Dear brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus:
From the time Our Savior, as He was soon to be crucified, confronted Pontius Pilate and responded to Pilate’s claim of power over Him with the words: “You would have no power over me unless it had been given you from above,” (John 19:10), tension has existed between what St. Augustine calls the “City of God” and the “City of Man.”
In his celebrated work, timeless in its truth, St. Augustine wrote: “One sort (persisted) in that Good which is common to all – which for them is God himself – and in eternity, truth and love, while others were delighted rather with their own power, as though they themselves were their own Good. Thus, they have fallen away from that Supreme Good which is common to all, which bring felicity, and they have devoted themselves to their own ends” (St. Augustine, The City of God, 12, I, as referenced by Joseph Pearce, The Good, The Bad, and the Beautiful, pp. 56-57).
In the course of human history, the holy martyrs sacrificed their very lives in testimony to the City of God. Among them, St. Thomas Becket was killed on Dec. 29, 1170, as he knelt in prayer. He suffered martyrdom because he resisted King Henry II’s encroachment into the rights of the Church to proclaim the Gospel and the freedom to govern the Church according to this Holy Gospel. “St. Thomas died for doctrine, the truth, that the link with eternal things must never be broken under the pressure of ephemeral desires, that the control of external things cannot, in morals, be subjected to the ephemeral arrangements of men” (Hillaire Belloc, as referenced in Pearce, op. cit., p. 147).
How well aware we are of our own diocesan patron’s firm commitment to the Church’s teachings on holy matrimony as this noble Bishop of Rochester in England, St. John Fisher, resisted King Henry VIII’s attempts to manipulate the valid bond of marriage. Bishop Fisher was executed on June 22, 1535, by the cruel and inhuman act of beheading, as was St. Thomas More on July 6, 1535, as he too fought against the King’s machinations.
While we always desire to be loyal and good citizens, there are times when our democratic form of government allows us to oppose what we know to be contrary to our Catholic faith and the good of humanity; we are called to mirror the faith of the saints who remained firm in their commitment to Christ.
At this moment in our state’s history we are now confronted with the proposed “Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)” set to appear on the ballot for a popular vote on Nov. 5, 2024, as Proposal 1. This amendment poses a very serious threat to living out our Catholic faith and values, as well as threatening the rights of all citizens. The following is an excerpt of a memorandum from the New York State Catholic Conference to our Catholic pastors and administrators throughout the state, identifying the critical issues:
As you may be aware, a referendum that is on the general election ballot for this November is asking voters to approve or reject what is known as an Equal Rights Amendment to the New York State Constitution. While some of the language of the proposed amendment is unobjectionable, the New York State Catholic Conference, which represents the Bishops of New York State in public policy matters, strongly opposes the referendum for important reasons.
First, it would enshrine a fundamental right to abortion on demand in the state Constitution. While the practical impact of this likely would be minimal given that the state legislature already has embedded this right in statute, by adding it to the state Constitution, it would make it nearly impossible to enact any pro-life laws even if public opinion in New York was to evolve.
Second, because the language of the amendment would bar discrimination based either on ‘age’ or ‘gender identity’ or ‘gender expression,’ it could open the door to a judicial interpretation barring parents from having any say in medical interventions of their minor children regarding ‘gender transition’ and could impact youth sports, locker room and bathroom facility use and more.
We also have concerns regarding religious liberty implications for our charitable institutions.
A ballot issue committee has been formed as the formal opposition to the amendment. Known as the Coalition to Protect Kids-NY (CTPKNY), this committee is registered with the New York State Board of Elections and reports on its funding and expenditures in accordance with state election law. The Catholic Conference and your local diocese support the goal of the CTPKNY to defeat the amendment.
In opposing this legislation, the New York State Catholic Conference, which again has our diocesan support in concert with my brother Bishops of the Metropolitan Province of the Archdiocese of New York, is not aligning us with a political party, a candidate for public office or the platform of a particular party. Rather we are addressing, as is our duty, a critical moral issue that transcends all political affiliations. The subject at hand is a human-rights issue that unjustly intrudes upon and invades the rights of parents to fulfill the promise they made at the time of their children’s baptisms to be the first and the best of teachers of their children in the ways of the Christian life. Even parents not of our faith and non-believers who are the protectors and guardians of their children’s welfare, have the natural right to know and to direct the decisions of their children. In their young lives they can make very harmful and detrimental choices that they will so sadly regret in later life, carrying with them grave, traumatic effects.
