resources that help religious communities improve eldercare and plan for long-term retirement needs.

The 2020 appeal raised $20.7 million, and funding was distributed to 321 U.S. religious communities.

“We are blessed by countless supporters who share our mission to ensure all religious can enjoy a safe and modest retirement,” said Sister Still.

Pope Francis speaks during his general audience in the Paul VI hall at the Vatican Nov. 24, 2021. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – As the guardian of Jesus and Mary, St. Joseph’s reassuring presence is an example for Christians who are called to care for the lonely and those who struggle in their lives, Pope Francis said.

In a society where relationships are constantly in flux, St. Joseph’s life and example give “a clear indication of the importance of human bonds,” the pope said during his weekly general audience Nov. 24.

“Joseph, with his life, seems to want to tell us that we are always called to feel that we are the guardians of our brothers and sisters, the custodians of those placed close to us, of those whom the Lord entrusts to us through the circumstances of life,” he said.

Before the general audience, the pope went to St. Peter’s Basilica to meet with several large groups of pilgrims unable to enter the Paul VI audience hall due to their numbers, including a group led by the Vincentian Fathers who were in Rome to commemorate the feast of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal.

According to a communique released by the Vincentians, the meeting was the “culmination and the continuation” of a yearlong Italian pilgrimage with a statue of Mary the pope blessed last year to mark the 190th anniversary of the Marian apparitions to St. Catherine Labouré.

It was during the second apparition, in November 1830, that St. Catherine said Mary told her to make medals of the image she was seeing — Mary, standing on a globe, with the words “O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to you” written as an oval frame around her.

The pope also welcomed pilgrims from the St. John Paul II Association and the Italian Association for Victims of Violence before making his way to the audience hall.

At the audience, Pope Francis continued his new series of talks on St. Joseph, reflecting on his role in the history of salvation.

Recalling St. Matthew’s compilation of Jesus’ genealogy, the pope said that although St. Joseph is not Jesus’ biological father, he is still “the father of Jesus” and “is in fact a central element in the history of salvation.”

“Everyone can find in St. Joseph – the man who goes unnoticed, the man of daily, discreet and hidden presence – an intercessor, a support and a guide in times of difficulty,” the pope said. “He reminds us that all those who are seemingly hidden or in the ‘second row’ have unparalleled agency in the history of salvation.”

While St. Luke described St. Joseph as the “guardian of Jesus and Mary,” the pope said his protection extends to the whole church and is a reminder for Christians “that our lives are made up of bonds that precede and accompany us.”

Before concluding his talk, Pope Francis led those present in praying that those who “lack the strength and courage to go on” in their lives may find in St. Joseph “an ally, a friend and a support.”

“St. Joseph, you who guarded the bond with Mary and Jesus, help us to care for the relationships in our lives,” the pope prayed. “May no one experience the sense of abandonment that comes from loneliness.”

A lit candle is seen on a wreath for the first Sunday of Advent in this illustration photo. The wreath, which holds four candles, is a main symbol of the Advent season, with a new candle lit each Sunday before Christmas. Advent, a season of joyful expectation, begins Nov. 28, 2021. (CNS photo/Gregory A. Shemitz)

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – With Advent coming during an ongoing pandemic, Christians are called to hold on to hope and foster a season of compassion and tenderness, Pope Francis said.

During Advent this year, too, “its lights will be dimmed by the consequences of the pandemic, which still weighs heavily on our time,” he said Nov. 22. “All the more reason why we are called to question ourselves and not to lose hope.”

“The feast of the birth of Christ is not out of tune with the trial we are going through because it is the quintessential feast of compassion, the feast of tenderness. Its beauty is humble and full of human warmth,” the pope said during an audience with organizers and participants in a Christmas music contest. The contest was proposed and promoted by the Pontifical Foundation Gravissimum Educationis and Don Bosco Valdocco Missions association, based in Turin.

