Respect Life Ministry: A Witness to the Value of All Life

Sometimes it’s all too easy to tune out information that’s difficult or unpleasant. It’s more convenient to stay in our comfortable world, giving little or no attention to things that don’t appear to directly affect us. But sometimes, we’re forced out of our rosy lives to face the reality that surrounds us.

A couple of years ago, several St. Theresa parishioners watched the movie Unplanned, sharing the conversion story of former abortion worker Abby Johnson. The film invites viewers to consider the dark realities of an issue that is often politicized, but also easy to ignore in our day-to-day lives.

St. Theresa parishioner Joan Ita coordinates the Respect Life Ministry at the parish and hopes that her efforts will raise awareness about this significant issue. She also hopes that with increased awareness of the issue of abortion comes increased prayer for an end to the disregard of human life.

“It’s something that’s dear to my heart,” Joan says. “I hope people pray about it. I think we need to shower the heavens with prayers.”

Dan Casey coordinates the Respect Life Ministry at Sacred Heart and hopes to expand their efforts and focus in the future. From abortion and the death penalty to human trafficking, Dan is working to find ways to include others in this important ministry.

One of his recent projects was inspired by his former parish in Colorado. Each year, the parish displayed several hundred white wooden crosses on the parish grounds, representing the number of children killed by abortion in the local area. Dan has worked to create a set of crosses that can be easily moved between the three parishes, in turn challenging people to consider the reality of how many unborn children are affected in our state, each month.

“One hundred sixty crosses out on a lawn is pretty spectacular and it will focus some attention [on the issue] for the people who go to each of the churches,” Dan says. “The biggest reason why I think abortion is so prevalent is because you never hear about it, and consequently, it never rattles your cage. If you heard about it more often, you’d probably do something about it. These things stay behind closed doors and you never hear about them, so you don’t worry about it.”

Regardless of how they’re involved, all of the Respect Life efforts at our parishes have the same goal — to help their fellow parishioners embrace the gift of life, given to us by our Creator, and to pray and work to protect the lives of the unborn children who are unable to defend themselves.

“It’s a very important issue,” Joan says. “God is the One who gives life, and how precious life is. [Life] is a gift of love and we’re not returning that love when we don’t value life.”

If you would like more information or to become involved with the Respect Life Ministries in the Families in Faith community, please contact Dan Casey (Sacred Heart) at 720-685-7495, Joan Ita (St. Theresa) at 308-497-2626, or Shirley Glaser (St. Michael) at 308-497-2366.