Juntos en el camino: Palabras semanales del Arzobispo Hebda
Pope Francis has called us in this Jubilee Year to be “pilgrims of hope.” How can we hope in a world with so many challenges? The Reverend Martin Luther King, who is remembered today throughout our nation, managed to be a great pilgrim of hope even as he confronted the scourge of racism. In a 1952 letter to his future wife, Coretta, Dr. King wrote, “Let us continue to hope, work, and pray that in the future we will live to see a warless world, a better distribution of wealth, and a brotherhood that transcends race or color. This is the gospel that I will preach to the world.”
As the 2025 legislative session has begun in Minnesota, we would do well to take Dr. King’s advice to “hope, work and pray.”
This week offers us several opportunities to do just that. On Wednesday, Jan. 22, the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion in 1973, high school students from across the Archdiocese will be gathering at St. Agnes school in St. Paul for prayer, a rally, and a procession to the State Capital to join the local March for Life, reminding our fellow citizens and especially our elected officials of the need to protect the rights of the preborn and create a culture of life throughout our State. While the current Minnesota abortion laws are among the most permissive in our nation, our young brothers and sisters are confident and hopeful that change can occur, and they are willing to work and pray so that change will occur.
That same day, the annual ecumenical Prayer Service for Life will be held at the Cathedral of St. Paul. While Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022, we’ve sadly seen how abortion continues to be a deadly reality in Minnesota. As a result of the Dobbs decision, the battleground has merely shifted from the federal courts to the state level. Locally, in the aftermath of Dobbs, far too many of the commonsense guardrails that once surrounded abortion in our State have been removed (consider, for example, the removal of protections for infants born alive). Abortion in Minnesota remains a real threat for those in the womb and continues to leave behind a path of devastation negatively impacting mothers and fathers as well.
In addition to our prayers, we need to work concretely with each other and with those who lead us in government to create an authentic culture of life that protects children as well as parents. I was so very proud of the members of the Archdiocesan staff who recently spent a day of service at the Guiding Star Wakota Life Center on Robert Street. Like the many excellent pregnancy resource centers throughout our Archdiocese and State, Guiding Star Wakota continues to serve moms, dads, and children even though they were stripped of state funding in the aftermath of Dobbs. What a beacon of hope in the midst of our Jubilee Year!
The 2025 legislative session will be running from now until May 19. Please pray for our representatives in the months ahead and make an effort to reach out to them as well, inviting them to work with you in creating in Minnesota an authentic culture of life, protecting the most vulnerable among us. If you’re unsure who your representatives are, visit the Minnesota Catholic Conference website. Here you can locate your legislator, track important issues and find ways to hope, work, and pray for the common good.
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