The contest invited people between the ages of 16 and 35 to produce new songs inspired by Christmas and its values: life, love, peace and light, according to the initiative’s website, christmascontest.it/en/. Contestants were competing in three categories: lyrics, music and interpretation, and the best three pieces will be performed during the 2021 edition of the annual Christmas concert at the Vatican.

The pope thanked the groups who came up with the idea for the contest, “which gives voice to the young, inviting them to create new songs inspired by Christmas and its values.”

“The beauty of Christmas shines through in the sharing of small gestures of genuine love. It is not alienating, it is not superficial, it is not evasive,” he said.

The beauty of Christmas “expands the heart, opening it up to gratuitousness — gratuitousness, a word artists understand well! — to the giving of self,” and it can also foster cultural, social and educational life and activities, he added.

Pope Francis quoted what St. Paul VI told artists during Advent in 1965: “This world in which we live needs beauty in order not to sink into despair.”

It must not be the false beauty “made of appearances and earthly riches, which are hollow and a generator of emptiness,” Pope Francis said. It must be the real beauty “of a God made flesh, the one of faces — the beauty of faces, the beauty of stories” and the beauty of “creatures that make up our common home.”

He thanked the young people, artists and other participants “for not forgetting to be custodians of this beauty that the nativity of the Lord makes shine in every daily gesture of love, sharing and service.”

Jose Francisco from Honduras leads his 8-year-old daughter, Zuabelin, by the hand Nov. 22, 2021, as they take part in a caravan near Villa Mapastepec, Mexico, and head to the U.S. border. (CNS photo/Jose Luis Gonzalez, Reuters)

WASHINGTON (CNS) – Immigration advocates have seen promises for reform come and go, but many are hoping one of the best chances to provide some form of respite rests with President Joe Biden’s ambitious Build Back Better legislation that the Senate will consider.

The measure, passed in the House of Representatives Nov. 19 and exclusively backed by Democrats, seeks almost $2 trillion to address climate change, health care and a variety of social safety net programs.

At the moment, it includes provisions that would allow temporary work permits for almost 7 million people who are in the country without legal permission, preventing them from being deported and allowing them to travel, but these provisions stop short of granting them permanent residency, which could eventually lead to citizenship.

Immigration advocates are looking for measures that would grant the type of path to citizenship provided by a program President Ronald Reagan spearheaded in 1986. That program provided what some called amnesty for 3 million who had entered the country without permission before 1982 and it later led to citizenship for many.

Reagan was the last U.S. president to successfully rally bipartisan support in Congress to pass legislation that legalized, on such a grand scale, groups that had entered the country without permission to do so.

The House version would help those who have lived and worked in the U.S. without legal permission since January 2011, but analysts believe getting it approved by the Senate, even solely backed by the Democrats, will be a hard sell.

Some groups, such as the American Business Immigration Coalition, hailed the House’s version.

“Updates to the immigration work permits program is a major step forward for millions of immigrant workers and the employers who depend on their labor. With more than 10 million job openings across the country, this proposal will help bring people out of the shadows, expand our workforce and keep families together,” said Rebecca Shi, the group’s executive director in a Nov. 19 news release, shortly after the measure passed in the House.

“This vote comes at an important moment in our economic history, as additional workers will help address dire labor shortages that are a contributing factor to unmet consumer demand and rising inflation,” she continued.

Researchers for J.P. Morgan, in a Nov. 12 note, said immigration restrictions have slowed down the flow of workers into the labor market and hurt economic growth, according to a Nov. 23 story from Yahoo Finance.

Stuart Anderson, executive director of the National Foundation for American Policy, told Yahoo Finance that “immigration is crucial to growing the labor force and for economic growth.”

That’s why business groups such as the American Business Immigration Coalition, which has support from Republicans as well as Democrats, are urging the Senate to keep some of the provisions, which would help ease the labor shortage the country is experiencing.

