Editorials

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.”