2025 Summer/Fall Nationwide Invitation to Prayer
July 24, 2025 Announcement (Print)
Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio
President, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
Bishop Daniel E. Thomas
Chairman, USCCB Committee on Pro-Life Activities
History was recently made when Planned Parenthood and other big abortion businesses were banned from receiving federal Medicaid dollars for one year. Planned Parenthood immediately sued in a federal court and the judge swiftly granted part of a preliminary injunction, requiring the abortion giant’s taxpayer funding to continue. Otherwise, children’s lives could be saved every day.
Americans should not be forced to pay for the killing of preborn children or fund the clinics that kill them. The USCCB Committee on Pro-Life Activities is inviting Catholics to join a focused effort of prayer to stop taxpayer funding of the abortion industry. In particular, we will invoke the intercession of St. Joseph, Defender of Life with this prayer (en español):
Dearest St. Joseph, at the word of an angel, you lovingly took Mary into your home. As God’s humble servant, you guided the Holy Family on the road to Bethlehem, welcomed Jesus as your own son in the shelter of a manger, and fled far from your homeland for the safety of both Mother and Child. We praise God that as their faithful protector, you never hesitated to sacrifice for those entrusted to you. May your example inspire us also to welcome, cherish, and safeguard God’s most precious gift of life. Help us to faithfully commit ourselves to the service and defense of human life —especially where it is vulnerable or threatened. Obtain for us the grace to do the will of God in all things. Amen.
We ask Catholics to offer this prayer daily, from now until October 1, the beginning of Respect Life Month. Free online and print versions of the prayer can be found at www.respectlife.org/prayer-to-st-joseph. Thank you for responding to this invitation to pray and for your support in protecting innocent children and their vulnerable mothers from the evil of abortion. St. Joseph, Defender of Life, pray for us!