Respect Life Office’s series honored landmark encyclical, encourages local parishioners

By Christina Galeone
CFP Correspondent

In its official mission statement, the Respect Life Office of the Diocese of Worcester mentions that it works to “proclaim the Gospel of Life in our midst throughout all ages and stages of life.”  It further notes, “By working together diligently, prayerfully and courageously in the Lord’s service, the culture of death that surrounds us today will one day be replaced with a culture of life.” The office accomplishes this mission through pastoral care, public policy advocacy, prayer and education.
Recently, it had the chance to combine the latter two in a special way. During Easter Week, the office concluded “Live the Gospel of Life,” its six-week online study of St. John Paul II’s encyclical “Evangelium Vitae.” The inspiring series offered spiritual enrichment for the minds and souls of its 17 participants.
Although the encyclical – which proclaims the infinite value of all human life and calls on us to uphold the dignity of life – has been an integral part of the office’s work, it has been especially meaningful this past year, said Allison LeDoux, director.
“We have been celebrating the 25th anniversary year of ‘Evangelium Vitae’ this year … which John Paul II issued on March 25, 1995, the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord,” Mrs. LeDoux said. “Even though original hopes had to be reconfigured during this pandemic year, we’ve attempted to adapt accordingly and highlight ‘Evangelium Vitae’ in whatever ways we can.”
Not surprisingly, the theme for the nationwide 2020-2021 Respect Life Program produced by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops was ‘Live the Gospel of Life: To Imitate Christ and Follow in His Footsteps.’ Since the USCCB Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities sent the office an ‘Evangelium Vitae’ study guide and compendium, Mrs. LeDoux was able to send those resources, along with a link to the encyclical (which can be found on the Vatican website, www.vatican.va), to the series participants.      
“Each week, there were assigned sections of ‘Evangelium Vitae’ to read, and there were discussion questions for them to reflect on,” Mrs. LeDoux explained. She added, “We met on Zoom each Wednesday, and I facilitated the discussion using the week’s discussion questions as a guide from which participants shared their own reflections and insights, etc. We used the opening prayer that was provided in the study guide and concluded each session with our ‘Diocesan Prayer in Time of Pandemic.’ It was nice having three deacons participating who were able to give us their blessing at the end of each session.” 
One of those deacons, Deacon James W. Graves from St. Anna Parish in Leominster, was grateful to be part of a group where his fellow clergy and the laity recognized the need to evangelize the world about God’s gift of “life here on Earth and life eternal.” He also thought that Lent was the perfect time to study the encyclical.
“When I received the invite from Allison to participate in this six-week series, it was like the Holy Spirit making me an offer I couldn’t refuse,” he said.  “God is always knocking on our door; we just need to open it and let him in. He’ll do the rest.”      
Another deacon, Deacon Dominick F. DeMartino from St. Anne and St. Patrick Parish in the Fiskdale section of Sturbridge, said that he registered for the series because he wanted to better understand Catholic teaching on abortion and euthanasia.
“I had some basic ideas but wanted to know the theology behind it,” he said. “It was funny in that right before the class was announced, my homily was on abortion and euthanasia. In some ways, it would have been nice to have done the class beforehand.”
Although the participants registered for different reasons, Mrs. LeDoux was impressed by the interest in and enthusiasm for the series.     
I really can’t say enough about how inspired I was by the attendees’ very thoughtful and prayerful reflections,” she shared. “It is so encouraging to see how people are embracing the Gospel of Life, and I hope that this will carry over and strengthen them in any ministries in which they are involved.”
Rita Lee, a parishioner at St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Belchertown, which is in the Springfield Diocese, had the same hope when she decided to join the series, since she has been applying information acquired from the Respect Life Office to her parish pro-life efforts for years. And she wanted to read the encyclical for Lent.
“What amazed me was that St. John Paul II wrote this encyclical in 1995, and, here, more than 20 years later, it’s as if he was speaking today,” she said. “It is my fervent prayer that, in my lifetime, I will see our culture look at abortion with the same horror and disgust as we now view slavery.”    
Mary Ellen Bartlett, a new parishioner at St. Mary Parish in Uxbridge, also wanted to apply what she learned to her pro-life parish efforts. Since she has worked as a parish nurse at a different parish and wrote articles about abortion and euthanasia for the bulletin at her former parish, she was asked to join St. Mary’s Respect Life Committee. She said, “I have not explored a papal encyclical before and found it very interesting, and I learned a great deal.”
Kimberly Connors, who attends Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish in Milford, said that she joined because of her love for “anything and everything to do with being Catholic.”
“Over the course of the series, I was humbled by all of the different ways in which people can interpret the inspired words of St. John Paul II,” she said. “I came away from this encyclical not only inspired to be more vocal about my faith, but also about the subjects which were discussed.”
For Robert Brady, a parishioner at St. Roch in Oxford, it was his admiration for St. John Paul II and his desire to learn more about the encyclical that motivated him to register for the series. He said, “One of the best things about the class was hearing about the experiences and insights of the other participants.”
Other participants joined because of their outrage. Sheila Flanagan, who attends St. Bartholomew Parish in Needham, is one of them.
“The Massachusetts legislature enacting the diabolical ROE legislation to expand abortion access in the state, despite the concerted efforts of the Church, many organizations and individuals to stop it, inspired me to participate in this review of John Paul II’s ‘Evangelium Vitae,’” she said. “This has been a vital reminder of the Church’s teachings on human life at a time when we desperately need to hear it!  The ‘Evangelium Vitae’ study has been a great encouragement to continue the work we are called to do in establishing a culture of life.”
Not only did the series honor the 25th anniversary year of the encyclical, it also complimented the work of the office to reactivate current pro-life ministries and to promote the establishment of new ones in parishes through ministry training offered by the office.
“It is easy to become discouraged as society increasingly faces grave threats to the sacredness of human life, but St. John Paul II renews our hope and motivation that we all have a role to play in building a culture of life, and this is possible,” Mrs. LeDoux assured. “Reading ‘Evangelium Vitae’ reaffirms the convictions and core beliefs we hold in our hearts and gives them a life-giving language.”

Partners in Charity supports the Respect Life Office.