Dignity of Life with the Sisters of Life

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THE DIGNITY ofLife

A podcast interview hosted by campus minister Tricia Tembreull with Sister Mary Concepta, Sister Lumen Gloria and Sister Maria Michela, from the Sisters of Life

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One thing our students continually ask us to clarify is the Churches teaching surrounding Pro-Life. This is an exerpt of our first episode in our pro-life series podcast, and we asked the Sisters of Life to join us. In Evangelium Vitae (the Gospel of Life), then Pope John Paul II, coined the phrases “culture of death” and the “culture of life.” Before diving into specific areas of the Pro-Life movement, we wanted to root ourselves in what a culture of life looks like, and how we can enter into dialogue with men and women to cultivate a culture of life.

What brings you to USC? Part of our ministry as Sisters of Life is bringing the Gospel of Life and the Gospel of Love to young people on college campuses. And so the good pastor here father, Richard Sunwoo, had reached out to us last spring and invited us to come and just spend three days on campus supporting the students in their faith, walking with them, having meetings, with one on one meetings with young women and doing outreach on campus to just be a visible witness of God’s presence in the world, and seeing what kind of good we can do out there among the greater student body.

As Sisters of Life, all of our works are around the sacredness of the human person. So we're religious sisters, who take the three vows that all religious sisters would take: poverty, chastity, and obedience. But we, as Sisters of Life, take a fourth vow to protect and enhance the sacredness of human life. We serve women who are pregnant, we serve those who are suffering after the experience of abortion. We have a retreat center where we have retreats that build upon what John Paul II called the culture of life—helping people to get renewed and refreshed in the Lord and to know their own goodness. To know the worthiness of their life, and that they're irreplaceable. That the world needs them. When we say “Dignity of Life,” it may be a phrase a lot of people—Catholics and non-Catholics alike—do not understand. On the USCCB (United States Catholic Conference of Bishops) website, the definition includes the proclamation by the Catholic Church that all human life is sacred…that the dignity of the human person is the foundation of a moral vision for society…that the measure of every institution is whether it threatens or enhances the life and dignity of the human person. What stands out to you when reading this?

John Paul II and our founder used to talk a lot about how the measure of a society is how they treat the most vulnerable among them. I think we all know that we’re experiencing a crisis in this because we’re not upholding the elderly and the unborn as they should be. They’re the most vulnerable and deserving of the most protection and reverence because of their lack of being able to defend themselves and protect themselves. Our Declaration of Independence says that we all are equal and deserving of inalienable rights, the first of which is the right to life.

I think what strikes me is just how much I love being Catholic and how it doesn’t follow along bipartisan political lines. We belong to Jesus, and that transcends any political party. Abortion, euthanasia, the death penalty, immigrants and the

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poor—these topics might be considered issues that different political parties would not agree on. The beauty of belonging to Jesus—to the church—is belonging to something bigger than a political system. We don’ t have to fall into one box or another. But that our box is Jesus, and the vulnerable, and human life.

How have you witnessed the Holy Spirit moving in your apostolate—on college campuses, or on the streets that you serve? We see so much of God breaking through into people’s lives in miraculous ways, and beautiful and unexpected ways. Whether it's a pregnant woman who thinks there's no way that she can make it with one more child in her circumstance, and watching everything just come together for her and watching her make the act of courage to say, “Okay, I think I can do this. I've got support, I'm going to try.” Or on the on the flip side, if it's a woman who's suffering after the experience of abortion, to see Jesus break in with his mercy, and to bring hope and light into a woman's life that she never thought was possible for her. It really is like watching a resurrection. And it is magnificent. How do you help college students understand their worth and dignity as sons and daughters of God? In John Paul II’s encyclical Evangelium Vitae he talks about the “contemplative outlook.” It is a call to a new vision in how you look at every single human person, to realize when you're looking at someone, that they are the summit of everything in creation. The most glorious sunset, or the most majestic mountain range, or any and all the beauty that God has created, is nothing compared to the creation and infinite love that he put into the creation of a single human person. It takes the life of prayer, honestly, to be able to see Christ and every human person to know that. It's not like sisters of life are perfect at it. But ultimately, we just want to delight in somebody's goodness, and find that little spark in them, that we can allow our hearts to be moved by what we see in them. That’s where it begins—through the life of prayer, through Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, that we first see Christ in the Eucharist. And that is what allows us to see Christ in every human person.

For the full interview, and more fascinating topics, follow the Catholic Trojan Podcast available on all streaming platforms.

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The beauty of belonging to Jesus—to the church—is belonging to something bigger than a political system.