Bishops Statement Archive
Letter from Bishops of NYS to Senators Schumer and Gillibrand re: Radical Federal Abortion Bill
ALERT: TAKE ACTION ON THIS DANGEROUS LEGISLATION! CLICK HERE TO SEND YOUR MESSAGE.
Following is the text of a letter sent from the Timothy Cardinal Dolan and the Diocesan Bishops of New York State to U.S. Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand regarding the so-called “Women’s Health Protection Act.” To view a PDF of the original letters, click HERE.
September 29, 2021
Dear Senator,
As the Bishops of the eight Catholic dioceses of the State of New York, we write to express our unified and staunch opposition to S1975/HR3755, the “Women’s Health Protection Act,” a piece of legislation that would impose upon the entire nation a policy of unrestricted abortion on demand, for any reason, at any point in pregnancy, going well beyond the parameters of Roe v. Wade and subsequent Supreme Court decisions.
We are under no illusions. We know that on the matter of abortion policy, our views are radically disparate from yours. Nevertheless, we believe we have an obligation to speak out as a voice for the unborn, as well as for pregnant mothers who deserve so much more than this bill offers them. This legislation sends a message to women that abortion is their only option and their best hope, that it is something to be promoted and celebrated.
The truth is that abortion is something to be mourned, and it is often the most agonizing decision a woman will ever make. We believe our government should be offering pregnant women all of their options and the support services they need to empower them to choose to carry their babies to term, raise their families with dignity, or offer their child to a home which can appropriately and lovingly care for that child. Our public policies should reflect these priorities.
Here in New York State, our state legislature enacted the “Reproductive Health Act” in 2019, enshrining in state statute a policy of unlimited abortion on demand throughout nine months of pregnancy. We expressed our profound opposition at the time, and we continue to grieve for the mothers and infants harmed by this law.
But a majority of states in this great country have enacted laws to the contrary: policies to allow parents to be notified when their minor daughter is considering abortion; to provide informed consent to pregnant women; to prohibit state taxpayer funding of abortion; to require health and safety regulations in clinics; to require licensure and certification of abortion providers. All of these policies are allowable under Roe and subsequent cases. Yet all such policies would be invalidated in one fell swoop by Congressional passage of S1975. This authoritarian federal overreach undermines the will of the people through their elected state representatives, and does not bode well for our democracy.
Moreover, S1975 may very well nullify New York’s strong Civil Rights Law protection for health care professionals who do not wish to be involved in abortion, a law which so many rely upon to exercise their moral values and religious freedom. Is this how we want to repay our heroic health care workers who have served so valiantly throughout the ongoing pandemic?
In closing, we strongly urge you to reject this legislation and work to protect and strengthen the fundamental human rights of mothers and children.
Very Truly Yours,
Timothy Cardinal Dolan
Archbishop of New York
Most Rev. Edward B. Scharfenberger
Bishop of Albany
Most Rev. Nicholas DiMarzio
Bishop of Brooklyn
Most Rev. Michael W. Fisher
Bishop of Buffalo
Most Rev. Terry R. LaValley
Bishop of Ogdensburg
Most Rev. Salvatore R. Matano
Bishop of Rochester
Most Rev. John O. Barres
Bishop of Rockville Centre
Most Rev. Douglas J. Lucia
Bishop of Syracuse
NYS Bishops Statement on Passage of Child Victims Act
We pray that the passage of the Child Victims Act brings some measure of healing to all survivors by offering them a path of recourse and reconciliation. The legislation now recognizes that child sexual abuse is an evil not just limited to one institution, but a tragic societal ill that must be addressed in every place where it exists.
Sadly, we in the Church know all too well the devastating toll of abuse on survivors, their families, and the extended community. Every Catholic diocese in New York has taken important steps to support survivors of child sexual abuse, including the implementation of reconciliation and compensation programs. We are proud that these pioneering programs have not only helped well more than a thousand survivors of clergy abuse in New York, but have also become a model for how to help survivors in other states and in other institutions. More 
Statement from the Catholic Bishops of NYS on Abortion Expansion
Words are insufficient to describe the profound sadness we feel at the contemplated passage of New York State’s new proposed abortion policy. We mourn the unborn infants who will lose their lives, and the many mothers and fathers who will suffer remorse and heartbreak as a result.
