QUOTE: Abortion and euthanasia have become
preeminent threats to human dignity because they directly attack life itself,
the most fundamental human good and the condition for all others. They are
committed against those who are weakest and most defenseless, those who are
genuinely 'the poorest of the poor.' They are endorsed increasingly without the
veil of euphemism, as supporters of abortion and euthanasia freely concede
these are killings even as they promote them. Sadly, they are practiced in
those communities which ordinarily provide a safe haven for the weak -- the
family and the healing professions. Such direct attacks on human life, once
crimes, are today legitimized by governments sworn to protect the weak and
marginalized. [U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Living
the Gospel of Life: A Challenge to American Catholics, 1998.]
AUTHOR: The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is the episcopal conference of
the Catholic Church in the United States. Founded in 1966 as the joint National
Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCCB)
and United States Catholic Conference, it is composed of all active and retired
members of the Catholic hierarchy (i.e., diocesan, coadjutor, and auxiliary bishops
and the ordinary of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter) in
the United States and the Territory of the U.S. Virgin Islands. In the
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the bishops in the six dioceses form their own
episcopal conference, the Puerto Rican Episcopal Conference (Spanish, Conferencia
Episcopal Puertorriqueña). The bishops in U.S. insular areas in the Pacific
Ocean — the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Territory of
American Samoa, and the Territory of Guam — are members of the Episcopal
Conference of the Pacific (Latin, Conferentia Episcopalis Pacifici).
The
USCCB adopted its current name in July 2001. The organization is a registered
corporation based in Washington, D.C.. As with all bishops' conferences,
certain decisions and acts of the USCCB must receive the recognition, or
approval of the Roman dicasteries, which are subject to the immediate and
absolute authority of the Pope.
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