Every human being is created in the image of God and destined to be in communion with him. God calls us to seek him, to know him to love him. Our very essence, our identity, the source of our dignity comes from God.

This October you can use our resources for Respect Life Month to grow closer to God through daily prayer, reading scripture and participating in the sacraments. Below are ways you and your parish community can pray during Respect Life Month.

ORGANIZE A BLESSING FOR PREGNANT MOTHERS AND UNBORN CHILDREN

Pray with the Rite of Blessing for Unborn Children at the end of Mass to honor the sanctity of life.

PRAY THE ROSARY

Parish Ministry groups can pray the Rosary and use the Intentions for Respect Life Month during each Mystery.

HOST A HOLY HOUR FOR HUMAN DIGNITY

Your Parish can organize a Holy Hour for Life.

PRAY FOR THOSE IN NEED

Use the Intercessions for Respect Life Month during Mass each Sunday in October.

“Everything has its origin in God's love, everything is shaped by it, everything is directed towards it.” (Benedict XVI, Deus Caritas Est, 17) The Book of Genesis reveals that man is God’s most supreme creation. Men and women come to discover the authentic meaning of their personal and social lives through a relationship with God, their Creator. (Benedict XVI, Caritas in veritate, 11) This vision of the human person centered on God asserts and justifies the unconditional value of the human person and helps promote the advancement of “all men and of the whole man”. (Benedict XVI, Caritas in veritate, 16) In God’s design, every man is called to fulfillment because every life is a vocation. (Paul VI, Populorum Progressio, 78)

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• You can also visit the California Catholic Conference page for more information on legislation in our state.
• The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is an assembly of the hierarchy of bishops who jointly exercise pastoral functions on behalf of the Christian faithful of the United States and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
  
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READ CHURCH DOCUMENTS THAT UPHOLD THE DIGNITY OF THE HUMAN PERSON:
 

The process which once led to discovering the idea of "human rights"-rights inherent in every person and prior to any Constitution and State legislation-is today marked by a surprising contradiction. Precisely in an age when the inviolable rights of the person are solemnly proclaimed and the value of life is publicly affirmed, the very right to life is being denied or trampled upon, especially at the more significant moments of existence: the moment of birth and the moment of death.”             

-Evangelium Vitae, 3

As Catholics we are called to proclaim, embrace, and defend life from conception to natural death. Below are church documents you can read that uphold the dignity of the human person:

Every individual, precisely by reason of the mystery of the Word of God who was made flesh (cf. Jn 1:14), is entrusted to the maternal care of the Church. Therefore, every threat to human dignity and life must necessarily be felt in the Church's very heart; it cannot but affect her at the core of her faith in the Redemptive Incarnation of the Son of God, and engage her in her mission of proclaiming the Gospel of life in all the world and to every creature (cf. Mk 16:15).

-Evangelium Vitae, 3

• Encyclical Letter: Evangelium Vitae

Marriage, then, is far from being the effect of chance or the result of the blind evolution of natural forces. It is in reality the wise and provident institution of God the Creator, whose purpose was to effect in man His loving design. As a consequence, husband and wife, through that mutual gift of themselves, which is specific and exclusive to them alone, develop that union of two persons in which they perfect one another, cooperating with God in the generation and rearing of new lives.

-Humanae Vitae, 8

• Encyclical Letter: Humanae Vitae

To the people of our time, her travelling companions, the Church also offers her social doctrine. In fact, when the Church “fulfils her mission of proclaiming the Gospel, she bears witness to man, in the name of Christ, to his dignity and his vocation to the communion of persons. She teaches him the demands of justice and peace in conformity with divine wisdom”[3]. This doctrine has its own profound unity, which flows from Faith in a whole and complete salvation, from Hope in a fullness of justice, and from Love which makes all mankind truly brothers and sisters in Christ: it is the expression of God's love for the world, which he so loved “that he gave his only Son” (Jn 3:16). The new law of love embraces the entire human family and knows no limits, since the proclamation of the salvation wrought by Christ extends “to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

Compendium of Catholic Social Teaching, 3

• Compendium of Catholic Social Teaching

The Compendium is not a work that stands alone, nor is it intended in any way to replace the Catechism of the Catholic Church: instead, it refers constantly to the Catechism by means of reference numbers printed in the margins, as well as by consistent reliance on its structure, development, and contents. In fact, the Compendium is meant to reawaken interest in and enthusiasm for the Catechism, which, in the wisdom of its presentation and the depth of its spirituality, always remains the basic text for catechesis in the Church today.

Like the Catechism, the Compendium has four parts, corresponding to the fundamental laws of life in Christ.

The first part, entitled “The Profession of Faith”, contains a synthesis of the lex credendi, the faith professed by the Catholic Church, as expressed in the Apostles’ Creed which is further elaborated by the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed. In the liturgical profession of the Creed, the Christian assembly keeps the principal truths of the faith alive in memory.

The second part, entitled “The Celebration of the Christian Mystery”, presents the essential elements of the lex celebrandi. The proclamation of the Gospel finds its authentic response in the sacramental life, through which Christian’s experience and witness, in every moment of their existence, the saving power of the paschal mystery by which Christ has accomplished our redemption.

The third part, entitled “Life in Christ”, recalls the lex vivendi, through which the baptized manifest their commitment to the faith they have professed and celebrated, through their actions and ethical choices. The Christian faithful are called by the Lord Jesus to act in a way which befits their dignity as children of the Father in the charity of the Holy Spirit.

The fourth part, entitled “Christian Prayer”, summarizes the lex orandi, the life of prayer. Following the example of Jesus, the perfect model of one who prays, the Christian too is called to the dialogue with God in prayer. A privileged expression of prayer is the Our Father, the prayer that Jesus has taught us.

• Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church