Washington D.C., Aug 12, 2009 / 01:29 am
In preparation for Respect Life Sunday, the U.S. Catholic bishops have made available the 2009-2010 Respect Life Program to help address a variety of pro-life concerns.
This year’s Respect Life Sunday, which will take place on October 4, has as its theme “Every Child Brings Us God’s Smile,” based on comments in a January 2007 homily of Pope Benedict XVI.
The Respect Life flyer explores this theme and provides a timeline of fetal development showing the humanity of unborn children.
Themes addressed in this year’s program include the building of a culture of life and the essence of human dignity. Topics include assisted suicide, contraception, infertility, and same-sex “marriage.”
Printed pamphlets containing Respect Life articles are available on the website of the U.S. bishops’ Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities and on a CD included in each packet. The CD also contains a poster and a flyer, as well as a liturgy guide, program models, memorable pro-life quotations and more in both English and Spanish.
This year’s liturgy guide offers Intercessions for Life and preaching reflections for both Respect Life Sunday and January 22, the anniversary of the pro-abortion Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade. It also includes materials for a Litany to Mary, Mother of Life; a Novena to Our Lady of Guadalupe; and a Holy Hour for Life.
The Respect Life Program was begun in 1972 to bring Church teaching on the value and dignity of human life to the Catholic community and the wider public. Respect Life Sunday is observed in almost all of the 195 Catholic dioceses in the United States.
More information is available at the website of the Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities at http://www.usccb.org/prolife.