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The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has annually set aside October as Respect Life Month, and the celebration traditionally begins on Respect Life Sunday (Oct. 2 this year), often marked with special Masses in parishes and other pro-life observances such as Life Chains in other places throughout the archdiocese.
This year’s Respect Life program, being promoted by the USCCB’s Pro-Life Activities Committee, newly chaired by our own Cardinal Dolan, has the theme “Moved by Mercy,” in a nod to the Jubilee Year of Mercy that is under way until the Solemnity of Christ the King, on Sunday, Nov. 20.
The Respect Life materials are accentuated with a quote from Pope Francis: “We are called to show mercy because mercy has first been shown to us.”
The back page of our last issue was filled with the times and places of Life Chains, peaceful, prayerful witnesses taking place throughout the archdiocese in which Catholics and others come together in a public place to advocate for an end to abortion and offer a message of healing for those who are suffering as a result of abortion. Of special note are the eight chains scheduled to take place in towns and cities of Westchester County on Respect Life Sunday.
Also noted in the same place were the local coordinators in the archdiocese for 40 Days for Life, an interfaith initiative that began on Sept. 28 and continues to Nov. 6. It features prayer and fasting, peaceful vigils at abortion facilities and grassroots educational outreach.
Of course, that’s not all that’s happening this month. Archdiocesan parishes have made their own plans, from films to chastity presentations and rosary rallies, which will be detailed on our website at cny.org this week.
Another important gathering, for Spanish-speaking parishioners, is the eighth Pro-Life Congress being sponsored by the archdiocesan Family Life/Respect Life Office and Movimiento Matronomial Católico. It will take place at Cardinal Hayes High School in the Bronx on Saturday, Oct. 8, and John F. Kennedy Catholic High School in Somers the next day. You can read all about it, en Español, on Page 25.
One of the topics that will be addressed there is the movement toward euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide. The Family Life/Respect Life Office, and a good number of parishes, deserve credit for the education campaign they conducted about physician-assisted suicide last spring as the matter was considered by the state Legislature.
The issue hasn’t gone away.
That’s why all Catholics should take advantage of opportunities to learn about what the Church teaches, and why that is important to understand and follow.
The Church’s teaching on life hasn’t changed. It begins at the moment of conception and continues until the moment of natural death. Each person is a unique, unrepeatable gift, not a needless burden or a “choice.”
As this Respect Life Month commences, now is a good time to think and pray about how we may be “Moved by Mercy.”
Not all of us can take part in Life Chains or the 40 Days for Life campaign, but some of us can.
Others can attend parish Masses and events in support of the pro-life cause.
One thing we all can do is get educated about what the Church teaches on these issues and prayerfully support the efforts on behalf of life.
