Letter to Governor Kathy Hochul

by ssppchurch | Mar 17, 2023 | SSPP News, Uncategorized

17 Grove Street

                                                                                                Williamsville, New York 14221

                                                                                                March 17, 2023

The Honorable Kathy Hochul
Governor of New York State
NYS State Capitol Building
Albany, NY 12224

Dear Governor Hochul,

We, the members of the Respect Life Ministry at Saints Peter and Paul Parish in Williamsville, feel compelled to ask you to reconsider your position on life issues, and in specific, abortion.

Our ministry seeks to raise awareness of the dignity of all human life from conception to natural death. One of our goals is to be actively engaged in proposed legislation affecting life issues such as euthanasia, the death penalty and abortion.

Certainly, the June 2022 overturning of Roe V Wade by the Supreme Court has impacted the landscape of abortion legislation in a significant way.  With this decision, the power to decide abortion legislation returns to each individual state. We resolve to make an impact on this changed landscape by our prayers, our votes, and our actions.

To that end, we implore you, as the governor of the state of New York, to take this opportunity to courageously protect the lives of the unborn. As practicing Catholics like you, we know God is the author of all life. In your inaugural address you stated, “I am stronger because of the influence of God in my life, and I will continue to seek His counsel through the Bible as I guide the people of this state”. God does counsel us through His own words in Jeremiah 1:5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you” and also through the words of King David in Psalms 139: 13-14 “You formed my inmost being; you knit me in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am wonderfully made.”

You know as a mother and grandmother what a precious gift those lives are that are known by God before conception and are “wonderfully made” by Him. Use your inner strength from God and the counsel through His Word, to protect all lives that are “knit” in their mothers’ wombs. Your position as governor affords you the ability to press lawmakers to propose legislation that protects unborn children. You can champion organizations that work to save babies from abortion and provide necessary support to pregnant women who choose life for their children. You can stand with the Catholic Church in New York State and promote its countless pro-life resources.  

The Catholic Bishops of New York State have pledged in their statement Toward a Pro-Life Future in the Empire State (published May 12, 2022):

“Any woman – regardless of age, religious belief or affiliation, marital status or immigration status – who is pregnant and in need, can come to the Catholic Church and we will give you the services and supports you need to carry your baby to term, regardless of your ability to pay. Furthermore, we will not abandon you and your baby after delivery, but, rather, we will see to it that you have the resources that you and your child both need and deserve. No one will be turned away from life-affirming care.”

Our own Diocese of Buffalo is fulfilling that pledge. In 2009, the diocese established the St. Gianna Molla Pregnancy Outreach Center to provide material, emotional and spiritual support to families.  An offshoot of that ministry, the Mother Teresa Home, was opened in 2016 as a shelter for homeless expectant mothers. Through Catholic Charities and the St Vincent de Paul Society and countless other Catholic organizations and efforts, life-affirming care is found all over Western New York.

With these resources in place, there is no need for any baby to be unwanted and for any woman to be without hope or support.

We look to you as governor to fulfill the pledge you stated after your election in November, “I will lead with strength and compassion.” In these times there is no greater strength than to stand with the voiceless unborn, and there is no greater compassion than to guide every woman to choose life for her child even in the most desperate of circumstances.

Sincerely,

The Saints Peter and Paul Respect Life Ministry

Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church