Dear Parishioners:

While the passing of Amendment 3, by a little over 50% of the voters, presents a challenge for all, it does not change the Church’s long held position on the dignity of all life. Given the scientific fact that a human life begins at conception, the only moral norm needed to understand the Church's opposition to abortion is the principle that each and every human life has inherent dignity, and thus must be treated with the respect due to a human person. This is the foundation for the Church's social doctrine, including its teachings on war, the use of capital punishment, euthanasia, health care, poverty and immigration.

Conversely, to claim that some live human beings do not deserve respect or should not be treated as persons (based on changeable factors such as age, condition, location, or lack of mental or physical abilities) is to deny the very idea of inherent human rights. Such a claim undermines respect for the lives of many vulnerable people before and after birth.

The concept of human dignity is a strong theme throughout the social documents of the Catholic Church, and it is this theme that serves as a starting point for the Church's commitment to the protection of life. The universal dignity of all human persons and peoples is, in its broadest sense, the fundamental principle that underlies everything the church teaching has to say about human lives and their value.

Obviously, the reverence, the respect of human life is a dominant concern, but added to that umbrella of respect for human life must also cover issues such as immigration, imprisonment and capital punishment, poverty, racism and depression among young people.

That is why we are a Church of life from conception to natural death. With this in mind then we must do all we can to support women and men who find themselves in difficult situations. We must work for an end to abortions and at the same time work to support single mothers, those who find themselves in poverty, those without medical care, our immigrants. We must work for an end to executions (our country has the means to project our citizens through incarceration).

At the same time, it said, the Church must call for policies that assist women and their children in need, while also continuing to help mothers through local pregnancy help centers and a nationwide, parish-based initiative, Walking with Moms in Need, the statement continued. We must likewise continue to extend the hand of compassion to all who are suffering from participation in abortion, through the Church’s abortion healing ministries like Project Rachel Ministry.

Lastly, our parish is in need of a robust Pro-Life group of men and women working to support and educate our parish community in all issues surrounding life. I will be reaching out to see if we can establish this group. Thank you to all who voted and participated in our election and thank you to all who support life in all of its myriads of forms.

God Bless!

Msgr John Shamleffer