Respect Life

  • Choose LifeReverence for Life: Conscience and Faithful Citizenship—”Catholic social doctrine is not limited to the defense and promotion of economic and political rights; human life issues such as abortion, euthanasia, the death penalty, and the violence of war also fall within the scope of social morality.”
  • Reverence For Life…A Need for a “Heart that Sees”—”On his recent visit to Austria, Pope Benedict XVI named abortion ‘a deep wound in society,’ a threat inflicted by ethical blindness. In a prophetic voice raised in defense of a fundamental right to life, the Holy Father stated: ‘I am acting as an advocate for a profoundly human need, speaking out on behalf of unborn children who have no voice. I do not close my eyes to the difficulties and conflicts that many women are experiencing, and I realize that the credibility of what we say also depends on what the Church is doing to help women in trouble.’ His address, ‘The Fundamental Human Right,’ also expressed a grave concern about movements promoting “actively assisted death.’”
  • Choose Life—”In Pope John Paul II’s 1995 message, delivered in Rutherford, N.J., he calls on American Catholics ‘to be committed to the defense of all human life in all its stages,’ challenging all of us to renew our efforts to end state-sanctioned killing. Our new Catechism of the Catholic Church (1995) challenges us with seeking a ‘bloodless means’ to protect society from acts of violence, and not answer violence with yet more violence.”
  • Reverence for Life—This pastoral statement is broader than Choose Life and discusses additional life issues in accordance with the Church’s consistent life ethic.

Latest news

Advocacy Training Day Successful
Nearly 50 priests, parish leaders, and diocesan staff gathered in Elizabethtown at St. James Parish for the first of two advocacy training session centered on discussions of the comprehensive immigration reform legislation moving through Congress. Patti Gutierrez, of the Owensboro diocese, reviewed the church’s powerful teaching regarding migrants and how we are called to welcome [...]

Expanding Medicaid For Low-Income Kentuckians Right Thing to Do
  Here is Governor Beshear’s Press Release Regarding Medicaid Expansion. It closes with the following: A new state website houses information about the expansion, including the CHFS white paper and letters from supporters. Visitors can also explore county-by-county data such as how many citizens will be newly eligible for Medicaid, or how much county jails [...]

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