The so-called “Reproductive Health Act” will expand our state’s already radically permissive law, by empowering more health practitioners to provide abortion and removing all state restrictions on late-term procedures. With an abortion rate that is already double the national average, New York law is moving in the wrong direction.
We renew our pledge to offer the resources and services of our charitable agencies and health services to any woman experiencing an unplanned pregnancy, to support her in bearing her infant, raising her family or placing her child for adoption. There are life-affirming choices available, and we aim to make them more widely known and accessible.
Our Governor and legislative leaders hail this new abortion law as progress. This is not progress. Progress will be achieved when our laws and our culture once again value and respect each unrepeatable gift of human life, from the first moment of creation to natural death. Would that not make us truly the most enlightened and progressive state in the nation?
Timothy Cardinal Dolan
Archbishop of New York
Most Rev. Edward B. Scharfenberger
Bishop of Albany
Most Rev. Nicholas DiMarzio
Bishop of Brooklyn
Most Rev. Richard J. Malone
Bishop of Buffalo
Most Rev. Terry R. LaValley
Bishop of Ogdensburg
Most Rev. Salvatore R. Matano
Bishop of Rochester
Most Rev. John O. Barres
Bishop of Rockville Centre
Most Rev. Robert J. Cunningham
Bishop of Syracuse
And the Auxiliary and Retired Bishops of New York State
Mensaje de los obispos católicos de Nueva York
Las palabras no son suficientes para describir la profunda tristeza que sentimos ante la aprobación contemplada de la nueva política propuesta para los abortos en el Estado de Nueva York. Estamos de luto por los infantes aún por nacer que perderán sus vidas, y por las muchas madres y padres quienes sufrirán el remordimiento, y dolor como resultado.
La llamada “Acta de Salud Reproductiva” expandirá la ya radicalmente permisiva ley en nuestro estado, empoderando a más proveedores de cuidado de salud a proporcionar abortos y removiendo todas las restricciones estatales a los procedimientos a largo plazo. Con un índice de abortos que ya es el doble del promedio nacional, la ley en Nueva York se está moviendo en la dirección incorrecta.
Reanudamos nuestro compromiso con proveer los recursos y servicios de nuestras agencias de servicios caritativos y de salud, a cualquier mujer que experimente un embarazo no planificado, para apoyarla hasta dar a luz a su bebé, criar a su familia o ubicar al infante en adopción. Existen opciones de afirmación de vida, y procuramos hacerlas más accessibles y conocidas. Nuestro gobernador y los líderes legislativos elogian esta nueva ley de abortos como progreso. Esto no es progreso. El progreso se logrará cuando nuestras leyes y nuestra cultura una vez más valoren y respeten cada obsequio irrepetible de vida humana, desde el primer momento de la creación hasta la muerte natural. ¿No nos haría eso verdaderamente el estado más progresista en la nación?
Timothy Cardinal Dolan
Arzobispo de New York
Most Rev. Edward B. Scharfenberger
Obispo de Albany
Most Rev. Nicholas DiMarzio
Obispo de Brooklyn
Most Rev. Richard J. Malone
Obispo de Buffalo
Most Rev. Terry R. LaValley
Obispo de Ogdensburg
Most Rev. Salvatore R. Matano
Obispo de Rochester
Most Rev. John O. Barres
Obispo de Rockville Centre
Most Rev. Robert J. Cunningham
Obispo de Syracuse
Y los obispos auxiliares y retirados del Estado de Nueva York
Cardinal Dolan blasts family separation border policy
Cardinal Timothy Dolan, archbishop of New York and president of the New York State Catholic Conference, strongly criticized the Trump administration’s policy of separating children from their parents who entered the country illegally at the nation’s southern border. The cardinal made the comments to Chris Cuomo on his CNN program Cuomo Prime Time June 15. Watch the entire interview, as the cardinal addresses Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ use of a quote from St. Paul to justify the policy, and to say “we need a little heart here, we need some tenderness.”
