Ascencion Amado
Director of Outreach Ministry
281-370-3401 EXT. 4606
Deacon Billy Chen
[email protected]
Through God’s love, we live out our mission to protect and promote respect for the sanctity of all human life, from conception to natural death. We uphold that all human life be treated with love, compassion, and mercy. With our Lord Jesus Christ as our model and the Blessed Virgin Mary as our spiritual mother, we seek to increase an awareness of the dignity of all human life in our parish community and those around us through prayer, education, and loving support of those in need.
Dignity of Life Ministry at St. Ignatius seeks to call attention to specific threats against the dignity of the human person and provide parishioners and other community members avenues to promote respect for human life through prayer, education, direct service and advocacy.
Ministries that fall under the coordination of the Archdiocese Office of Pro-Life are the Gabriel Project, Project Rachel, Jerome's Hope, and Catholic Bioethics. For more information, you may visit the Archdiocese website: https://www.archgh.org/offices-ministries/pastoral-educational-ministries/office-of-pro-life-activities/about-us-quienes-somos/
Dignity of Life is also responsible for promoting and educating parishioners on the teachings of the Church with respect to end-of-life issues, bioethics, war, abortion, poverty and the myriad of technological, economic and social trends that touch on the precious dignity of each person. Respect Life Ministry also responds to parishioner needs for topics such as:
To request more information and about any of the areas listed above, please contact:
Deacon Billy Chen
[email protected]
OCTOBER IS RESPECT LIFE MONTH
[email protected]
For many the experience of an abortion is devastating, causing severe and long-term emotional, psychological, and spiritual trauma, Every abortion loss can also have an impact on the child's father, grandparents, and siblings, even her future spouse and children. The meaning and impact of an abortion may change over the course of a woman's life. In today's world, it is widely acknowledged that traumatic events can cause considerable emotional injury and overwhelm a person's ability to cope with pressures of life. Abortion is often described by women and men as a traumatic loss; as a result, prolonged and unresolved grief and other post-traumatic problems can occur.
"The Church is aware of the many factors which may have influenced your decision, and she does not doubt that in many cases it was a painful and shattering decision, The wound in your heart may not have yet healed. Certainly what happened remains terribly wrong. But do not give in discouragement and do not lose hope "
St. John Paul II, Evangelium Vitae
For more information contact Julie at (713)741-8782
Jerome’s Hope seeks to reach families that have received a prenatal diagnosis.
When a family is told during the course of the pregnancy that the child has or may have some type of abnormality. Very frequently, physicians will inform a family that the best option in this case is to undergo an abortion. Ninety percent of physicians say they would advise termination of a pregnancy if there is a fatal or possibly fatal diagnosis and almost two-thirds if the diagnosis is not fatal.
In many cases, the diagnosis may not be certain. In other cases, the diagnosis is correct, but it is not a terminal condition. In other cases, the child may have a life-threatening condition, and families often feel pressured by their physician to abort. In this traumatic situation, many families feel they have no choice but to take their doctor’s advice.
We need to educate families – before a diagnosis – that help is available in the Church. We can’t wait until there is a diagnosis, because this is a fearful time and it is hard for families to think clearly. The Jerome’s Hope ministry is named after Dr. Jerome Lejeune, a French pediatrician and geneticist in the 1950’s and 1960’s. He discovered the chromosomal cause of Down Syndrome and other genetic conditions. But he felt that children with these conditions and their families were valuable and needed emotional and material support. Then, the French government began using his research to support the elimination through abortion of persons with disabilities. He spoke out strongly against this and in his later years became close to Pope John Paul II. Now, his canonization cause is proceeding in the Vatican.
The ministry is made up of volunteers who have a child with a disability or who have lost a child due to a medical condition. The volunteers are trained to offer emotional and spiritual support.
For more information please call
Julie Fritsch
(713) 741-8728