Report: Vandals on Catholic campus target pro-life community

U.S. President Joe Biden addresses the Supreme Court’s decision on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization to overturn Roe v. Wade June 24, 2022 in Cross Hall at the White House in Washington, DC. / Alex Wong/Getty Images

Denver Newsroom, Jun 24, 2022 / 13:55 pm (CNA).

In a Friday press conference, U.S. President Joe Biden called on Congress to codify abortion access into federal law, following the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade that morning. The court’s decision returned the question of abortion policy to the states, which Biden labeled a “tragic error.” 

He also said he had that day directed the Department of Health and Human Services to make abortion pills more widely available, and that he would do “everything in my power” to protect women traveling to obtain abortions.  

“It’s a sad day for the court and for the country,” Biden, the nation’s second Catholic president, said June 24.

Calling abortion an “intensely personal decision,” Biden went on to lament that the decision had taken away women’s “right to choose” and the “power to control their own destiny.” He claimed that with Roe gone, the “life and health” of women in the United States is now “at risk.” 

Biden has repeatedly expressed support for Roe v. Wade — which legalized abortion nationwide in 1973 — despite the teaching of his Catholic faith that abortion is a “grave evil.” 

“I believe Roe v. Wade was the correct decision,” Biden stated, claiming that Roe represented a “broad national consensus” relating to the “fundamental right to privacy” that “most Americans of faith…found acceptable.” 

This is despite evidence suggesting that more than 60% of all Americans disagreed with the central holding of Roe v. Wade, according to a January Knights of Columbus/Marist Poll survey.

“This decision is the culmination of a deliberate effort over decades to upset the balance of our law,” Biden continued, claiming that “the court has done what it has never done before, expressly take away a constitutional right that is so fundamental to so many Americans and had already been recognized. The court’s decision to do so will have real and immediate consequences.”

“It’s a realization of an extreme ideology and a tragic error by the Supreme Court, in my view.”

The only way to “secure a women’s right to choose,” Biden said, is for Congress to restore Roe as federal law, adding that “executive action can’t do that.” He urged the election of pro-choice legislators in the fall midterm elections.

Biden stated that he intends to provide aid to women living in pro-life states who want to travel to pro-abortion states. “If any state or local official, high or low, tries to interfere with a woman’s exercising her basic right to travel, I will do everything in my power to fight that deeply un-American attack,” Biden said. 

The president also said he had directed the Department of Health and Human Services to “take steps” to ensure that mifepristone, the first drug in medical abortion regimen, is “available to the fullest extent possible.” Abortion supporters have pointed to medical abortions — which have been linked to numerous health risks — as a kind of workaround or backup plan for women to access abortion as states restrict abortion. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control’s most recent Abortion Surveillance report, for the year 2019, “early medical abortions” made up 42.3% of abortions that year.

Biden requested that people upset by the decision remain peaceful in their response. This comes after numerous recent incidents of vandalism of pro-life pregnancy centers across the country, which the White House condemned via a spokesperson June 15. 

“I call on everyone no matter how deeply they care about this decision to keep all protests peaceful. Peaceful. Peaceful. Peaceful. No intimidation. Violence is never acceptable. Threats and intimidation are not speech. We must stand against violence in any form regardless of your rationale,” Biden said Friday. 

Biden concluded by claiming that the decision to overturn Roe had “made the United States an outlier among developed nations in the world,” despite the fact that the U.S. was previously one of only a handful of countries — including China and North Korea — that permitted elective abortions after 20 weeks’ gestation. Fourty-seven out of 50 European countries, independent states, and regions analyzed in 2014 either do not allow elective abortion or limit elective abortion to 15 weeks or earlier.

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Washington D.C., Oct 28, 2019 / 06:00 pm (CNA).- A South Carolina Catholic priest reportedly denied Holy Communion to  presidential candidate Joe Biden on Sunday, because of the candidate’s support for legal abortion.

Fr. Robert Morey, past… […]

El Paso, Texas, Feb 15, 2021 / 05:48 pm (CNA).- A west Texas parish has restored a century-old statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus after it was vandalized and nearly destroyed last September. Shock and sadness brought together donors from all over the country who felt compelled to pray a

The Diocese of El Paso issued a statement on Feb. 11 announcing the statue’s return.

“There was an outpouring of grief when the St. Patrick Cathedral Sacred Heart statue was vandalized last fall. Shock and sadness brought together donors from all over the country who felt compelled to pray and to give. Today, the statue is restored and making its way back to St. Patrick Cathedral,” the diocese said.

The statue had been present at the cathedral since shortly after the dedication ceremony took place in 1917. 

In September 2020, a vandal entered the cathedral’s sanctuary and decapitated the statue, which had been placed behind the main altar of the church. A 30-year-old man was charged with criminal mischief for the vandalism.

Mass was not taking place at the time of the vandalism, but the church was open for prayer.

At the time, the diocese expressed doubt that the broken pieces of the statue were possible to restore. 

However, the statue was subsequently sent to Daprato Rigali Studios for repair. The Daprato brothers had made the original statue. 

Elizabeth Rigali, director of art and design for the studio, said it was an honor to repair the statue, according to the diocese. 

As part of the restoration process, the company had to reinforce the head, body, and base of the statue. They also had to sculpt a new hand, arm, and face.

“So many members of the faithful had looked to the Sacred Heart, his arms open wide in welcome, for over 100 years during some of the most joyful and challenging times in their lives, and the thought of its destruction and possible replacement was difficult to accept,” the diocese said. 

The donations have been handled by the diocese’s Catholic Foundation. More than $38,000 was donated to support the statue’s restoration and shipping costs, as well as repair of the altar which was also damaged. Some of the funding will also be used to upgrade the cathedral’s security system.

“[The Catholic Foundation] extends its sincere appreciation to all who contributed in any amount and prayed for the statue’s restoration and safe return, especially the St. Patrick Cathedral community and leadership. Once again, the Diocese of El Paso came together in faith to overcome pain and obstacles from a place of compassion and forgiveness. Plans to welcome the Sacred Heart back home are underway and we’ll share more news when we have it,” the diocese said. 

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