We stand with Archbishop Naumann!

March 25, 2021 

Archbishop Joseph Naumann
Archdiocese of Kansas City Kansas
12615 Parallel Parkway
Kansas City, Kansas 66109 

Your Excellency, 

We write to assure you of our deep gratitude for your ministry as a priest, a bishop, and an archbishop. With recent attacks on your good name and, by implication, your many years of service to Our Lord and His Church, we write today to thank you for speaking for the defenseless and to assure you of our prayers. 

We are aware that an organization calling itself “Faithful America,” has demanded that you be removed from your role as Chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities – despite being elected to this position by the majority of your brother bishops in the United States. 

Ostensibly, the hard-left group who circulated this petition claims their call for your removal is based on what they erroneously believe to be an incompatibility with the priorities of our Holy Father. The letter’s author seems completely unaware that Pope Francis himself boldly compared having an abortion to “hiring a hitman.” The Holy Father said, “Is it right to hire a hitman to solve a problem? It is not right to kill a human being, regardless of how small it is, to solve a problem!” The letter likewise falsely accuses you of failing to “seek common ground” with a President who, on the one hand, talks about the importance of his Catholic faith, and with his other hand, personally signed Executive Orders that will directly lead to the deaths of thousands of unborn children. 

Despite what the letter says, we know that you have dedicated your entire priesthood and episcopal ministry to consistently speaking for those with no voice. Although your own life was changed forever when your father was violently murdered, you nonetheless have consistently spoken out against the use of the death penalty. Further, at your request, your first decade as a priest was spent ministering in underserved communities of color in St. Louis. 

When you were then asked to lead the pro-life office at the Archdiocese of St. Louis, you did not hesitate in your willingness to serve the Lord’s people in a new way. Your name became well-known in the pro-life movement as you helped to establish a strong Project Rachel ministry nationwide, assisting women and men adversely affected by an abortion experience. You are an annual presence at the March for Life in Washington each January. You have given countless hours of advice, support, and direction to pregnancy resource centers, striving to offer women humane and compassionate alternatives to abortion.

You have regularly visited nursing homes and facilities for the elderly, prisons, and social service agencies that care for the marginalized. Even a brief examination of your life would have made all of this evident, yet the writers of the letter seemed more interested in character assassination than in an authentic “commitment to justice.” 

We, the undersigned Catholics, are proud to stand with you! 

We understand that your admonition of President Joe Biden, whose campaign was both funded and endorsed by Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider, did not make you popular in some quarters. In publicly noting that the President’s unequivocal advocacy for abortion on demand makes him ineligible to receive Holy Communion, you have followed St. Paul’s directive to Timothy: “Proclaim the word; be persistent whether it is convenient or inconvenient; convince, reprimand, encourage through all patience and teaching. For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine.” (2 Tim 4:2-3) 

We thank you for your courage in transmitting “sound doctrine” and for your commitment to defending the most vulnerable among us. 

Please be assured of our prayers; please keep us in your own prayers.

Sincerely, 

Brian Burch, President
CatholicVote.org

Ryan T. Anderson, President
Ethics and Public Policy Center

Kari Beckman, Founder
Regina Caeli Academy, Roswell, GA 

Gerard V. Bradley, Professor of Law
University of Notre Dame

Teresa S. Collett
Professor of Law and Director, Pro-Life Center
University of St. Thomas School of Law (MN)

Anthony Crifasi
Associate Professor of Philosophy, Benedictine College

Marjorie Dannenfelser, President
Susan B. Anthony List

Kristen Day, Executive Director
Democrats for Life of America

John M. DeJak, President
Father Gabriel Richard High School, Ann Arbor, MI

Dr. Robert Fastiggi,
Bishop Kevin M. Britt Chair of Dogmatic Theology and Christology,
Sacred Heart Major Seminary, Detroit, MI

Mary Hallan FioRito, JD
Cardinal Francis George Fellow, Catholic Studies Program
Ethics and Public Policy Center

Robert P. George,
McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence
Princeton University

Mary Rice Hasson, JD
Director, Catholic Women’s Forum
Ethics and Public Policy Center

Kimberly Hahn, Author, Speaker
Council-at-Large of Steubenville, OH

Kristan Hawkins, President
Students for Life of America

Dr. Mary Healy, Professor
Sacred Heart Major Seminary

Fr. Stephen Imbarrato, Director
Life Ministries US

Abby Johnson, Author, Founder
And Then There Were None

Patrick Lee, Director
John N. and Jamie D. McAleer Professor of Bioethics
Center for Bioethics, Franciscan University of Steubenville

Francis X. Maier, Senior Fellow, Catholic Studies
Ethics and Public Policy Center

E. M. Macierowsk, Ph.D.
Professor of Philosophy, Benedictine College

Christopher J. Malloy
Assoc. Professor of Theology, The University of Dallas

Jeanne Mancini
President, March for Life

Monica Migliorino Miller, PH.D.
Director of Citizens for a Pro-Life Society,
Teacher of Theology, Sacred Heart Major Seminary, Detroit

Dr Edward Mulholland
Associate Professor, Classics, Benedictine College

Matthew Muller, PhD
Theology Department, Benedictine College

Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director
Priests for Life

Austin Ruse, President
C-Fam

Eric Scheidler, Executive Director
Pro-Life Action League

Fr. Robert A. Sirico, President and Co-Founder
The Acton Institute
Pastor, Sacred Heart of Jesus parish and Academy, Grand Rapids, MI 

Mary C. Sommer, Professor Emerita
Center for Thomistic Studies, University of St. Thomas (TX)

Janet T. Smith, Ph.D.
Moral Theologian

Andrew D. Swafford, S.T.D., M.A.
Associate Professor of Theology, Benedictine College

Sarah Swafford, Author and Speaker
Founder, Emotional Virtue Ministries

William Thorn, Chairman Emeritus
Department of Communications, Marquette University

Vicki Thorn, Foundress of Project Rachel
Member, Pontifical Academy for Life

Jose L. Trasancos, Ph.D, CEO
Children of God for Life

Stacy A. Trasancos, Ph.D, Executive Director
St. Philip Institute

George Weigel, Distinguished Senior Fellow
Ethics and Public Policy Center

Edward Whelan, Distinguished Senior Fellow
Ethics and Public Policy Center

Joseph Wurtz, Ed.D.
Dean of Students, Benedictine College

Mark J. Zia, S.T.D.
Professor of Sacred Theology
Benedictine College

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*Organizations listed for identification purposes only