Building a Culture of Life: It’s Essential to Who We Are

Five things you can (and should) do during Respect Life Month:

• Be Not Afraid to Reach out in Love: Read Archbishop Lori’s message for Respect Life Month here, and prayerfully discern who, in your own life, needs you to walk with them today.
• Eat and Learn: Sit down with your parish respect life coordinator (or find one if you don’t have one yet), those who serve in pastoral ministries, and those doing social justice work in the parish. Eat a meal together. Get to know one another. Learn about each ministry and how each spreads the Gospel of Life and responds to the call to missionary discipleship.  Find creative ways to work together for life and justice.
• Educate: Check out and share the Maryland Catholic Conference’s Parish Education and Engagement Program on physician assisted suicide and the letter and resources from the bishops, Comfort & Consolation . Both have been shared with your pastor and your respect life coordinator. Offer these to your parishioners through the bulletin and social media so they can more fully understand the compassion, consistency, and beauty of the Church’s teaching on life and death.
• Share the Journey: Participate in the worldwide campaign of support for refugees and migrants. #ShareJourney
• Pray: Saint John Paul II reminds us that “a great prayer for life is urgently needed.” Pray for all the vulnerable – the aging, the lonely, the hungry, the homeless, the unborn, the scared, the grieving. Pray for those who minister to them.  Pray for the family, the domestic church. The Rosary Congress (going on right now!) is a wonderful opportunity to pray together at the Basilica and around the Archdiocese.

As we celebrate respect life month once again, let’s always remember that “[b]uilding a culture of life isn’t something we just do one month of the year, or with one event or initiative—it’s essential to who we are. It happens through our daily actions, how we treat one another, and how we live our lives.” Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Respect Life Month 2017 Statement