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This edition of the Life Issues Forum is available in English and Spanish, and has been posted to our website.
The Life Issues Forum is a bi-weekly column by Pro-Life Secretariat staff addressing the latest issues on the culture of life. Columns may be reprinted as they appear here (in full and without alteration) without further permission.
In Christ,
The Pro-Life Secretariat
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LIFE ISSUES FORUM FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
2018 Respect Life Month Statement October 5, 2018
Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, Chairman
USCCB Committee on Pro-Life Activities
My dear friends in Christ:
The month of October is annually observed by the Catholic
Church in the United States as Respect Life Month. We are called to
cherish, defend, and protect those who are most vulnerable, from the
beginning of life to its end, and at every point in between.
Yet this year, as we approach Respect Life Sunday on October
7, our hearts are heavy with revelations of how those who should be most
trustworthy have not only failed in this regard but have inflicted
immense evil. As USCCB President Cardinal Daniel DiNardo expressed, "the
Body of Christ is lacerated."
At such a time as this, we become even more aware of the need
for messengers of God's love and instruments of His healing. We realize
again, with renewed urgency, our personal call to help others encounter
God's transforming, life-giving love and to defend the sanctity of
every person's life, at every stage and in every circumstance.
This year's Respect Life theme is "Every Life: Cherished,
Chosen, Sent," highlighting our call to build a culture of life as
missionary disciples. Drawing upon the story of Our Lady of Guadalupe
and St. Juan Diego, this theme is briefly unpacked in a short
reflection. I humbly invite you to read and reflect on it this Respect
Life Month (www.usccb.org/respect-life-reflection). (There are also many other resources at www.usccb.org/respectlife that are available for use this month and throughout the year.)
In his first letter to the Corinthians, Saint Paul tells us,
"As a body is one though it has many parts, and all the parts of the
body, though many, are one body, so also Christ. ...If [one] part
suffers, all the parts suffer with it" (1 Cor 12:12,26).
We are called and sent to be messengers of God's love,
treating one another as cherished and chosen by Him. In doing so, we
help build a culture that respects all human life. The Body of Christ
needs you. The world needs you.
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Cardinal Dolan is Chairman of the USCCB Committee on Pro-Life Activities and Archbishop of New York. Please visit www.usccb.org/respectlife to learn more about this year's Respect Life Program.
