Thursday, January 22, is the third anniversary of the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States on the subject of abortion. Following the court decision, there has been a significant decline in the respect for human dignity. In the two hundredth year of our national existence, we witness the right to life denied while the right to death is increasingly advocated. Abortion, sterilization, euthanasia, criminal violence, private and public plundering, individual and general lawlessness, are but the responses of a society which is unable to face the demands of an advanced and secularized civilization and which is unwilling to turn once again to God.
Modern society is victimized by a corrupted concept of freedom.
Too often freedom today is regarded as the will of the individual, the right of the individual to his own happiness without reference to others. The observable and predictable result is the clash of individuals. This ethic, which so permeates our land, is repugnant to our Christian-Judaic heritage and to the basic principles on which this country was founded. Our efforts in pro-life education, public information, and pastoral care are presently being renewed and accentuated, on the state, diocesan and parish levels. We ask the candidates for nomination for the presidency, of both parties, to speak out on this issue, forthrightly and with clarity, so that the people of this State might have the opportunity to express themselves on this issue.