Respect Life and Pro-Life Ministries

Suicidal individuals—with or without a terminal illness—typically do not want to die; they want to escape what they perceive to be an intolerable situation, and they inaccurately believe that suicide is their only way out. The patient requesting assisted suicide is often asking, "Does anyone want me to be alive, or care enough to talk me out of this request and support me through this difficult time?"

While individuals who are at risk for suicide often comtemplate and formulate suicide plans, and some may show warning signs, they are often ambivalent about ending their loves. The actual suicide attempt is often done impulsively, in the midst of an acute crisis or while intoxicated or emotionally distressed.

Furthermore, completing a suicide generally requires not just intent (which typically waxes and wanes over time) - but also easy access to means. People tend to fixate on one specific plan. If that particular method isn't readily available, they typically don't choose an alternative method; they choose to live. But assisted suicide increases access to a ready means to end one's life for those who are especially vulnerable due to a terminal illness.

Laws permitting suicide communicate the message that, under especially difficul circumstances, some lives are not worth living. This tracigally false message will be heard by not only those with a terminal illness, but by any person struggling with the temptation to end his or her life.

Every suicide is tragic. We don't discourage suicide by assisting suicide.

Congress is trying to force Americans to pay for abortion. 

The Hyde Amendment and similar laws have protected taxpayers from funding elective abortion for 45 years. Now, powerful members of Congress want to take away these laws that both Democrats and Republicans have supported for nearly half a century. Billions of taxpayer dollars could be used to pay for abortion.

It is critically important for Catholics to send a strong message before Congress moves forward to impose taxpayer-funded abortion.

Stop your tax dollars from going to abortion. Take action and sign the petition to Congress at NoTaxpayerAbortion.com. 
 

Fatherhood has its origins in God, who chose to reveal Himself to us as Our Father, sending his only Son for the sake of our salvation. Fathers therefore have a special role “in revealing and in reliving on earth the very fatherhood of God” (Familiaris consortio 25). Indeed, the role of the father “is of unique and irreplaceable importance” (FC 25). Although society increasingly tells fathers that they have no say in the lives of their children before birth and fails to recognize the dynamic and critically important role of fatherhood, it is both a biological and spiritual reality.

Pope Saint John Paul II said fathers are called to exhibit “generous responsibility for the life conceived under the heart of the mother” (FC 25). They are uniquely entrusted with the protection and defense of both mother and child and, in this way, in safeguarding the sanctity of human life. Yet research continues to show that the top reasons women seek abortions include lacking support from the child’s father and financial challenges, which are only exacerbated by a father’s absence.

Through our prayers and through the intercession of St. Joseph, patron of fathers, may fathers come to know the irreplaceable role they hold in the lives of their children, and the responsibility they share in welcoming God’s gift of new life!

Mother's Day and the month of May are wonderful opportunities to highlight the beautiful vocatyion of motherhood and the gift of life.

On May 31, the Church celebrates the Feast of the Visitation of the blessed Virgin Mary. This feast Commemorates the Blessed Mother's Visit to her cousin Elizabeth and the encounter of Jesus and St. John the Baptist while in the wombs of their mothers. Join us in praying the Novena for Life from May 22-30 in honor of this special feast day. 

Click HERE for the Novena for Life.
 

It’s normal to grieve a pregnancy loss, including the loss of a child by abortion. It can form a hole in one’s heart, a hole so deep that sometimes it seems nothing can fill the emptiness.

Find help HERE.

In March, the Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord. This feast day helps us to recognize the gift of new life from its very beginning and calls us to reflect on how we are to care for, protect, and welcome new life—as the Blessed Mother did for the Christ child.

March 25th also marks the anniversary of the papal encyclical Evangelium vitae (The Gospel of Life). This Church teaching on the value and inviolability of every human life remains an indispensable source of truth for all people.

Inspired by the example of the Blessed Mother, may we, like Mary, have the courage to say “yes” to life from conception to natural death; We pray to the Lord:
Lord, hear our prayer.