Respect Life Sunday

"On Respect Life Sunday we reflect on God's priceless gift of human life. We acknowledge with gratitude the many blessings we enjoy as creatures made in the image of God..our capacity to make moral choices, to know and love God and serve one another....

"As Catholics we know that the truth of human life is infinitely greater than any narrow view that dismisses some lives as disposable. 'We are not some casual and meaningless product of evolution,' Pope Benedict pointed out at his Inaugural Mass. 'Each of us is the result of a thought of God. Each of us is willed, each of us is loved, each of us is necessary.'

"The truth that human life has a purpose, given by its Creator, has been a bedrock of Western civilization. This conviction animated our country's founding documents. God's creative and sustaining love for every human being is the one sure source of human dignity and freedom. His love for us is the fundamental reason why every human life must be valued and defended. It is not possible to maintain a community of justice, freedom, and solidarity built on any other foundation.

"On October 2, 2005, Respect Life Sunday, please join me in thanking God for the great gift of life, and join me in pledging to do the utmost in the coming year to promote a culture which fully honors the dignity and right to life of every individual."

from a statement by Cardinal William H. Keeler, Archbishop of Baltimore and Chairman of the Committee for Pro-Life Activities of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.