Parish Resources
"Let the Church always be a place of mercy and hope, where everyone is welcomed, and loved and forgiven."
- Pope Francis
Let's Build a Culture of Life Together!
Respect for life begins in our own community with conversation, raising awareness, and taking action. Be creatively courageous in finding ways to reinvigorate your parish for the cause of life.
How pro-life is your parish?
Take this parish self assessment on Pro-Life Activities to find out your parish's strengths and weaknesses in the pro-life cause. This self-assessment is based on the USCCB Plan for Pro-Life Activities, it is meant to help you evaluate the success and dedication to respect life ministries in your parish.
"We issue this Pastoral Plan for Pro-Life Activities: A Campaign in Support of Life to put forth "a precise and vigorous reaffirmation of the value of human life and its inviolability, and at the same time a pressing appeal addressed to each and every person, in the name of God: respect, protect, love and serve life, every human life" (The Gospel of Life, no. 5)." Read More...
Mass for Giving Thanks to God for the Gift of Human Life
This Mass was created specifically for the needs of the United States and may be used for occasions to celebrate the dignity of human life.
Blessings
Holy Hours
Intercessions
Additionally, you can find sample intercessions for each month of the year in the Word of Life Archive.
Novenas
Prayer Services
Rosaries
Litanies
Church Documents and Teaching
Humanae vitae - On the Regulation of Birth
Donum vitae - Instruction on Respect for Human Life
Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life) - on the Value and Inviolability of Human Life
Samaritanus Bonus - on the care of persons in the critical and terminal phases of life.
Dignitas Personae - instruction on certain Bioethical Questions
Fact Sheets
Bulletin Inserts and Articles
Fact Sheets
Bulletin Inserts and Articles
Other Documents
Bulletin Inserts and Articles
Videos
Other Documents
Bulletin Inserts and Articles
Videos
Natural Family Planning (NFP)
"The Catholic Church supports the methods of Natural Family Planning because they respect God's design for married love. In fact, NFP represents the only authentic approach to family planning available to husbands and wives because these methods can be used to both attempt or avoid pregnancy." Read More...
For more information, please contact the Office of Marriage and Family Life in our diocese.
Resources
Bulletin Inserts and Articles
New Revision of Number 2267 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church on the Death Penalty
The Supreme Pontiff Francis, in the audience granted on 11 May 2018 to the undersigned Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, has approved the following new draft of no. 2267 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, arranging for it to be translated into various languages and inserted in all the editions of the aforementioned Catechism.
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The death penalty
2267. Recourse to the death penalty on the part of legitimate authority, following a fair trial, was long considered an appropriate response to the gravity of certain crimes and an acceptable, albeit extreme, means of safeguarding the common good.
Today, however, there is an increasing awareness that the dignity of the person is not lost even after the commission of very serious crimes. In addition, a new understanding has emerged of the significance of penal sanctions imposed by the state. Lastly, more effective systems of detention have been developed, which ensure the due protection of citizens but, at the same time, do not definitively deprive the guilty of the possibility of redemption.
Consequently, the Church teaches, in the light of the Gospel, that “the death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person”,[1] and she works with determination for its abolition worldwide.
Fact Sheets and Other Documents
Hope and Healing After Abortion
Website Links
Care During a Serious Illness and End of Life
Website Links
Programs
The Peace in the Storm Project
The Peace in the Storm Project seeks to eliminate the isolation from parish life and disconnect from God often experienced by caregivers and persons with chronic illness, ongoing pain, disability, and other life challenges. We are committed to helping people deepen faith and find fellowship in and through the difficult journeys they are on and to building up parish communities where all participate and all rejoice.
Walking With Moms in Need
Walking with Moms in Need is a nationwide, parish-based initiative to increase support for pregnant and parenting mothers in need. It works to ensure that any woman who finds herself unexpectedly pregnant, or parenting in difficult circumstances, can turn to her local Catholic Church and be connected with the resources she needs. Volunteers walk with moms throughout the motherhood journey, offering them authentic Christian friendship and ongoing support.
