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 Statement on Partial Birth Abortion
Galveston-Houston Bishop Joseph A. Fiorenza, the president of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops/U.S. Catholic Conference, and Baltimore archbishop, Cardinal William H. Keeler, chairman of the Conference's Pro-life Activities Committee, have issued the following statement, responding to inquiries about the Conference's position on partial birth abortion and whether the Conference supports inclusion of language concerning the health of the mother, which has been broadly interpreted by the courts
October 20, 2000
Presidential Candidate Questionnaire
Beginning in 1988, the United States Catholic Conference has submitted to presidential candidates a questionnaire on issues of national significance. The 2000 Presidential Candidate Questionnaire, which was compiled by the USCC Office of Government Liaison, was sent to the presidential campaigns of Pat Buchanan, George Bush, Al Gore, and Ralph Nader. The verbatim, unedited responses of Messrs. Buchanan, Bush and Gore are presented below. Mr. Nader did not respond.
The following verbatim responses and comments of the responding candidates are for purposes of voter education
October 19, 2000
Fact Sheet on Mifepristone/Misoprostol Abortion: FDA Rejects Safeguards Used in China, France, Sweden and the United Kingdom
Inexplicably, the FDA-proposed protocol did not mandate on-site observation after taking misoprostol, although this protocol is followed in France, China, Sweden, the United Kingdom and is the common practice virtually everywhere the drug combination is used.
October 13, 2000
Protocol for Catholic Media
Programming and Media Outlets
The Protocol for Catholic Media Programming and Media Outlets, developed by the Committee for Communications, was approved by the bishops, with some amendments, at the June 2000 General Meeting. The approved text of the Protocol was issued August 11, 2000
Regulation by Non-Regulation
By R. Michael Dunnigan
and Charles M. Wilson
This article analyzes the Protocol, and offers comments
Light and Shadows
Our Nation 25 Years After Roe v. Wade
A Statement of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops
November 12, 1997
Faithful For Life: A Moral Reflection
Human lives have stood in jeopardy for various reasons in our country and throughout the world, and our witness over the years has taken many forms and defended many victims. Of particularly grave concern at this time, however, are abortion and euthanasia
September 1995
Resolution on Abortion
Abortion on demand remains our nation's legal policy because the 1973 Supreme Court decisions that legalized abortion throughout pregnancy have not been overturned. Because of those decisions many citizens believe that women have a moral right to abort their unborn children. This has led to erosion of respect for the right to life, which is bestowed by the Creator and cannot legitimately be denied by any nation or court. More than one and a half million unborn children in the United States continue to die each year by abortion, and increasing numbers of women suffer abortion's physical, emotional and spiritual pain
November 7, 1989
Pastoral Plan for Pro-life Activities: A Reaffirmation
Respect for human life was declining in our society when the Pastoral Plan for Pro-Life Activities was first issued in 1975. In part this reflected a secularizing trend, a rejection of moral imperatives based on belief in God and his plan for creation. It also reflected social trends encouraging individuals to give precedence to their own well-being to the detriment of others. These and other trends had helped bring about laws and judicial decisions which denied or ignored basic human rights and our moral responsibility to protect and promote the common good
November 14, 1985
Talking Points: "Draft National Institutes of Health Guidelines for Research Involving Human Pluripotent Stem Cells"
The National Institutes of Health has issued draft guidelines under which, for the first time in history, our federal government will officially approve and regulate the destruction of innocent human life for research purposes. The guidelines instruct researchers in how to harvest versatile "stem cells" from living week-old human embryos, a procedure which kills the embryos. They also establish standards for harvesting similar cells from dead unborn children following induced abortions–a practice that has its own increasingly visible moral problems
December 2, 1999
Does Human Cloning Produce An Embryo?
euphemisms and misleading or inaccurate terms ("totipotent cell", "clump of embryonic cells", "unfertilized oocyte", etc.) have entered the political discussion. They are employed to conceal the fact that researchers want to be allowed to use cloning to produce and destroy human embryos. Biotechnology groups claim to oppose the cloning of "human beings" or ";persons"–but they reserve the right to conduct cloning experiments on human embryos and fetuses, so long as none is allowed to survive to live birth. Fortunately, one can cut through the political evasions by looking at the professional literature–including writings by those who support cloning of embryos for research purposes
March 31, 1998
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Would A Ban on Human Cloning Block Stem Cell Research?
