October is “Life Issues Month” and the first Sunday of October is set aside as “Respect Life Sunday.” We give thanks to God for the gift of human life and praise him for inviting spouses to be participants in the creation of new human life, co-creators with God. We renew our understanding of the sacredness and preciousness of all human life and recall our duty to promote the “Gospel of life.” The loss of life from terrorist acts and war and the recent destruction caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, have made everyone more aware of the preciousness of human life and the need to protect it at all its stages.

To be sure, my own experience of failing health from an uncommon liver disease and my recent surgery to receive a living donor liver transplant, have given me a new awareness of the fragility and preciousness of life—and the awesomeness of God’s gift of life. I continue to be most thankful to my donor, Dan Haverty, and his family, and in admiration of their commitment to human life and the witness they have given to so many others.

The sacredness of all human life and our need to protect it to the best of our ability is underscored by people’s growing interest in organ donation. Just two months before his passing, in an address to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, Pope John Paul II said: “On the one hand, the Church has encouraged the free donation of organs and on the other hand she has underlined the ethical conditions for such donation, emphasizing the obligation to defend the life and dignity of both donor and recipient; she has also indicated the duties of the specialists who carry out this procedure of organ transplant. The aim is to favor a complex service to life, harmonizing technical progress with ethical rigor, humanizing relationships between people and correctly informing the public.” (Feb. 1, 2005)

Recently, Bishop Garcia and I wrote to Gov. Schwarzenegger to express our support of SB 689, which calls on the California Department of Motor Vehicles to partner with the new Donate Life California Registry, in order to build up a California donor data bank. We suggested, however, that the bill might include an amendment to allow a prospective donor to have adequate time for reflection and consultation with family members and others before registering to be a donor. This ought to be an informed and free decision. In addition, on Aug. 15 when Dan Haverty was honored by the California State Senate for his selfless courage on behalf of human life as my living donor, I was able to speak in favor of organ donation and its great need.

While we give thanks to God for this and other positive signs of society’s effort to protect and nurture human life, we must also acknowledge (along with Pope John Paul II who wrote so eloquently in his 1995 encyclical, “The Gospel of Life,” Evangelium Vitae) that our society continues to be threatened by a “culture of death.” In the United States, a number of realities continue to exist which threaten human life in its beginning stages (i.e. abortion, sterilization, artificial contraception, certain reproductive technologies, embryonic stem cell research), middle stages (i.e., child abuse, spousal abuse, capital punishment, inadequate provision for the poor and vulnerable, remaining signs of racism) and end stages (i.e. physician-assisted suicide, elder abuse, euthanasia). The first step in promoting a culture of life is to admit that our society is still deeply flawed by these realities and inconsistent in its reverence for and protection of human life. We need to continue the effort to find effective ways to counteract these realities.

The most obvious and egregious occurrence of the taking of innocent human life (which erodes the culture of life up and down the spectrum of life issues) continues to be the million plus abortions carried out every year in the United States. In confronting the evils of abortion, we must keep in mind that for all the lives lost through abortion, a mother and a father have also been wounded emotionally and spiritually. In promoting life, we also want to help mothers and fathers who may feel like they are cornered and have no way out. This is where programs like Project Gabriel, the Sacramento Life Center, the Bishop Gallegos Maternity Home, Mother Teresa Maternity Home, A Woman’s Friend (in Marysville), M.A.M.A. Crisis Pregnancy Center (in Susanville), Mt. Shasta Crisis Pregnancy Center and adoption programs are most important. These endeavors provide resources for pregnant women so that they can choose life for their children and preserve their own integrity of life.

However, because abortion is such a deep wound in our society, we will not be able to heal that wound until we are not only thinking pro-life, but also are truly living pro-life. For example, we have to find ways to better educate and motivate married couples: “In its true meaning, responsible procreation requires couples to be obedient to the Lord’s call and to act as faithful interpreters of his plan.” (The Gospel of Life, no. 97) Instruction in natural methods of regulating fertility needs to become much more widespread.

Another important aspect of promoting respect for life is to help those who suffer from the aftermath of abortion. Programs like Project Rachel (www.hopeafterabortion.com), a ministry of providing one-on-one spiritual care and counsel for those suffering the aftermath of abortion, and Rachel’s Vineyard (www.rachelsvineyard.org), which is a weekend, group retreat experience, are extremely helpful to those seeking reconciliation and healing. In the Diocese of Sacramento, both of these programs are available. One can get more information about them by calling the diocesan Respect Life Office, where confidentiality is always respected (916-733-0140).

Especially on Respect Life Sunday and throughout October, we pray that we may all be renewed in our efforts to live and promote the Church’s “culture of life.” We pray for an end to the “culture of death” in all its dehumanizing forms and we pray for healing in our society. God never places an obligation on us without also giving us everything we need to carry it out. “Take courage...be not afraid....I am with you.”

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