Dear Parishioners:

During these coming glorious days of October, we as a Church celebrate respect for life. Life in all of its manifestations from the beginning in the womb until the last final breathe. We pray that the Gospel of Life will overcome the culture of death in our land. We continue to work to do away with the intentional death that is abortion. We strive against assisted suicide and the lack of life values that leads to euthanasia. We call for an end of the execution of criminals. We respond with love and care to the life force of the infant in the womb, the child mentally incapacitated, people with disabilities among us, the alienated and lonely, the elderly and infirmed.

As we tinker with the beginnings, the end and even the intimate cell structure of life, we tinker with our own identity as a free nation dedicated to the dignity of the human person. When American political life becomes an experiment on people rather than for and by them, it will no longer be worth conducting. We are arguably moving closer to that day. Today, when the inviolable rights of the human person are proclaimed and the value of life publicly affirmed, the most basic human right, the right to life, is being denied or trampled upon, especially at the more significant moments of existence, the moment of birth and the moment of death.

As the Pope has expressed: “God's love does not differentiate between the newly conceived infant still in his or her mother's womb and the child or young person, or the adult and the elderly person. God does not distinguish between them because he sees an impression of his own image and likeness (Gn 1:26) in each one”.

Let us especially keep in our prayers all expectant mothers and all who care for children. Finally, I would like to thank all of you for your support of life and for all your words, prayers and actions that proclaim the sacredness and dignity of all life.

Blessings!

Msgr. John Shamleffer