Catholic Bishops Unveil Program Materials for Respect Life Sunday and 2000.

Plans for celebrating the new millennium take many forms. Posh hotels and cruise ships report huge bookings. Some people, expecting doomsday events, are preparing to decamp to remote areas of the country with stores of freeze-dried food and water purification tablets.

The Catholic Church is taking an approach quite different from the extremes of "party hardy" and "apocalypse now." Pope John Paul II, calls the year 2000 a Great Jubilee -- a time of joy based on the forgiveness of sins. And so, with the experience gained in over two decades of reconciling and counseling women (and men) wounded by abortion, one way the Catholic bishops in the United States chose to celebrate the Jubilee is by reaching out to those of any faith who are grieving the loss of a child to abortion and assuring them of the forgiveness, understanding, and healing that is theirs for the asking.

Thus, the Respect Life poster which will be displayed in churches throughout the country beginning October 3, 1999 -- Respect Life Sunday -- depicts a merciful Jesus offering hope to a repentant woman with the words, "Neither do I condemn you." A full-color flier with the same image touches on the despair and remorse that afflicts so many following abortion, offers words of hope from John Paul II, and invites all to bring this message of forgiveness to those who mourn the loss of a child to abortion.

The lead article of the program packet, "After the Abortion" by Sr. Paula Vandegaer, L.C.S.W., relates the experiences of several women counseled by Sr. Paula whose stories typify the abortion aftermath for many women and families. A new prayer card asks God to forgive, heal, and console mothers who have lost a child to abortion. Additional prayers and prayer services are found in the program's Liturgy Guide.

In a second article addressing Y2K, Chicago Cardinal Francis George, O.M.I., reflects on the common destiny and nature of humanity and our common vocation to give freely of ourselves for the good of others. Human beings are relational creatures; we do not thrive in solitariness. A society which does not recognize the dignity and rights of every individual is a threat to all. We each are capable of sacrificing our time and energies to create a culture worthy of people made in God's image and likeness, a culture where all human life is respected from conception to natural death.

Professor M. Cathleen Kaveny, J.D., Ph.D., of Notre Dame Law School contributed an article on assisted suicide, now being promoted openly as a means of "cost containment." She contrasts this approach to the Catholic moral view of a "good death" which recognizes the limits inherent in our mortality while at the same time affirming that no form of physical dependence can diminish the innate dignity of a human person.

Assisted suicide is sometimes posited as the only alternative to dying in pain. But medicine has advanced to the point, Dr. Kaveny explains, "where it is possible to control pain while preserving consciousness in the vast majority of cases.... However, there is a large gap between what is technically possible and what is practically available to many dying patients." She recommends that doctors who care for dying patients receive better training in the management of pain and depression: "Numerous studies have shown that patients whose pain and depression are controlled no longer desire to end their lives."

Stan Weed, Ph.D., a widely published researcher, has focused his attention over the past 15 years primarily on teen pregnancy, AIDS prevention, and character education curricula. Dr. Weed wrote an article for this year's Respect Life Program called "The Current National Picture on Teen Pregnancy." What is the factor most plausibly responsible for driving down rates of teen pregnancy, birth, and abortion? More adolescents (now the majority!) are abstaining from sexual activity -- a remarkable turnaround in trends since the 1960s.

In November 1998 a major pro-life teaching document, Living the Gospel of Life: A Challenge to American Catholics, was issued by the U.S. Catholic bishops. Rev. J. Augustine DiNoia, O.P., examines the roots of that statement in "A Tale of Three Encyclicals." The central messages of three recent papal encyclicals (The Gospel of Life, The Splendor of Truth, and Faith and Reason) are applied to American culture in Living the Gospel of Life and, in a nutshell, tell us:

We have a responsibility to persuade others that human life is a gift from God over which we have no authority, from the moment life is given at conception until life's natural end....

If the wider society continues to reject the true meaning of freedom -- the freedom to choose life -- we will move closer to a world in which power, not truth, will prevail. In such a world, human life will always be at risk. Only in a world that acknowledges that life is a divine gift will human beings and human societies have a chance to flourish.

Lastly, it is inevitable that in a society where unborn children are so easily discarded, older children may also be rejected by parents or subjected to abuse beyond anyone's powers of coping. Covenant House exists to serve children when "whatever they have called home is no longer an option." Sr. Mary Rose McGeady, D.C., president and CEO of Covenant House since 1990, contributed "Suffer the Children to Come Unto Me: The Tragedy of Street Kids." The article gives a glimpse into the lives of street kids and what Covenant House is doing to turn their lives around.

These educational materials have been distributed to parishes in well over 90% of U.S. dioceses in anticipation of Respect Life Sunday. Most diocesan newspapers also carry condensed versions of the articles.

The program packet may be purchased for $3.95 (quantity discounts available) from the NCCB Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities, 3211 Fourth St., N.E., Washington, DC 20017-1194; phone [phone]; fax [phone].