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After gains were made in the pro-life movement in 2020 to protect life, the outlook for further gains in 2021 is certainly not as promising at both the federal and state levels. With Democrats now holding the White House and both chambers of Congress, a key focus of pro-lifers at the federal level is the preservation of certain pro-life “riders,” or amendments, enacted by Congress that are attached to spending bills.

The Pew Research Center recently reported that government restrictions on religion worldwide (and in the U.S.) are at their highest point since 2007. This is a grave threat not only to our religious freedoms but also to human rights. Globally, religious freedom protects human dignity, promotes security and supports American national security. Here in our own nation anti-Semitism and anti-Catholicism are increasing.

The recent release of COVID-19 vaccines has caused some to question the efficacy of the vaccines due to their quick clinical trials, but beyond that, some Catholics have questioned the ethics of taking a vaccine that may have used cell lines from aborted fetuses. The Vatican Congregation for the Doc­trine of Faith (CDF) addressed those questions last week when it stated that it is “morally acceptable” to receive COVID-19 vaccines produced using cell lines from aborted fetuses when no alternative is available.

Christmas Day is squarely in our sight, just hours away. As we prepare our hearts for this most joyous day when the Word became Flesh, there is no question that Christmas will be different this year. The COVID-19 pandemic has changed everything in our lives. So many have had to deal with illness, economic hardships and the loss of loved ones.

With the countdown to Christmas Day dwindling to single digit numbers, it is gratifying to see how many of our readers have thought about the needs of others in this year of pandemic. This Advent and Christmas season is like no other in our lifetime. The physical, mental and financial damage caused to our lives by COVID-19 has been wide-ranging, turning our normal lifestyles upside down. The pandemic has caused many to lose hope in this season of hope as we await the birth of the Christ Child.

All of us who grew up as a student in Catholic schools or a parish religious education program, have a soft spot in our hearts for the religious who taught us not only academic subjects but also formed our faith in the Catholic Church. And we all have great memories of those days gone by.

Throughout this year of pandemic, restrictions imposed by state officials varied, except for houses of worship that were deemed “non-essential,” severely limiting the right to worship. That all changed the night before Thanksgiving when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that New York’s state restrictions during the pandemic are in violation of the First Amendment’s protection of free religious exercise.

With just two months left before the Biden Administration takes office, the pro-life community is acutely aware that the clock is ticking until the time when more stringent attacks on life in the womb will begin. With the imminent changes the Democrats want to make to strengthen abortion laws even more, Catholic scholars are calling on the Trump Administration to issue an executive order that offers legal protection for the unborn.

“In the future, there will be pitched battles for religious freedom in courts and Congress, in state legislatures and town halls.” Those prophetic words were spoken by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito in his speech March 15, 2017 at St. Paul Inside the Walls: the Diocesan Center for Evangelization at Bayley-Ellard in Madison. Fast forward to Nov. 14 where in a Zoom presentation to the Federalist Society, the justice again issued a clarion call that religious liberty today was emerging as a “second tier” right, especially during the pandemic.

Earlier this year, vandals ran amuck across the nation tearing down statues of religious and historic figures with impunity. Very few political leaders called for these vandals to be prosecuted according to the law for their random acts of violence. When asked about the vandalism of statues earlier this year, Democrat Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi of California, a Catholic whose district includes San Francisco, said, “People will do what people will do.”

On Oct. 31, the Knights of Colum­bus were treated to a special day as their founder, Father Michael McGivney, continued on his path to sainthood with his beatification in the Cathedral of St. Joseph in Hartford, Conn. As members of the organization beamed proudly, Father McGivney was formally beatified through an apostolic letter from Pope Francis that was read by Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark, appointed representative of Pope Francis, who was the principal celebrant of the beatification Mass.

If you were asked, who is on your voting ballot, it would be an easy question to answer. However, if you were asked, what is on your voting ballot, for many the answer might be a head scratcher. The answer to the second question should be as easy as the first, if you realize that whomever you cast your vote for is what is on the ballot.

Judge Amy Coney Barrett and Vice President Joe Biden are both Catholics, but only one of them faces fierce public criticism for their faith. It is not for us to question the faith of a fellow Catholic, but most certainly we can question how secular society looks at Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s faith and excoriates her for it while Joe Biden, running for the highest office in this land, is never, ever questioned about his faith, let alone taken to task for it.

Attacks on houses of worship have continued all around the country over the summer and into the fall with little coverage of this vandalism on religious institutions being reported in the secular media. In September, for example, statues were toppled and destroyed at churches and cathedrals in Utah, New York and Texas. Acts of arson were suspected, investigated or determined at churches in Florida, Boston and California over the summer and statues at other churches were vandalized in Tennessee, California and Colorado.

The confirmation of Judge Amy Coney Barrett, a mother of seven children and a devout Catholic, to the Supreme Court of the United States to fill the vacancy created by the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, should be smooth sailing. After all, she is one of the most highly qualified judges in America and a more than worthy successor to Justice Ginsberg.

In our nation, there is “a new orthodoxy that is actively hostile to religion,” warned U.S. Attorney General William Barr when he spoke through a pre-recorded video at the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast (NCPB) on Sept. 23 during which he accepted its Christifideles Laici Award. Named for Pope St. John Paul II’s 1988 exhortation on the lay vocation, the award honors lay Catholics who promote the New Evangelization and the Church’s mission in their life and work.

Inclusion of a reference to “reproductive rights” in a United Nations resolution on combating the coronavirus has the Vatican up in arms. Archbishop Gabriele Caccia, the Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations, called the resolution “deeply concerning and divisive” in remarks he made Sept. 11 after the UN General Assembly in New York endorsed the resolution, entitled “Comprehensive and coordinated response to the COVID-19 pandemic.”

The House of Repre­sentatives passed a massive new COVID­­19 relief legislation as a follow up to the CARES Act in May. However, unlike the CARES Act, the House bill entirely excluded private and parochial school students and teachers from its K–12 aid provisions.

The Hyde Amend­ment is such important life-saving legislation that it has passed in Congress every year since 1976 as an attachment to spending bills with bipartisan support. Named for the late Rep. Henry Hyde (D-IL), who sponsored the amend­­ment, it bars taxpayer funding of elective abortion.

Catholic schools across the country are welcoming back students for in-person instruction this month that will involve stringent safety protocols while also offering continued options for virtual learning that Catholic schools across the nation so adeptly adopted in March as COVID-19 spread.