The reports you are about to read are true, but the Catholic response should not be what it is.

As members of the South Carolina legislature debated a heartbeat bill prior to the vote, we learned that one pro-abortion member of that body referred to babies prior to birth as “pretend life.” That legislation is now temporarily stopped by a judge, but with Planned Parenthood manipulating the courts, who knows what will happen. But we wonder, what are people of faith doing to make sure that men and women who scoff at babies are never elected again? And it is not just babies.

In New Jersey, a legislative proposal would prohibit veterinarians from euthanizing impounded animals for seven days. But in the same state, the law legally allows “qualified terminally ill [human] patients the option to request and self-administer lethal prescription drugs to ‘end their lives peacefully’” without a requirement to take a week in order to seek counseling. And it is not just the dying.

You see, we are living in an age if disinformation. And that means that nobody is safe from the duplicity of those who disrespect the rights of the vulnerable—seen and unseen.

We know that disdain for the human person does not exist in a vacuum. We realize it has taken the archenemies of life years and years to gnaw away at the core values that teach us as human beings to cherish the lives of others as much, if not more so, than we do our own. Planned Parenthood was teaching others how to detest people long before decriminalized contraception and abortion became part of the American legal system. One example is the 1942 New York Times article stating: “Crime, ill health and poverty in Harlem cannot be eliminated until Planned Parenthood is ‘fully recognized and applied’ in that overcrowded section of that city.”

In other words, getting rid of people by preventing pregnancy was preferred to acting in solidarity with them and showing them how to improve their lives and avoid criminal behavior. Hatred of others deemed unworthy of life is thriving in our nation.

The latest federal example of this is the bogus Catholic president of the United States who is supporting a legislative proposal known as the Equality Act. Biden says the reason he favors it is that “full equality has been denied to LGBTQ+ Americans and their families for far too long.”

The Catholic bishops, on the other hand, understand the ramifications of this and say: “Instead of respecting differences in beliefs about marriage and sexuality, the Equality Act would discriminate against people of faith.” The bishops’ Voter Guide states: “The Equality Act would: punish faith-based organizations, such as charities and schools who serve everyone in their communities, simply because of their beliefs; force girls and women to compete against boys and men for limited opportunities in sports, and to share locker rooms and shower spaces with biological males who identify as women.”

There is a divide of immense substance between the Catholic bishops who are upholding Catholic teachings and the fraudulent Catholic in the White House who is embracing all manner of evil.

And so we ponder one searing question. How is it that every violation of human decency being exploited today in the states and at the federal level have not guided the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops to take a stand, demand action from every pulpit in our nation, and cry out to God this Lent for prayers and sacrifices offered for the very soul of our nation?

How can the apathetic bishops not do more than issue statements that few will read? How can they do nothing of substance to clarify to the Catholics of this country what it means to BE a Catholic?

Facts do not lie. Whether we are talking about South Carolina, New Jersey, Iowa, or the leader of this nation, Catholic people could make a dramatic difference and turn our nation toward Christ in this hour of crisis.

All that American Catholics need are teachers, shepherds, and courageous men who would give their very lives to defend Catholic principles and nurture the souls of the faithful. Realizing this is so, we ask you to join us this Lent in our prayer for our bishops:

O God, eternal shepherd, you tend your Church in many ways and rule us with love. You have chosen each of your Bishops to be shepherds of your flock. Give each of them a spirit of courage and right judgment, a spirit of knowledge and love. By governing with fidelity those entrusted to their care, may each of our Bishops build your Church as a sign of salvation for the whole world.

We pray with humility through Christ, our Lord. Amen