My dear friends,

As we celebrate Memorial Day this weekend, our thoughts and prayers turn to all the brave men and women, especially from our parish and school, who gave their lives for this country and for the cause of freedom. We are reminded constantly that freedom is never free. These brave souls laid down their lives so that we can enjoy the freedom to gather and worship every Sunday and to exercise our Catholic faith without being persecuted. Yet it does feel at times that we are persecuted because of our beliefs. This is where we must be reminded of the words of our Lord to his disciples on the night before he died: “If the world hates you, realize that it hated me first (John 15:18).”

Earlier this month, Archbishop Wenski sent all his priests a letter about a national initiative that the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops is undertaking the first week of June. As a people of faith who are citizens of this great nation, we must fight back against those who seek to rid our laws of the Hyde Amendment which for decades has prohibited our tax dollars from funding abortions and has been supported by members of both political parties for 45 years. It is credited with saving 2.4 million lives! Every life is precious and sacred, and we cannot allow abortion to be more accessible.

In his letter to priests, the Archbishop stated that without the Hyde Amendment “billions of taxpayer dollars could go to pay for abortion…It is critically important for Catholics to send a strong message before Congress moves forward to impose taxpayer-funded abortion. Because of the incredibly high stakes Congress needs to hear from a massive amount of people.”

There are over 70 million Catholics in the United States. That’s roughly 20% of our population. Imagine if we stood up as one to stop this assault on human life. So what can you do?

I invite you to join me in signing the petition on NoTaxpayerAbortion.com. (I literally signed it after typing that last line, and within minutes it directed me to send a message to my senators and representative. It was very simple.) I also invite you to share that petition with your friends, neighbors, and fellow parishioners by posting it on social media or simply texting it to them.

Yes, the souls of the selfless men and women who we remember this weekend fought for our freedom. They fought for the freedom for us to be able to raise our voices. I share with you the wise words of one of my brother priests, Monsignor Michael Souckar, who wrote: “The pandemic has reminded us of our solidarity as part of the one human family where every life is important and worthy of care. I hope that all of us can transcend any political differences and stand united in the protection of human life from conception to natural death so that all might equally enjoy the `right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.’”

Just as our brave men and women in uniform stand up to defend our nation and to defend our lives, so we too must stand up for the unborn at all times and keep on defending those children once they are born. Join me in this endeavor as we pray and act to put an end to the culture of death that has claimed way too many lives.

God bless,