The Role of the Parish Respect Life Committee

The Parish Respect Life Committee helps parishioners understand the issues and the importance of meeting the needs of those who are most vulnerable—especially mothers and their unborn children, and those who are seriously ill or dying and their families. Its membership should include adults and young adults as well as input from the youth, members of organizations that represent persons with disabilities, persons of minority cultures, and those responsible for education and pastoral care.

The coordinator of the parish committee is approved and/or appointed by the Pastor or Parish Life Coordinator and recruits volunteers to help meet the needs the committee serves.

The parish committee relies on the archdiocesan Office of Human Life and Dignity for information and guidance. The committee should play a vital role in parish life and enjoy the strong support of priests and key personnel. Its efforts can often coordinate and overlap with other parish programs -- bible studies or youth groups, for example, which focus upon pro-life passages and catechesis found in Catholic Tradition.

The objectives of the parish respect life committee are to coordinate and promote parish participation in the annual Respect Life Program from the USCCB as well as specific intentions of the pastor or parish community. This should be done through:

• Fostering awareness of the need to restore legal protection to the lives of unborn children and to safeguard in law the lives all including of those who are chronically ill, disabled, or dying (Education).
• Keeps informed regarding upcoming important legislation and encourages parishioners to take action in areas of public policy as outlined by the USCCB, NCHLA, and the Indiana Catholic Conference (Public Policy)
• Sponsor programs of prayer in the parish to pray for mothers and their unborn children, those who are disabled or dying, prisoners on death row and those they have harmed (Prayer & Worship)
• Support comprehensive maternity support services, as well as post-abortion counseling and reconciliation programs (Pastoral Care)