Also, don’t miss this strong op/ed in the New York Daily News by Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio of Brooklyn, vice president of the Catholic Conference.
Statement on Political Responsibility by the Catholic Bishops of New York State
For guidelines on political activity, see “Pastors, Parishes, and Political Responsibility.”
The good of a democratic republic like ours depends on the participation of its citizens. This may seem obvious but it needs to be insisted upon in today’s American society. The most fundamental action of a good citizen is to vote. All other activities in the political sphere depend on the exercise of this most fundamental right – which is equally a solemn responsibility. Regrettably, in our country today an alarming percentage of citizens do not exercise this right. In New York State, on average over the past four years, only 40 percent of eligible voters carried out their civic duty.
As the Catholic Bishops of New York State, we urge every eligible adult Catholic, without exception, to be sure that he or she is registered to vote and that all exercise their solemn responsibility of voting in this year’s elections.
If you are not registered to vote, or not sure if you are registered, please go to www.elections.ny.gov or call 1-800-FOR-VOTE. You may also go to our own New York State Catholic Conference website at www.nyscatholic.org and select “Register to Vote.”
We thank you for doing that. Now we want to invite you to prepare to vote by becoming familiar with both the candidates and the issues. Just voting for a name you recognize or a party you belong to does not fulfill your responsibility to build up a good society where human dignity, personal freedom, care for one another – especially the vulnerable – and the common good prevail as values which should be cherished in our democracy.
Sadly, determining who to vote for is not always easy. Pressure groups, especially the loudest ones, seek to shout down anyone who disagrees with them. Calm and thoughtful responses to issues are often drowned out. That makes the challenge to choose good candidates and support good programs even more difficult than in the past. But it makes these decisions even more important. We do have resources to help you. More
‘For I am Lonely and Afflicted’
Downloadable PDF version HERE.
‘For I Am Lonely and Afflicted’
Toward a just response to the needs of people with mental illness
A Statement of the Catholic Bishops of New York State
Turn to me and be gracious to me,
for I am lonely and afflicted.
Relieve the troubles of my heart;
and free me from my anguish.
(PS 25: 16-17)
Mental illness does not discriminate. Neither age, nor ethnicity, nor economic or social status exempts one from its effects. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, one in four adults, some 61.5 million people, experience some form of mental illness in a given year, and one in 17, or 13.6 million, live with a serious mental illness. About 20 percent of youth experience severe mental disorders in a given year. And for every mentally ill individual there is a family – parents, spouses, children, grandparents – who are directly impacted as well.
In our society, those with mental illness are often stigmatized, ostracized and alone. The suffering endured by mentally ill persons is a most difficult cross to bear, as is the sense of powerlessness felt by their families and loved ones. As the Psalmist called on God to deliver him from affliction and distress, so, too, does the person with mental illness cry out for healing. Our Judeo-Christian tradition calls us to be witnesses of God’s love and mercy and to be instruments of hope for these individuals. More
The Catechetical Leader in the Third Millennium
A Statement of the Catholic Bishops of New York State
A companion piece, Comprehensive Plan for Catechetical Leader in the Third Millennium is available here.
Watch highlights of the launch event, include a Mass featuring Cardinal Dolan and the Bishops of New York State, here.
