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November - Ideas & Inspiration for Pro-Life Ministry
 
Respect Life month has ended, but our ministry continues throughout the year. The USCCB has new resources for the 2020-2021 theme: Live the Gospel of Life. These are available in English and in Spanish. What will you do in November with your parish, in your community, or as an individual? Here are a few ideas!

Pray! Especially for our dear departed loved ones.


Participate in the 40 Days for Life closing event in LR on Nov. 1. Keep praying for an end to abortion.

Accompany a mom in need on her journey through pregnancy. Watch the video in this newsletter to learn more or visit Walking with Moms in Need. Support your local pregnancy center.

November is National Adoption Month. Learn more about adoption and foster care with the resources below or share this bulletin insert with your parish. Available in Spanish.

Host a movie night: watch the powerful film "The Prison Within" (see trailer below) and learn about Restorative Justice.

Organize a WRAP Week in your parish. Wear White Ribbons Against Pornography (WRAP) and call awareness to how porn harms the dignity of the human person - so it's a pro-life issue!

Join Pax Christi for the November meeting (it's virtual- join from any location) and learn about their partnership with Settled Souls. This life giving ministry is providing hope and upholding the dignity of people who have experienced homelessness.

Pray for our elections, our elected officials, and for religious liberty.

May the saints inspire you in your ministry. If you need help or more information, please email the Respect Life Office or call 501-664-0340 ext.326.

 
November 2 is the Commemoration of All of the Faithful Departed, or All Souls. On this day, we pray that all those who have died— our loved ones, and also those people around the world who we will never meet— through the mercy of God, will rest in peace.  Download a beautiful prayer for all souls from CRS.
photo: Nilsson,RM 1965, Life Magazine

O God, source of all life and goodness,
you fashion human lives in your image and likeness,
and through your love, give each human life
dignity, sanctity and priceless worth;          
awaken in every heart
new reverence for the least of your children,
and renew among your people
a readiness to nurture and sustain
your precious gift of human life.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.    
Amen.
Click on the image above to watch this video
and get a glimpse of what it's like to walk with a mom in need.
For a pregnant woman in need, knowing that she is not alone can allow her to open her heart to God's plan for life. Sometimes real help is just  saying, "I'm here if you want to talk or pray together." Sometimes help can mean providing transportation; sometimes help could  be assistance in navigating the confusing web of prenatal resources. How is your parish or organization a place of support and help for moms in need?  What can you do to help? For more resources and ideas click here.

One way to support moms in need is to support your local pregnancy center. Is your parish doing this? See the appeals below from  Arkansas Pregnancy Resource Center in LR and Hope of the Delta with locations in Pine Bluff, West Memphis, and Stuttgart.
Watch Legacy of Life Digital Premiere YouTube - Arkansas Pregnancy Resource Center Thursday, November 5th at 6:30 p.m. This year, APRC's annual fundraising event will be virtual and it’s FREE. You can watch and donate safely from your home through this Website, Facebook, or YouTube Channel -- Follow us today! You don't want to miss this special presentation! We will feature a tour of the pregnancy center, announce our new initiative to SAVE LIVES, and feature a special client testimony! Thank you for your consideration in financially supporting the Arkansas Pregnancy Resource Center. We ask that you continue to pray for our clients and staff.
Empowering women to choose:
  • Spiritual life for themselves
  • Physical life for their babies
  • Abundant life for their families

The Hope Resource Center is a Sanctity of Human Life Ministry of the Harmony Baptist Association that impacts and transforms people with the love of Jesus Christ.  We envision a community that experiences a spiritual awakening to such degree that human life is held is such esteem that abortion is nonexistent and individuals exhibit sexual purity in every area their lives so that the existence of a crisis pregnancy in Southeast Arkansas in no longer necessary.

Please support Hope Pregnancy Centers in Pine Bluff, Stuttgart, & West Memphis by donating here.

November is National Adoption Month.

When we think of adoption and pro-life ministry, our thoughts often turn to courageous birth mothers who give life to their babies and love their babies so much that they allow another family to adopt them. Truly, these mothers are heroic. National Adoption Month calls us to look deeper into the needs of birth mothers, but also the needs of children in the foster care system, the needs of families in crisis, and the needs of families experiencing infertility.