It is not a mere theoretical impression, vague hypothesis or unfounded claim that the Equal Rights Amendment, Proposal 1, will seriously threaten the rights of the Church and other religious institutions to teach, to advance and to proclaim those fundamental principles, namely that: we are created in the image and likeness of God; human beings are God’s noblest creation; and life is a gift of God not to be refashioned by radical reproductive and gender ideologies that are rooted in the City of Man and sever the very roots of the City of God.
During this month of October, in which we celebrate Respect Life Month, it is imperative that we raise up to God our pleas to protect the dignity of human life in our state from the moment of conception until natural death, while begging the intercession of Our Mother Mary, especially since this month also is designated as the Month of the Most Holy Rosary. Mary’s love for the life of her Son is the very same love that she has for every person because every person is God’s child. As Mary did not flee the scandal of Calvary, we cannot flee from our responsibility to create a culture of life and to protect the rights of parents to nurture that life and the duty of the Church to support that very right. To be pro-life does mean at times to embark upon a road less travelled, to speak with the conviction of Jesus and the humility of His Mother “by eschewing all forms of elitism and by reaching out to all people without consideration of their status and without fear of being rebuffed or mocked. The Church joins Christ in sowing the seed of His Word not just in carefully cultivated gardens but everywhere, even among the briars and thorns. The Church does not imagine her message is too lofty for ordinary people; on the contrary, it is accessible to everyone, old and young, rich and poor, educated and uneducated, hardened sinners and the saintly” (Cardinal James Hickey, Mary at the Foot of the Cross, p. 66).
In his Post-Synodal Exhortation, Amoris Laetitia, Pope Francis emphasized that “… if the family is the sanctuary of life, the place where life is conceived and cared for, it is a horrendous contradiction when it becomes a place where life is rejected and destroyed” (paragraph 83). And this protection of God’s gift of life is extended throughout the entire spectrum of human existence; for again our Holy Father stressed that: “The family protects human life in all its stages, including its last” (ibid.)
It can become very discouraging that in such an advanced scientific age there is still the need to protect life so vigorously. Technology improperly used and adverse medical intervention can seriously diminish and even destroy the quality of God’s gift of life. Upholding life, protecting life and the rights of parents who unite with the Creator in continuing the rhythm of life present us the opportunity to return to society its heart and soul, its very essence: the human person. This is a duty from which we should never withdraw. Like Mary, we, too, say: “Thy will be done,” and allow the Lord to work through us in our mission to proclaim the dignity of every person!
Many surprisingly will say our efforts to defeat Proposal 1, an amendment so contrary to and negating true equal rights, are futile because of the anti-life culture in New York. As disciples of Jesus Christ, let us take to heart these words by our Holy Father, Pope Francis, in recalling the words of the Angel Gabriel telling Mary that she was to be the Mother of God and that “With God nothing will be impossible” (Luke 1:37): “Brothers and sisters, let us too always resume our journey, with this comforting certainty in our hearts: ‘With God nothing will be impossible.’ And if we believe this, we will perform miracles. With God nothing will be impossible” (General Wednesday Audience, Aug. 7, 2024). Yes, from the time of Golgotha, the disciples of Jesus Christ, like the Master Himself, have experienced challenges. Yet, over these many centuries the Gospel continues to be proclaimed; “the samples and glimpses of final victory are seen in the presence of God’s love in the lives and the deaths of the saints … The final victory has already been won. It was won by Christ on Calvary and in His Resurrection from the dead. All we need to do is to keep His victory in mind and the finishing line in sight” (Pearce, op. cit. p. 279).
Assuring you of my prayers and asking for a remembrance in your good prayers, I remain, invoking the intercession of Our Mother Mary and St. John Fisher, Patron of our Diocese,
Devotedly yours in Christ,
The Most Reverend
Salvatore R. Matano
Bishop of Rochester
