This Year's Respect Life Sunday

Diocese of Norwich, Office of the Bishop, 201 Broadway, Norwich, Connecticut 06360, (860) 887-9294
My dear sisters and brothers in Christ,
"Every life cherished, chosen, sent" is the theme of this year's Respect Life Sunday. The theme echoes the teaching of the Catechism of the Catholic Church which states: "The dignity of the human person is rooted in his creation in the image and likeness of God" (n.1700). The inviolable dignity and worth of every human being is what the church proclaims. To "cherish" every human life means we care for those who are the most vulnerable to what Pope Francis calls the "throwaway culture": the unborn child, the poor, the disenfranchised, the refugee, the elderly. Even the person on death row has a dignity as a child of God.

Every life "chosen" is a reminder, as scripture teaches, "before I formed you in the womb I knew you." (Jer 1:5). Pope Francis, in his apostolic exhortation Gaudium et Exsultate writes: "Our defense of the innocent unborn, for example, needs to be clear, firm and passionate, for at stake is the dignity of a human life, which is always sacred and demands love for each person, regardless of his or her stage of development. Equally sacred, however, are the lives of the poor, those already born, the destitute, the abandoned and the underprivileged, the vulnerable infirm and elderly exposed to covert euthanasia, the victims of human trafficking, new forms of slavery, and every form of rejection." If we lose respect for life at its inception we lose respect for life at all other stages as well.

Every life "sent" is a reminder of the missionary nature of our respective vocations. Through the grace of baptism we are "called out" of the world and set apart as priest, prophet, and king. This is the basis for the church's teaching on the universal call to holiness. We are called to be missionary disciples who give witness to what Saint John Paul II called the Gospel of Life. In his encyclical Evangelium Vitae, Saint John Paul II reminds us that "the Gospel of life is at the heart of Jesus' message. Lovingly received day after day by the church, it is to be preached with dauntless fidelity as 'good news' to the people of every age and culture."

When we share our care for the legal protection of the unborn, when we advocate for the poor, when we advocate for those displaced by civil war or violence, when we minister to those who are hungry or imprisoned, when we oppose efforts to promote Physician Assisted Suicide we are affirming that every life is cherished, every life is chosen, and every life is sent. Thank you for all of your efforts to build a culture of life in the Diocese of Norwich.
With every best wish, I am Sincerely yours in Christ,
Michael R. Cote, Bishop of Norwich