by Bishop James Conley
I attended the 49th annual March for Life in Washington, D.C. Jan. 21. I was accompanied by more than 100,000 pro-lifers, marching down Constitution Avenue, from the Washington Monument to the U.S. Supreme Court Building.
We had a good showing from the Diocese of Lincoln of those marching for the protection of the all human life. There were over 200 high school students and chaperones, college students from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Newman Center, and our Lincoln Diocesan seminarians in theology studies on the East Coast. I look forward to joining pro-lifers throughout Nebraska on Saturday, Jan. 29 for the Nebraska Walk for Life.
The March for Life is in response to a grim, infamous day in the United States of America, Jan. 22, 1973. On that day, the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the case Roe v. Wade struck down a Texas statute banning abortion and effectively legalizing the killing of unborn children throughout the U.S. Since that day, abortion has taken the lives of millions of children, and it has caused untold pain, regret, and harm to millions of women.
In December, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health. While this case does not specifically deal with the overall legality of abortion, it does concern late-term abortion, and so we continue to pray that the court will use the case to address the right to an abortion at the federal level, with the possibility of even overturning Roe. v. Wade.
The fact that we have legalized abortion in our country and the need to give witness and pray to end abortion is a consequence of what St. Pope John Paul II called the “culture of death.” St. John Paul II saw the culture of death firsthand. He lived in the 20th century, the bloodiest century in history. He lived under two totalitarians regimes in Poland, first the Nazis, and the communists thereafter. He personally witnessed the cheapening of human life, including friends being exterminated in concentration camps and the fellow Poles being sent to the Gulag.
The scandal of the bloodshed of the 20th century is that it occurred in traditionally Christian countries. To be blunt, fellow Christians were slaughtering one another. St. John Paul II knew there was something inherently and fundamentally wrong with this, and that a renewal was necessary.
The culture of death did not happen overnight. Rather, there was a tragic shift in history. Christianity was no longer shaping the overall worldview of citizens in these traditionally Christian nations. This had profound effects on government rule, business practices, and overall cultural norms in these nations, which includes the United States.
St. John Paul II perceived this fracturing of Christianity from everyday life during his lifetime, which is why he so often preached “The New Evangelization.” The New Evangelization is a call of renewal for all the faithful. It is first a call of evangelization of our own hearts through an authentic encounter with Jesus. After we are have encountered the tender love of Jesus, we want nothing more than to bring others into encounter with him. This includes the re-evangelization of these lands where missionaries preached years ago.
I believe that we live during times reflective of the apostolic age, or similar to that which the apostles encountered when they first preached the Gospel. While I never quite know what to make of polls, polling data tells us only 30% of practicing Catholics believe in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. Mass attendance among Catholics in the U.S. is less than 25%. Through our own census in the Diocese of Lincoln it is approximately 41% of registered Catholics.
There is no easy way to implement the vision of St. John Paul II’s New Evangelization. We should avoid the idea that one program is a silver bullet of evangelization. Nevertheless, Catholic religious education, including Catholic schools, is an indispensable part of the New Evangelization. Catholic education is a means to form our young people in the ways of faith, presenting before them a Christian worldview handed down to us from the faithful who have gone before us. Think of all who have dedicated their lives, sacrificed, and even died to hand on the faith. Catholic education preserves that tradition, preparing students to be formed in it as they live amidst the ever-changing secular landscape.
To live as a Catholic in our culture today is a daunting task. Now, in the United States, we do not face the wrath of the Roman Emperor as the early Christians did. We don’t fear the guillotine like the martyrs of the French Revolution. However, the secular culture in which we live offers no transcendence beyond it. This is a kind of spiritual death.
We live in a time when freedom is viewed as giving into any impulse, instinct or desire, far distant from the Christian view of freedom to do what is good. Freedom as license brings about decay in the soul. As a byproduct of this subjective view of freedom, our culture is reticent to call anything true, even to the point of denying reality itself. Perhaps the clearest illustration of this denial is gender ideology which teaches that gender is merely assigned at birth, but ultimately determined by the autonomous self.
Parents are the primary educators of their children, and have the great challenge of teaching their children in the ways of faith in this ever-encroaching secular world. Catholic schools assist them in this task. Catholic schools help students encounter Jesus in a comprehensive way. Catholic schools educate the whole person: body, mind and soul; a person who is made to love and receive love for all eternity; a person who is loved by our Heavenly Father. Thus, we educate our students with a sound Christian anthropology.
As students learn mathematics, the empirical sciences, literature, history, theology and all subjects, they are taught to see them in light of their lives in Christ. Our goal in Catholic education is to give the joy and stability of faith in an uncertain, ever-changing world. The Catholic faith provides real truths and principles in which to order one’s life and point to our ultimate end of eternal life.
Next week, the Church celebrates Catholic Schools Week. We are blessed in the Diocese of Lincoln with excellent Catholic schools which provide affordable, high quality education that are faithful to the teachings of Jesus.
We continue to be committed to make our Catholic schools affordable to all students. Many parents make great sacrifices to make Catholic education a possibility for their children, yet this affordability would not be possible without the assistance of supporting parishes and the leadership of their pastors who value good, quality Catholic education. In 2019, the Good Shepherd Scholarship was established to ensure that any child, regardless of religion or background, who wants to receive a Catholic education, but may not be able to pay the full tuition costs can afford it. I thank all of our benefactors who have helped make Catholic education a reality in our diocese.
As we enter into this Catholic Schools week, I thank the many parents who sacrifice to make Catholic education a reality for their children. I’m especially grateful to our teachers, administrators, and staff, who dedicate their lives to form our young people in the ways of faith.
During Catholic Schools Week, I will travel across the diocese to celebrate Mass and pray with students, teachers, and staff of several Lincoln diocesan schools. Please join me for a Catholic Schools Week holy hour Monday, Jan. 31 at 7 p.m. in the Cathedral of the Risen Christ, 3500 Sheridan Blvd., Lincoln, as we pray for all involved in our Catholic schools and for their continued success in drawing our young people closer to Christ.
