The Catholic Church proclaims that human life is sacred and that the dignity of the human person is the foundation of a moral vision for society. Our belief in the sanctity of human life and the inherent dignity of the human person is the foundation of all the principles of our social teaching.
In our society, human life is under direct attack from abortion and assisted suicide. The value of human life is being threatened by increasing use of the death penalty.
We believe that every person is precious, that people are more important than things, and that the measure of every institution is whether it threatens or enhances the life and dignity of the human person.
Walking with Moms in Need: A Year of Service
This year the USCCB Pro-Life Committee has taken the theme “Walking with Moms in Need: A Year of Service.” Pope Francis reminds us that our parishes need to be an “island of mercy in the midst of the sea of indifference,” and everyone in the parish should know where to refer a pregnant woman in need.
Life Line
Life Line Sampson pregnancy resource center is a non-profit 501c(3) organization located in Clinton, NC that serves Sampson, Duplin, and surrounding counties. Life Line provides pregnancy testing and verification, options counseling, limited ultrasounds, community referrals, and educational classes. All services are provided free of charge. Individuals needing services can find out more and make an appointment at https://www.lifelinesampson.com/.
How can you help? If you know someone who has a need, please refer them to the website above. For more information on how you can support and partner with this ministry click here.
Room At the Inn
Here in North Carolina, Room At the Inn is a licensed and accredited maternity home that operates housing and programs for single, pregnant women and single mothers with children suffering from homelessness and offering them opportunities to have new lives of healthy, hope-filled independence. Room At The Inn is a Catholic agency and welcomes all people of faith and goodwill to join in serving single, pregnant women and single mothers with children regardless of their economic, social, religious, racial or ethnic backgrounds. Room At The Inn’s comprehensive services extend beyond the birth of the baby to include a college program for moms who wish to complete a degree and aftercare program that provides material needs and other support for former clients.
How can you help? If you know someone who has a need, and/or can support this ministry with financial or material donations, please go to their website https://www.roominn.org.
For more details, see the following Room at the Inn information sheet.
A Consistent Ethic of Life
A wide spectrum of issues touches on the protection of human life and the promotion of human dignity. As Pope John Paul II has reminded us: “Where life is involved, the service of charity must be profoundly consistent. It cannot tolerate bias and discrimination, for human life is sacred and inviolable at every stage and in every situation; it is an indivisible good” (The Gospel of Life, no. 87).
Among important issues involving the dignity of human life with which the Church is concerned, abortion necessarily plays a central role. Abortion, the direct killing of an innocent human being, is always gravely immoral (The Gospel of Life, no. 57); its victims are the most vulnerable and defenseless members of the human family. It is imperative that those who are called to serve the least among us give urgent attention and priority to this issue of justice.
This focus and the Church’s commitment to a consistent ethic of life complement one another. A consistent ethic of life, which explains the Church’s teaching at the level of moral principle—far from diminishing concern for abortion and euthanasia or equating all issues touching on the dignity of human life—recognizes instead the distinctive character of each issue while giving each its proper place within a coherent moral vision. As bishops of the United States we have issued pastoral letters on war and peace, economic justice, and other social questions affecting the dignity of human life—and we have implemented programs for advancing the Church’s witness in these areas through parishes, schools, and other Church institutions (e.g., Communities of Salt and Light [1994]; Sharing Catholic Social Teaching [1998]). Taken together, these diverse pastoral statements and practical programs constitute no mere assortment of unrelated initiatives but rather a consistent strategy in support of all human life in its various stages and circumstances.
To focus on the evil of deliberate killing in abortion and euthanasia is not to ignore the many other urgent conditions that demean human dignity and threaten human rights. Opposing abortion and euthanasia “does not excuse indifference to those who suffer from poverty, violence and injustice. Any politics of human life must work to resist the violence of war and the scandal of capital punishment. Any politics of human dignity must seriously address issues of racism, poverty, hunger, employment, education, housing and health care” (Living the Gospel of Life, no. 23). We pray that Catholics will be advocates for the weak and the marginalized in all these areas. “But being ‘right’ in such matters can never excuse a wrong choice regarding direct attacks on innocent human life. Indeed, the failure to protect and defend life in its most vulnerable stages renders suspect any claims to the ‘rightness’ of positions in other matters affecting the poorest and least powerful of the human community” (Living the Gospel of Life, no. 23).
Excerpted from USCCB Pastoral Plan for Prolife Activities