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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
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 
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
Statement of the Bishops of New York State on same-sex “marriage” vote
New York’s Catholic Bishops say that the passage by the Legislature of a bill to alter radically and forever humanity’s historic understanding of marriage leaves us deeply disappointed and troubled.
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‘Our Cherished Right, Our Solemn Duty’: A Statement of the Bishops of NYS
A statement on voting and political responsibility by the Catholic Bishops of New York State.
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NYS Bishops Good Friday Statement on Immigration Reform
NYS Bishops Good Friday Statement on Immigration Reform
Our country is in the midst of a pivotal national debate on immigration reform, the outcome of which will have a profound impact on the lives of millions of people, as well as serious long-term implications for the kind of society we want to be. It is important and necessary to address how better to secure our borders. However, we also must ask how to achieve reform that recognizes the reality of the presence among us of our immigrant sisters and brothers, acknowledges their contributions to our economy and society, and provides a pathway of hope for them and their families. Our challenge is to find a solution that is balanced, seeking the common good while respecting the rights and dignity of everyone.
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Statement of the NYS Bishops on Contraception Mandate
We, the Catholic Bishops of New York State, are united in the view that legislation passed today in the state Senate that would force Catholic employers to provide coverage for contraception in employee health insurance plans is a clear and unprecedented violation of religious liberty. By providing a religious exemption for parishes while forcing Catholic education, health and human service ministries to violate the teaching of our faith, the Senate is legislating what is and is not Catholic. This is a grave and unconstitutional encroachment by government into the realm of religion.
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Statement on Physician-Assisted Suicide Legislation
Following is a statement from Dennis Poust, executive director of the New York State Catholic Conference, regarding physician-assisted suicide legislation (A-995-B Paulin / S2445-B Hoylman-Sigal) in the state legislature:
“There are countless reasons to oppose physician-assisted suicide that have nothing to do with one’s religious beliefs.
“For one, the idea itself, while shrouded in warm euphemisms, involves asking a doctor to prescribe a lethal dose of chemicals whose sole purpose is to end a person’s life, which has never been part of the normative practice of modern medicine.
Statement on Settlement of Sisters of Life Pregnancy Center Litigation
In a settlement of a federal lawsuit, Sisters of Life v. McDonald, New York State has agreed to a court order protecting the Sisters from government intrusion into their religious ministry as part of a “pregnancy center study” law passed by the legislature and signed by Governor Hochul in 2022. The settlement was announced yesterday. The Sisters were represented by Becket, a prominent national religious liberty law firm.
Following is a statement by Kristen Curran, director of government relations for the New York State Catholic Conference:
“We join the Sisters of Life in giving thanks to God that New York State has agreed to exclude them from the anti-woman pregnancy center study. The agreed-upon court order correctly recognizes the rights of the Sisters to continue their invaluable and critical ministries.
“The Sisters of Life carry out beautiful and important work in their communities, offering women hope and help at a time when New York offers them darkness and death. Our pro-abortion politicians have so prioritized the practice that they now seek to eliminate any other option for women in crisis. The Sisters truly walk with moms in need as they help them to safely access the resources and guidance necessary to keep their babies and to thrive.
“The disgraceful pregnancy center study bill was written out of a vindictive desire to eliminate any option for women other than the Planned Parenthood political machine. It weaponizes the Health Department against pro-life pregnancy centers and the women and babies they serve. It is horrifying that, at a time when the infant mortality rate is rising, New York State would expend a single penny to bring down resources that exist to help women keep their babies.
“We celebrate with the Sisters of Life and continue to pray that the entire pregnancy center study will be abandoned, so that all of the people doing good work to serve women and babies may continue to do so without harassment.”
The New York State Catholic Conference represents the Catholic Bishops of New York State in public policy matters.
Statement on Legislation to Hand Out Abortion Pills on Public College Campuses
Following is a statement by Dennis Poust, executive director of the New York State Catholic Conference, on Governor Kathy Hochul’s signing of legislation to hand out abortion pills on public college campuses:
“It’s tragic that young women away from home for the first time and facing a crisis pregnancy will be simply handed abortion pills to take care of the ‘problem,’ rather than be given the multi-layered supports they need. Governor Hochul’s single-minded focus on increasing abortions in the state, as though she’s trying to win some sort of ghoulish contest, is terribly misguided. New York has many problems that need tackling; access to abortion is not one of them.”