Introduction
We the Bishops of New York State have a history of collaboration with the New York State Council of Diocesan Directors of Religious Education. This collaboration was evident in the jointly written pastoral vision for catechists in New York State entitled The Catechist in the Third Millennium, which was published in 1998. That document affirmed the primacy of catechesis in the mission of the Church and called for a renewed commitment to the recruitment, formation and ministry of the catechist as a top priority in our parishes and Catholic schools. The document not only provided our state with a framework for forming catechists, it earned a national award for providing the province with a unified vision of catechist formation. In addition, we published a document in 1988, Journeying Toward a Future Full of Promise, which presented a vision for catechesis in New York State. Ongoing collaboration of the chief catechists of the dioceses and their diocesan catechetical leaders has resulted in the further integration of this vision, which is lived out in various ways in each particular diocese. More
New York State Bishops’ Statement on the Minimum Wage
In our recent visit to the state Capitol in Albany, we had the opportunity to meet personally with Governor Andrew Cuomo, Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, Speaker of the Assembly Sheldon Silver, and numerous legislators. While we came prepared to speak on various concerns that we brought to their attention, our first words in every meeting after the initial greetings were “Thank you.”
This may sound odd given the very public and profound disagreements we have had on some extraordinarily important issues, but our thanks were genuine nevertheless. Specifically, we thanked them for bringing a new era of competence and cooperation to Albany. We believe in giving credit where credit is due, and we applauded them for that.
With that being said, it is our fervent hope that this spirit of bipartisan cooperation can extend to another critical issue for thousands of New York workers, and that is a modest increase in the state’s minimum wage. We are aware that there are many in the legislature who firmly believe such action would have a negative impact on the very people it seeks to help. Perhaps just as many believe the opposite is true. We don’t pretend to be economists, but we are pastors, and we do oversee the largest nongovernmental network of health, education and charitable ministries in the state. What we can tell you from first-hand experience is that it is becoming increasingly difficult for the working poor of our state to make ends meet. A full-time minimum-wage earner will bring in $15,080 per year, which is $4,010 below the 2012 federal poverty guidelines for a family of three.
Our sustained recession and painfully slow recovery have left many of these workers – often people of color and frequently the newest immigrants to our shores who therefore have the fewest support systems – on the brink of homelessness, with not enough in their paychecks to pay for the most basic of necessities, like food, medicine or clothing for their children. The argument that minimum wage jobs go solely to high school students just entering the workforce does not hold true in the current economy, with the unemployment rate near 10 percent in New York City and 8.5 percent statewide. Workers who previously never would have considered such low-paying jobs are now taking them out of desperation.
By no means do we question the intentions or motivations of our good friends in the legislature who oppose an increase in the minimum wage. But it is our hope and our prayer that the two sides could come together for some sort of action to address the grave problems facing the lowest wage earners in our state. We believe an increase in the minimum wage is a matter of fairness and justice, and we hope it can be addressed soon. And when that happens, we will be so happy to come once again to Albany to say personally, on behalf of those most poor and vulnerable New Yorkers, thank you.
—The Catholic Bishops of New York State
May 3, 2012
Bishop Hubbard’s Catholics at the Capitol homily
Bishop Howard J. Hubbard of Albany delivered the following homily at the March 13, 2012, Catholics at the Capitol Mass at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Albany.
Cardinal Dolan recently stated that we are witnessing an unprecedented effort to reduce religion to a private activity, driving religious beliefs and traditions from public life.
Never before, he said, have we faced this kind of challenge to our ability to engage in the public square as a people of faith.
I would like to build upon the Cardinal’s assessment in this homily.
As Cardinal Dolan suggests, there is a great deal of debate these days about the meaning of the First Amendment and the role of religion in the public forum. More
Cardinal Dolan addresses the intersection of faith and politics at Long Island convocation
The Diocese of Rockville Centre held a Public Policy Convocation March 3 in Hicksville in preparation for the March 13 Catholics at the Capitol Day sponsored by the New York State Catholic Conference in Albany. More than 700 Catholics attended the event and were treated to an excellent keynote address by Timothy Cardinal Dolan, archbishop of New York, on the intersection of Faith and Politics. The video below from Telecare includes an interview and insightful homily by Bishop William F. Murphy of Rockville Centre, as well as the Cardinal’s full address. As Cardinal Dolan said in his 2010 Catholics at the Capitol homily, religion and politics “go together as naturally as a hot dog and a bun.” The Hicksville address is inspiring and well worth watching.