The claim that human embryo cloning is needed to advance promising medical research in cancer, degenerative diseases, etc. is simply false
April 20, 1998
Bishops' President Welcomes Declaration of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
Bishop Joseph A. Fiorenza of Galveston-Houston, President of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, issued a statement welcoming the presentation of "Dominus Iesus: On the Unicity and Salvific Universality of Jesus Christ" and the Church by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
Living the Gospel of Life: A Challenge to American Catholics
At their semi-annual meeting in November 1998, the Catholic Bishops of the United States issued a pastoral statement exhorting Catholics and all Americans to make the cause of human life a priority, particularly life threatened by abortion and euthanasia.
Our Hearts Were Burning Within Us
A Pastoral Plan for Adult Faith Formation in the United States
November 17, 1999
Sharing Catholic Social Teaching: Challenges and Directions
Reflections of the U.S. Catholic Bishops
Also Includes The Summary Report of the Task Force on Catholic Social Teaching and Catholic Education U.S. Catholic Conference
June 19, 1998
Message from the Bishops of the Church in America
At the meeting of the Inter-American Bishops' meeting held in La Habana, Cuba from February 14-17, 1999, the participants issued a statement at the end of the meeting. It was agreed that the statement be shared with the episcopal conferences in America as an effort to inform the bishops of the discussions in the meeting. A decision was reached to change the name of the annual gathering to The Meeting of the Bishops of the Church in America to conform to the desire of the Holy Father that North, Central and South America be considered as one ecclesial entity to facilitate communion and solidarity among the dioceses in the American continent.
February 17, 1999
Walk in the Light: A Pastoral Response to Child Sexual Abuse
A Statement by the Bishops' Committees on Women in Society and in the Church and Marriage and Family
Follow the Way of Love
A Pastoral Message of the U.S. Catholic Bishops to Families On the Occasion of the United Nations 1994 International Year of the Family
When I Call for Help: A Pastoral Response to Domestic Violence Against Women
Bishops' Committee on Marriage and Family Life Bishops' Committee on Women in Society and in the Church Affirmed by the NCCB/USCC General Membership National Conference of Catholic Bishops
Critical Decisions: Genetic Testing and its Implications
This statement is the second in a series designed to show how religion and science can offer complementary insights on complex topics like the emerging biotechnologies. It is offered to people of science and of faith, indeed, to all those concerned with the moral implications of humanity’s new knowledge and power.
March 1996
The Promise and Peril of Genetic Screening
This statement is the third in a series designed to show how science and religion can offer complementary insights on complex topics like the emerging biotechnologies. It is offered to people of science and of faith, indeed, to all those concerned with the moral implications of humanity’s new knowledge and power
March 1996
Statement on Euthanasia
Current efforts to legalize euthanasia place our society at a critical juncture. These efforts have received growing public attention, due to new publications giving advice on methods of suicide and some highly publicized instances in which family members or physicians killed terminally ill persons or helped them kill themselves
September 12, 1991
Living the Gospel of Life: A Challenge to American Catholics
In this statement we attempt to fulfill our role as teachers and pastors in proclaiming the Gospel of Life. We are confident that the proclamation of the truth in love is an indispensable way for us to exercise our pastoral responsibility
1998
Scientific Experts Agree: Embryonic Stem Cells Are Unnecessary for Medical Progress
Quotes from researchers regarding the use of embryonic stem cells
April 27, 2000
What is an Embryo?
Some proponents of destructive embryo research try to deny moral status to all early human embryos. They have coined the term "pre-embryo" to describe human embryos in the first two weeks of development, seeking to justify destructive experimentation during this early stage. However, the term and concept of "pre-embryo" has never been accepted by Congress, the National Institutes of Health's Human Embryo Research Panel, or the National Bioethics Advisory Commission, and is rejected by contemporary textbooks on embryology
February 26, 1998
Human Cloning Debate Raises Pro-Life Issues
The use of cloning to produce "Dolly" the sheep has prompted a public debate about cloning humans. This issue has quickly become linked with the issues of abortion and embryo research
February 9, 1998
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