‘Our prayer’: California Catholic leaders celebrate Supreme Court ruling on abortion
California Catholic leaders hailed the Supreme Court ruling Friday repealing the federal rights to abortions, celebrating the anti-abortion movement’s long campaign to overturn Roe vs. Wade.
Their remarks commending the court’s 5-4 decision contrasted with California’s Democratic political establishment, which overwhelmingly condemned the ruling and committed to protecting abortion access in the state.
In Sacramento, Bishop Jamie Soto released a message “on bringing hope in a post-Roe California.” He said the Supreme Court overturned the “flawed 1973 abortion decision.”
“No number of years of standing precedence could erase the contrived legal machinations justifying the deliberate destruction of innocent life, but many still ponder, “Where do we go from here?’” Soto wrote on the Diocese of Sacramento website.
“The political leadership in California is clinging stubbornly to the throw-away ideology of abortion refusing to imagine better alternatives for women and their children,” he wrote.
Jose Gomez, the archbishop of Los Angeles, the nation’s largest Catholic community, said on his official Twitter account he was ready to “begin the work of building a post-Roe America.”
Gomez also serves as the president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. In a statement released jointly with the conference and Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore, they described the ruling as “historic.”
“For nearly 50 years, the United States has enforced an unjust law that has allowed some to decide whether others may live or die; this policy has resulted in the deaths of tens of millions of unborn children, generations denied the right even to be born,” the statement said.
Gomez also praised the work of anti-abortion activists, comparing them to other “great movements for social change and civil rights in our nation’s history.”
Last November, Gomez faced backlash for a speech in which he criticized recent social movements, including anti-racist movements, as “pseudo-religions.” The comments garnered a petition signed by more than 13,000 Catholics and others.
Bishop Myron Cotta of the Roman Cathoic Diocese of Stockton called Friday a “day to give thanks, be glad and rejoice.”
“This has been our prayer, the church’s prayer, for the last 50 years,” Cotta said in a Facebook message.
In practice, Catholic views are not always aligned with those of their church and leaders. Like U.S. adults overall, the majority of Catholics opposed overturning Roe V. Wade.
According to a poll released in early June by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, 68% of Catholics opposed overturning the 1973 decision. Another 64% agreed abortion should be legal in most or all cases.
Leaders from other churches expressed different views on the ruling.
In the San Joaquin Valley, Bishop David Rice in the Episcopal Diocese voiced his “dismay, despondency and complete and utter disappointment” at the ruling. He called the decision “anti-gospel” as it leads to the potential of “someone having power over another.”
“Fearful, I am for the life and soul of the U.S. Again, people of faith, pray with your feet and your hands, contact legislators and for God’s sake and our own, vote when the opportunity arises,” he said.
This story was originally published June 24, 2022 at 5:27 PM.