Amy Welborn on Building a Culture of Life

Amy Welborn has a post today on changes that can be made to make parishes more fervently pro-life. I thought this connected nicely with the series I'm working on here:

There’s where the work needs to begin, as I have said many, many times before -to stop treating abortion simply as a “social issue,” but as a reality among Catholics themselves. To have every Catholic parish in the United States be a pro-life place, not just because there is educational material in the back but because it is a place where:

1) Children are welcomed and prayed for - as in the prayer for “a respect for life in our nation” will be supplemented by a prayer “in thanksgiving for the children of our parish and in hopes that God will bless the families of our parish with more children.”

2) It is stated bluntly and directly in every way possible: “If your teenager gets pregnant or fathers a child, please don’t be ashamed. We’re with you. Let us know what we can do to help, and let us pray for the young parents.”

3) It is stated bluntly and directly in every way possible: “We’re rejoicing in the birth of the special-needs children in our parish. Here’s the assistance we give parents of special-needs kids. There’s lots of it.”

4) In which foster parenting is promoted and regular workshops and training on fostering are presented.

5) In which adoption is promoted and the parish participates in funds that financially assist adoptive families.

Read the whole thing here.