To learn more about adoption and foster care in Arkansas, visit Project Zero or Children of Arkansas Loved for a Lifetime (CALL), Catholic Adoption Services, and AdoptUSKids.

Watch "The Prison Within" and gain a new perspective on the intersection of trauma and violent crime.
Restorative justice is a response to the harm of violent crime that seeks to provide resources for healing and community building, rather than merely punitive measures. It is the traditional teaching of the Church. In Fratelli tutti, Pope Francis notes that St. Augustine asked the judge not to issue the death penalty for two murderers (265): "Our desire is ..that justice be satisfied without the taking of their lives ...and, at the same time, they be turned from their irrational fury to the calmness of men of sound mind, and from their evil deeds to some useful employment." Learn how the process of Restorative Justice works by watching "The Prison Within."
Watch the trailer for this powerful film about Restorative Justice. It's definitely worth purchasing!
The Catholic Daughters at St. Joseph in Pine Bluff are speaking our against pornography during WRAP Week. WRAP - Wear a White Ribbon Against Pornography is a national public awareness campaign that seeks to expose the harms of pornography, provide resources to overcome sexual addictions, provide healing from the violence pornography causes in communities, and advocate for an end to this offense against the dignity of the human person. Even though the national campaign is the last week in October, WRAP is easy to implement in your parish any time of the year and a great tool that can change lives. For more information and resources visit the PORN HARMS website.
Download & Print the WRAP Flyer & Porn Harms Fact Sheet
PAX CHRISTI LR SPEAKER SERIES:
STEPHANIE BYERS & LINDSEY TAGGART of SETTLED SOULS
THURS., NOVEMBER 19 6:30 PM CST Meeting Via Zoom
Email
paxchristilr@gmail.com to obtain link.
As faithful citizens, we are called to vote and to be guided by the pro-life teachings of our Faith when we cast our ballots. Far beyond and long after this month's national election, however, we a called to Live the Gospel of Life as faithful citizens everyday.

More than 20 years ago our Bishops challenged Americans Catholics to Life the Gospel of Life and that challenge should motivate us even more today. The truth of the Gospel of Life is at the foundation of who we are as followers of Christ. In his earthly life, Jesus provided the perfect model for how we are to love our neighbor and live out the Gospel call: “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me” (Mt. 25:40).

 
"The great lie of our age is that we are powerless in the face of the compromises, structures and temptations of mass culture.  But we are not powerless.  We can make a difference.  We belong to the Lord, in Him is our strength, and through His grace, we can change the world." - USCCB, 1998 Living the Gospel of Life: A Challenge to American Catholics
Changes and new opportunities coming in January!
 
Save the date: January 17, 2021 our annual diocesan Mass for Life will be held at the Cathedral of St. Andrew in Little Rock at noon. There will be a Prayer Vigil for Life at the Cathedral on Saturday evening January 16, 2021. Due to Covid-19, we will not have a Eucharistic Procession for Life this year. The Youth Ministry Office will not hold their annual Weekend for Life event. Arkansas Right to Life does plan to host the Arkansas March for Life. More information will be published in our December newsletter.

As you might expect, the annual January activities related to the National March for Life in Washington DC will be adjusted due to the pandemic. The January 28th opening Mass of the National Prayer Vigil for Life has been moved from 5:30 PM to now 8:30 PM (Eastern), to allow greater participation by viewers across the country and will be televised by EWTN. That Mass will be followed by a series of Holy Hours throughout the night, in various locations, taking advantage of different time zones. The 8:00 AM (Eastern) closing Mass on January 29th will also be EWTN so that millions can participate remotely. The January 29 March for Life will continue, but with appropriate precautions for the safety of all participants. 

On Saturday January 30, 2021 the Cardinal O'Connor Conference on Life will take place virtually via Zoom from 10 am - 4pm. This is the largest collegiate pro-life conference in the United States and the 2021 theme is "Global Pro-Life Approaches in the 21st Century." The conference will examine how to build a pro-life movement that stays at the forefront of technological, ideological, and political innovation, especially considering the rise of gene editing, population control efforts, and eugenics. The unusual circumstances of 2020-21 offer a rare opportunity for college students: free admission with a recommendation of a $10 donation per ticket. Register now on the conference Eventbrite page.

 






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