Editorials

An important part of our state’s heritage is the historic buildings that dot the landscape of our state. Among them are many that mark the long history of our faith. Indeed, many of our churches are listed on the state and national historic registries.

As we celebrate the 243rd birthday of our nation today on July 4, it’s the perfect time to reflect on how our Founding Fathers placed their full trust in God. Their strong moral and spiritual convictions helped them to form the foundation of our great nation.

Thanks to the efforts of Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) and other Republican members of the House of Representatives, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced earlier this month that it will discontinue funding for research that uses the body parts of aborted babies by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). It will also apply a rigorous ethical review process to outside research it funds. Prior to this announcement, the NIH was estimated to spend $120 million on fetal tissue research in fiscal year 2019.

More often than not, commencement speakers give graduates advice based on the speaker’s life experiences and what they can do with that newly-minted diploma as they enter the business world. But what about giving graduates advice about their faith as they step into the secular world?

Challenges to religious freedom continue to emerge on an almost daily basis in our nation. That’s why it is so important for the U.S. Catholic Church to remain resolute in addressing them. Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, in his address to U.S. bishops in 2012, warned them of “Grave threats to the Church’s public moral witness presented by a radical secularism” where there were “certain attempts being made to limit that most cherished of American freedoms, the freedom of religion.”