However, immigrant advocates want what many Democrats long have promised but have been unable to deliver: a path to citizenship for 11 million who are in the country without permission.

Voters on both sides of the political aisle consistently show support for a path to citizenship but only for certain groups: young adults brought into the country illegally as children, often called Dreamers, essential workers, Temporary Protected Status beneficiaries and farmworkers. But neither party has been able to bring this about.

House Democrats called on their colleagues in the Senate Nov. 23 to beef up the immigration provisions, which fall short of the path-to-citizenship promises made.

But without Republican support, they would need every vote from members of their party. However, West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, a Democrat, has said he would not vote to overrule the Senate parliamentarian, who decides what can and cannot be done under the chamber’s reconciliation process.

Previously, the parliamentarian has rejected inclusion of immigration proposals, including a path to citizenship, saying they were not appropriate for a budget reconciliation bill.

Members of the Irish American Association of Lackawanna County presented $1,000 in support of work and mission of Saint Francis Kitchen. These funds were raised in connection with their recent golf tournament. Shown here from left to right are: John Monaghan, Tournament Director, Rob Williams, St. Francis Executive Director, Atty. Tim Kelly, Irish American Association of Lackawanna County President, Bill Egan, Jerry Gerrity, and Dennis Gavin, Past President.

Participating in the announcement of the John P. and Ann Marie Martin Endowed Scholarship on Oct. 28, 2021, are, from left to right: Jason Morrison, Diocesan Secretary of Catholic Education/Chief Executive Officer; Thomas J. Posatko, Executive Secretary, John and Ann Marie Martin Charitable Trust; Most Reverend Joseph C. Bambera, Bishop of Scranton; Monsignor John Bendik; and Jim Bebla, Diocesan Secretary for Development. (Photo/Dan Gallagher)

SCRANTON – A generous gift from the estate of a Lackawanna County native with a lifetime of service in education will continue to help shape the minds of the next generation of faith-filled leaders in the Diocese of Scranton.

On Oct. 28, 2021, the John P. and Ann Marie Martin Charitable Trust announced a $150,000 gift to create the John P. and Ann Marie Martin Endowed Scholarship. Funding will be used each year to provide a need-based scholarship to an eligible student or students at one of the Diocese of Scranton’s Catholic Schools.

“He never forgot his roots. He had anthracite coal dust in his blood. He never forgot where he came from and always felt dedicated and committed to the area,” Thomas J. Posatko, Executive Secretary, John P. and Ann Marie Martin Charitable Trust, said of his friend.

Dr. Martin was born and raised in Scranton. He started his education work as the director of athletics at West Central Catholic High School and as assistant superintendent of schools for the Diocese of Scranton from 1965-1967. He was a founding trustee at Luzerne County Community College and an associate professor and campus chaplain at Misericordia University.

As recognition for his decades of service to the education field, the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey designated him founding dean emeritus for the School of Health Related Professions. He was also the associate and acting dean of the College of Allied Health Professions at Hahnemann Medical College in Philadelphia.

Dr. Martin died in 2019. His wife, the former Ann Marie Gerrity, died in 2006.

“John knew that the elementary and secondary grade levels are the places where you have to start to make sure children have a unique experience,” his friend, Monsignor John Bendik, said.

The Diocese of Scranton scholarship recipient(s) will be selected on an annual basis under the direction of the Diocesan Superintendent of Schools in accordance with Diocesan Schools tuition assistance policies.

The announcement of this endowed scholarship comes at a time when the Diocese of Scranton has seen a nine-percent increase in enrollment for the 2021-2022 academic year. This gift will help to retain and recruit additional students.

Friends of Dr. Martin say this gift will keep his outstanding commitment to educational values alive.

“He was born and raised in a strong Catholic environment. He was very dedicated and committed to both the school we went to, Central Catholic, and to sports in particular,” Posatko added. “He was involved in all aspects of the school and there all the time.”