‘Pray for Dobbs’

RICHARD A. SOKERKA

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has organized an ecumenical initiative, “Pray for Dobbs” as the nation awaits a Supreme Court decision in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organiza­tion case that could lead to Roe v. Wade being overturned.

“We’re at this pivotal moment,” Arch­bishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City stressed, regarding the imperative to pray and fast for a positive Supreme Court outcome. “It’s really important for we Catholics to pray more, to intercede more for the judges, but also for ourselves, that we can be this society that really reverences the human person.”

Archbishop Naumann, who participated in the launch of the campaign, said it’s important to remember that “prayer has to be the foundation of everything we do and that all of our efforts, important as they might be, are not going to be as fruitful if we’re not praying and asking the Holy Spirit to guide us.” He pointed to the example of Jesus in the Gospels “frequently going off to a place of solitude to be able to pray for his own fulfilling of the mission that the Father entrusted to him.”

In the case of praying for the overturning of Roe in the Dobbs case, he said that “our prayer is intercessory; we’re asking the Lord to help us in specific ways, but prayer is best described as a conversation between ourselves and God, so we’re also listening in our prayer to what the Lord is calling us to do, and we know that intercessory prayer is powerful.” He also referenced the Parable of the Persistent Friend in the Gospel of Luke who is given what he asks by his friend due to his persistence. “We know persistence is part of what Jesus teaches about prayer: not that God needs us to change his mind, but that we need to dispose our hearts to understand his will.”

Archbishop Naumann also cited Jesus telling the disciples in the Gospels that some demons can only be cast out by prayer and fasting. “Fasting is an important part of praying,” he said. “When we fast, part of what we’re doing is we’re giving up something that’s not necessarily a bad thing, but we’re making this sacrifice, which in itself becomes an intercessory prayer. It also creates space in our life; and some of the things that we turn to for comfort instead of God, fasting opens up those spaces in our life to turn towards the Lord.”

“With the abortion issue,” he said, “I think it certainly is a demon in our society and that prayer and fasting are going to be necessary for us to be able to expel this demon that attacks the sacredness of life.” He said the decision in Dobbs “could be such a transformative moment for our culture, to reverse some of the very disastrous trends that our culture has had for almost 50 years and this disregard and disrespect for the sanctity of human life.”

Most especially in the midst of Holy Week, we call on all Catholics to make this initiative for prayer and fasting for an end to abortion a priority in their faith lives.