Respect Life Ministry meets from 7:00-9:00 on the second Tuesday Night of each month in room 9 at the church. Please come and join us to say a Rosary for Life and help us plan activities in support of our Church's consistent life ethic.
YOUR HELP IS NEEDED NOW! "Will You Not Watch One Hour With Me?" Matthew 26:40
40 Days for Life Kicks Off
40 Days for Life is a nationwide effort organized by the Coalition for Life directed at enabling participants to bring the healing mercy of God’s love and peace to abortion facilities throughout the U.S. Locally, peaceful prayer vigils are taking place every day and every hour of Lent at the Planned Parenthood office located at 3601 Fannin St. Cardinal DiNardo is asking parishioners at every church in this diocese to participate. Specifically, St. Paul’s is sponsoring Saturday, March 27 as its day of prayer at this center. Please contact our Respect Life coordinators, Ed and Michelle Haren at edharen@yahoo.com for more information.
Please remember to follow the Archdiocesan guidelines for prayer at an abotion facility. For more information go to www.HoustonCoalition.com.
This Week’s Word of Life:“Those who are active in the production and dissemination of new media content, therefore, should strive to respect the dignity and worth of the human person. If the new technologies are to serve the good of individuals and of society, all users will avoid the sharing of words and images that are degrading of human beings, that promote hatred and intolerance, that debase the goodness and intimacy of human sexuality or that exploit the weak and vulnerable.”
~ Pope Benedict XVI, Message for the 43rd World Communications Day, May 24, 2009~
This Week’s Word of Life
“There are international campaigns afoot to reduce birth-rates, sometimes using methods that respect neither the dignity of the woman, nor the right of parents to choose responsibly how many children to have; graver still, these methods often fail to respect even the right to life. The extermination of millions of unborn children, in the name of the fight against poverty, actually constitutes the destruction of the poorest of all human beings.”
~ Pope Benedict XVI, “Message for the Celebration of the World Day of Peace,” Jan. 1, 2009
This Week’s Word of Life
“Abortion – the direct, intentional killing of an unborn girl or boy – is not health care. Abortion robs an innocent child of his or her life, and robs mothers of their peace and happiness. For 25 years, the Project Rachel post-abortion ministry of the Catholic Church has helped women move beyond their grief and remorse after abortion, helping them find peace by accepting God’s forgiveness and by forgiving themselves and others involved in the abortion decision. Abortion funding can only increase the number of dead and grieving.”
~ Cardinal Justin Rigali, Respect Life
Sunday, September 27, 2009
This Week’s Word of Life
“Yet how many children are neither loved, nor welcomed nor respected! How many of them suffer violence and every kind of exploitation by the unscrupulous! May children always be accorded the respect and attention that are due to them: they are the future and the hope of humanity!” ~ Pope Benedict XVI, Greeting at Visit to the
“Holy Infant of Prague,” September 26, 2009
November Word of Life The teaching of the Catholic Church on human sexuality is profound and uplifting. Married love is meant to mirror the love within the Trinity – to be faithful, selfless, permanent, and life-giving. And isn’t that what everyone really wants out of marriage? But rather than encouraging this kind of love, contraceptives have helped many people to engage in sexual relationships that are unfaithful, selfish, short-term, and altered to be sterile, not life giving. Such uncommitted relationships can not only damage our ability to love as we’re meant to love, but very often lead to other problems – contributing to the 3 million unintended pregnancies, over one million abortions, and 19 million new cases of sexually-transmitted diseases (STDs) in the United States each year.
Susan Wills, “Contraception: The Fine Print,” Respect Life Program (2009-2010)
November Word of Life
You matter. That’s why Christ came into your life, cleaned your soul [at baptism], and lit the lamp of faith in your heart. If ever the lamp goes out, he is always there to light it again. And while it shines, it should inspire us to roll back the dark lies of the culture of death and spread the light of Christ’s love to everyone we can, because they matter too.”
Rev. John Bartunek, LC,
“Why You Matter,” Respect Life Program
This Week’s Word of Life
“The bishops’ conference views health care as a basic right belong to all human beings, from conception to natural death…Much- needed reform must not become a vehicle for promoting an ‘abortion rights’ agenda or reversing longstanding current policies against federal abortion mandates and funding. In this sense, we urge you to make this legislation ‘abortion neutral’ by preserving longstanding federal policies that prevent government promotion of abortion and respect conscience rights.”
– Justin Cardinal Rigali, Letter to members of House Energy and Commerce Committee, July 29, 2009
This Week’s Word for Life
Concerns about health care costs and general financial uncertainty, along with serious discussions about limiting health care for the elderly, are currently reaching the boiling point. If assisted suicide is added to the cauldron, the final result can be doubly lethal. Making assisted suicide a medical treatment gives it the status of only one among many options for the treatment of certain conditions. In cost-effectiveness assisted suicide differs in a major way from other treatments. It is extremely affordable and can always be covered by health insurance. The force of economic gravity can lead to increased pressure on patients to request, and doctors to prescribe, assisted suicide.”
Rita Marker, “Assisted Suicide: Death by ‘Choice’? Pamphlet from 2009 Respect Life Program
