Annually, the Catholic Church in the United States observes the month of October as Respect Life Month. This year, it benefits from occurring amid our yearlong celebration honoring Saint Joseph (December 8, 2020 – December 8, 2021).
As we reflect on the sacredness of human life, aware of the increasing assaults in our country and throughout the world against human life, let us focus on the example of Saint Joseph as the faithful protector of the lives of both Jesus and Mary. May we also implore his intercession on behalf of the sacredness of human life. His example reminds us that human life is God’s gift, which needs to be affirmed and protected.
Respect Life Month challenges us to welcome human life despite the rampant and dominant culture of death that exists in our country. Human life is sacred because life originates in God and terminates in God. Our faith teaches that God is our origin and our destiny. As we affirm the sacredness of human life we are aware that ours is a minority position against and among a powerful and growing majority of those who do not accept this truth.
As Saint Joseph did when he took Mary as his wife and her son as his son, we must reach out to vulnerable mothers and their children. We need to advocate against taxpayer-funded abortion, which targets the lives of millions of poor children in the wombs of their mothers. We imitate Saint Joseph’s care and protection of Jesus and Mary by reaching out to mothers who are experiencing difficulties during pregnancy and are considering terminating the pregnancy. Too frequently, low-income mothers in South Jersey are victims of such thinking. Saint Joseph with a father’s heart loved the Christ child; by advocating on their behalf, may we show a similar love for all children, born and unborn.
The clarion call of the Respect Life Program is: “From Womb to Tomb.” Such a cry is a summons to concern and action on a wide variety of respect life issues, including: gun control, the care of the elderly, assisted suicide, health care, immigration, affordable housing, the death penalty, sexual identity, euthanasia of the dying, the homeless, treatment of the mentally infirm and marriage. This list is long and continues to grow. On it are serious and complex issues. There are more issues that can be added. We need to be informed about each of these issues. Further, we need to understand what our Church teaches about these issues. I suggest a helpful website, usccb.org/respectlife.
These varied right-to-life issues – whether the life of the child in the womb, the person with a disability, the elderly, the stranger, the criminal facing a death penalty, etc. – all remind us that the human person is precious and has a God-given dignity. October, Respect Life Month, challenges us to build a culture of life despite the avalanche of attacks on human life in our country. From the moment of conception to its natural end, human life deserves respect.
May Saint Joseph inspire our commitment to the Gospel of Life.
Most Reverend Dennis J. Sullivan, D.D.
Bishop of Camden