Respect Life Ministry

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The St. Cletus Respect Life Ministry shares the truth revealed by God and Catholic teaching about the sanctity of human life from conception to natural death.
 
The St. Cletus Respect Life Ministry follows the U.S. Catholic Bishops Pastoral Plan for pro-life activities, which focuses on four major areas:  Prayer and Worship; Pastoral Care; Information and Education; and Public Policy.

Prayer and Worship: Prayer and sacrifice are essential to every aspect of the respect life program.  Without God’s merciful assistance, we labor in vain.  We put prayer and worship into action by doing the following:

• Distribute Spiritual Adoption prayer cards to our parish school students every year.  Each student gives a name to an unknown baby in danger of abortion and the prayer is recited every morning at school
• Honor First Communicants and Confirmands at the day school and PSR, and eighth grade graduates with gifts of holy cards and crosses
• Distribute prayer cards to parishioners
• Bless expectant parents annually during Mass
• Bless couples celebrating milestone wedding anniversaries annually during Mass
• Plan and participate in parish Holy Hours
• Inform parishioners of 40 Days for Life initiatives
• Display pro-life messages on St. Cletus electronic media

Pastoral Care:  Pastoral Care encompasses a broad range of services.  Both spiritual and material assistance express the Church’s love for all human beings.  We put pastoral care into action by doing the following:

• Host a Silent Baby Shower annually
• Initiate the Baby Bottle Fundraiser at school every year; the money is sent directly to pro-life organizations chosen by the students
• Support Birthright of St. Charles by selling Christmas cards

• Honor mothers with having red roses available on Mother’s Day
• Honor fathers with prayer cards available on Father’s Day
• Support pro-life organizations in the area through in-kind and monetary donations

Information and Education:  A two-fold education effort is necessary to deepen respect for human life and heighten public awareness to abortion, euthanasia, and the death penalty both in the Catholic community and secular community.  We put information and education into action by doing the following:

• Donate age-appropriate respect life books to the school library
• Publish the respect life newsletter, Let There Be Life, three times a year in the parish bulletin
• Publish weekly messages in the Sunday bulletin regarding respect life issues
• Display pro-life literature in the church Gathering Space
• Display respect life educational material in the school
• Support the Chastity Essay Program for 8th grade students at our parish school by honoring the finalists with a gift during the graduation celebration
• Provide models of the development of a baby in the womb for the school classrooms
• Distribute pro-life books to organizations such as the public library and the Boys & Girls Club
• Distribute pro-life literature to our parishioners and other organizations.

Public Policy:  The right to participate in public policy debate on a broad range of issues is a fundamental constitutional liberty that extends to churches, pastors, schools, and private citizens.  It is imperative that Catholics make their views known to legislators at the local, state, and national levels.  We have the moral responsibility to seek the restoration of legal protection for the unborn and to ensure legal protection for those whose “quality of life” may seem to be less valuable.  We put public policy into action by doing the following:

• Publish bulletin notices to highlight congressional bills and request action to support the pro-life position on these bills
• Support pro-life legislation
• Participate in the National Life Chain event every October
• Attend the Missouri Catholic Conference Annual Assembly Day
• Attend the Show-Me Life Lobby Day in Jefferson City
• Attend the annual Archdiocese Respect Life Apostolate Convention

Meetings are the third Wednesday of each month
Parish Center’s Duchesne Room at 6:30 pm

​​Chairperson:  Deborah Young
Email: dayoung6466@gmail.com

Respect Life Newsletters

January 2022
May 2022
December 2022
February 2023
Summer 2023