{"id":7942,"date":"2025-04-16T15:05:21","date_gmt":"2025-04-16T19:05:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sta2.org\/church\/?p=7942"},"modified":"2025-10-31T12:40:06","modified_gmt":"2025-10-31T16:40:06","slug":"respect-life-committee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sta2.org\/church\/discipleship\/respect-life-committee\/","title":{"rendered":"Respect Life Committee"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Respect Life Committee Mission Statement:<\/strong> To promote in our parish and community respect for every human life from conception to natural death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Goals:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Pray<\/strong> for the protection of all human lives<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Educate<\/strong> ourselves and others about Catholic teaching on pro-life issues<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Provide<\/strong> material, spiritual, and emotional support for mothers and babies<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Support<\/strong> pro-life activities in our community<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. Maintain<\/strong> a calendar of pro-life events<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  6. Increase<\/strong> membership of the St. Thomas Respect Life Committee<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  7. Promote<\/strong> pro-life legislation<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Meeting times:<\/strong>\u00a0Third Thursday of each month from 3:15-4:45p.m. in the Parish Library<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    If you cannot attend meetings<\/strong> but would like to help with various activities, projects, or events, be on the committee\u2019s email list, or wish additional information, please contact Barbara Grant Yopko at 734-355-3503 or respectlife@sta2.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Watch the parish bulletin<\/a><\/strong> for pro-life activities, events, and information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n

    \u201cThe inviolability of the person which is a reflection of the absolute inviolability of God, finds its primary purpose and fundamental expression in the inviolability of human life.<\/em> Above all, the common outcry, which is justly made on behalf of human rights \u2013for example, the right to health, to home, to work, to family, to culture\u2014is false and illusory if the right to life<\/em>, the most basic and fundamental right and the condition of all other personal rights, is not defended with maximum determination\u2026 The human being is entitled to such rights, in every phase of development<\/em>, from conception until natural death; and in every condition<\/em>, whether healthy or sick, whole or handicapped, rich or poor\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u2013 The Vocation and the Mission of the Lay Faithful in the Church and in the World<\/em> (Christifideles Laici<\/em>), St. John Paul II<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

    A Pro-Life Litany<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Adapted from a Prayer by Priests for Life<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Lord, have mercy.
    Lord, have mercy.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Christ, have mercy.
    Christ, have mercy.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Lord, have mercy.
    Lord, have mercy.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Christ, hear us.
    Christ, graciously hear us<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    God the Father, Creator of the world,
    have mercy on us!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    For every sin against life,
    have mercy on us.<\/em>
    For the bloodshed throughout our land,
    For the silence of your people,
    For the co-operation of your people in this tragedy,
    For our pre-born brothers and sisters killed by abortion,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    For our pre-born brothers and sisters threatened by abortion,
    Lord, hear our prayer<\/em>
    For mothers who have had abortions,
    For mothers tempted to have abortions,
    For fathers of aborted babies,
    For abortionists,
    For all who assist and cooperate in abortions,
    For doctors and nurses, that they may nurture life,
    For the clergy, that they may speak up for life,
    For the pro-life movement,
    For courage and perseverance in pro-life work,
    For legal professionals, courts and judges, educators, and media professionals,
    For the protection of all human lives from the moment of conception until the moment of natural death,
    In thanksgiving for the babies saved from abortion,
    In thanksgiving for the mothers saved and healed from abortion,
    In thanksgiving for all those who take a stand against abortion,
    In thanksgiving for the call to be part of the pro-life movement,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world,
    spare us, O Lord.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world,
    graciously hear us, O Lord.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world,
    have mercy on us.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Let us pray.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Almighty and ever-living God, you have created all things through your Son Jesus Christ. He trampled the power of death by his Paschal Mystery. May all who acknowledge you promote the sacredness of life and always serve you faithfully, through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Embrace Grace<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    In 2022, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops launched a nationwide initiative: Walking with Moms in Need<\/a>. In response, the Respect Life Committee at St. Thomas started a program called Embrace Grace to serve pregnant women who chose life amidst difficult personal circumstances. We offer them support while introducing them to the love of Jesus Christ through our church. So far, seven women have benefitted from our ministry and we hope to grow it into the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    To find out more about Embrace Grace, click here<\/a>. To help provide financial assistance to women in need, click here<\/a> and choose \u201cRespect Life\u201d in the dropdown menu. (In the note section, type \u201cEmbrace Grace\u201d).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Single and unexpectedly pregnant?<\/strong> Come to Embrace Grace at St. Thomas parish! Embrace Grace is a 12-week program that teaches single, pregnant women about God\u2019s love and grace, and at the end, we throw a baby shower to help provide for their babies and to honor them for choosing life. We provide emotional, practical, and spiritual support to these brave women. We meet at 7:00 p.m. on Mondays in the Parish Library (in 2025, the first session is September 8). We look forward to getting to know you and sharing your journey. Contact Kara Chavey at 734-274-0620 or karachavey@gmail.com<\/a> with questions or to register.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The Respect Life Committee Mission Statement: To promote in our parish and community respect for every human life from conception to natural death. Goals: Meeting times:\u00a0Third Thursday of each month from 3:15-4:45p.m.\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":7943,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-discipleship"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sta2.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7942","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sta2.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sta2.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sta2.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/37"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sta2.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7942"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sta2.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7942\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9652,"href":"https:\/\/sta2.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7942\/revisions\/9652"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sta2.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sta2.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sta2.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sta2.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}