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Define Your Own Quick Links!

Considerations...

1. What are your current areas of activity?  Clearly, someone had a reason for selecting these; so find out why.
2. What other opportunities are in your parish?  Learn what diamonds look like in their rough state and then assess your own property before venturing off to look for cut polished stones elsewhere.
3. What other opportunities are in your immediate geographical area?  The diocese covers a large area but it is still made up of individual parishes.

Suggested Parish Activities...

Education

• Develop, coordinate, and facilitate presentations for parishioners on the Church's teachings on the sanctity of life, the parish Respect Life ministry, and discussions on current prolife topics in the news.  
• Bring in local and regional pro-life speakers.
• Sponsor showings of Thine Eyes.
• Join your 'Parish Night' speaker rotation.
• Link pro-life content into parish website or create a pro-life webpage--you have a youth in your parish looking for service hours that can do this.
• Do pro-life presentation for Knights of Columbus/Serra Club meetings.
• Participate in other parish education days and ministry events.
• Join other parish committees so you can promote respect life topics in other areas and during existing activities.
• Do a presentation on Faithful Citizenship or something valuable to everyone but not exclusively pro-life.
• Create a parish Respect Life logo or mascot that is fun and that kids will like.
• Implement a spiritual adoption program in your school or parish.
• Create podcasts or recordings on parish website for all parishioners to listen to and for fellow parish coordinators to use in their respective parish activities.      
• Do a presentation on the Church's teaching on Catholics being involved in public policy along with instructions on how to write effective letters to legislators and to local newspaper editors.
• Develop a library of books, CDs, and DVDs that can be made available to parishioners and fellow respect life coordinators. Include topics on abortion, adoption, stem cell research and cloning, mental illness, euthanasia, Church doctrine, papal encyclicals, saints, eugenics, pro-choice publications and the history of Planned Parenthood and Margret Sanger
• Keep the narthex/vestibules stocked with pamphlets and brochures from the diocese or from organizations like Heritage House.  These can also be used to increase membership and to raise donation funds for your ministry.
• Have a booth at your annual Parish Ministry Fair.  Include visual aids such as fetal models.
• Work with your local radio and newspaper to advertise events and to support local merchants who are pro-life.
• Raise funds and sponsor pro-life billboards around town.
• Work with Newman Center and other student Christian organizations like the Student Baptist Center and Student Lutheran Organization to provide external speakers and support to pro-life activities on campus. 
  Note:  Keep in mind some of our faithful pro-life brothers and sisters in Christ belong to denominations that openly promote a pro-choice position.  This is just as much an opportunity for education as with our own pro-choice parishioners who claim to be Catholic!   
• Facilitate presentations on abstinence and other Theology of the Body topics for teens at the local high school.
• Sponsor guest speakers who can speak from firsthand knowledge about the physical, psychological, emotional, and spiritual scars of abortion.  Also, experts who can speak authoritatively about the impact on society, the healthcare system, the government, the school system, and the criminal justice system.
• Include some kind of educational tidbit in everything you communicate.
• Get a parish pro-life bulletin board and include information about current events (local, national, and international), pro-life pictures, statistics, parish Respect Life committee contact and meeting info, diocese Respect Life office volunteer opportunities, donation information, Knights of Columbus events, information on local pregnancy resource clinics, Missouri Right to Life and other pro-life organization events, either your parish or the diocese Respect Life websites, Bible verses and prolife reflections on today's readings, parish mens/womens group events, and pro-life (or popular but subtle pro-choice) book/movie reviews
• Sponsor annual Mother's Day carnation fundraiser. 
• Organize a Deanery Respect Life team.
• Join external parish organizations (Knights of Columbus, Ladies' Auxiliary, etc).
• Provide information to your parishioners on post-abortion counseling and healing via Project Rachel or Silent No More.
• Organize/promote/participate in Life Chain the first Sunday in October.      
• Attend the annual Missouri Catholic Conference meeting in Jefferson City in the Fall.
• Create an election display for the entrance of church and sponsor a voter registration event (separate from USCCB Faithful Citizenship presentation).
• Work with the local organizations like Missouri Right to Life to co-sponsor prolife posters, billboards, and signs for local pregnancy centers.
• Enter pro-life floats in local parades.
• Travel to Washington D.C. to participate in annual March for Life and the National Right to Life Conference. 
• Participate in January pro-life rally in Kansas City at courthouse for those who cannot make the trip to Washington D.C.
• Participate with LifeFront in sidewalk prayer/counseling.
• Attend annual Pro-Life Lobby Day in Jefferson City in the Spring.
• Join Catholic Medical Association.   

Pastoral Care

• Develop, coordinate, and facilitate presentations for parishioners on the Church's teachings on the sanctity of life, the parish Respect Life ministry, and discussions on current prolife topics in the news.  
• Link pro-life content into parish website or create a pro-life webpage--you have youth in your parish looking for service hours who can do this.
• Raise funds for March for Life pilgrims in your parish.
• Do a presentation on the Church's teaching on Catholics being involved in public policy along with instructions on how to write effective letters to legislators and to local newspaper editors.
• Keep the narthex/vestibules stocked with pamphlets and brochures from the diocese or from organizations like Heritage House.  These can also be used to increase membership and to raise funds for your ministry.
• Work with your local radio and newspaper to advertise events and to support local merchants who are pro-life.
• Facilitate presentations on abstinence and other Theology of the Body topics for teens at the local high school.
• Sponsor guest speakers who can speak from firsthand knowledge about the physical, psychological, emotional, and spiritual scars of abortion.  Also, experts who can speak authoritatively about the impact on society, the healthcare system, the government, the school system, and the criminal justice system.
• Sponsor annual Mother's Day carnation fundraiser. 
• Sponsor a table at your local annual Pregnancy Resource Clinic fundraiser banquet. 
• Volunteer at local hospitals and adult healthcare facilities and make regular patient visits, participate in social and athletic activities, provide adult education, and help with events like an annual garage sale
• Coordinate outreach activities with parish mens/womens groups (e.g. That Man is You, She Shall Be Called Woman, etc.).
• Participate in the Legion of Mary, a Catholic organization of prayer and service that visits parishioners, provides religious education, and organizes community services such as prison ministry.
• Facilitate a clothing drive for poor and/or abandoned pregnant mothers.
• Provide information to your parishioners on post-abortion counseling and healing via Project Rachel or Silent No More.
• Organize a gift bag program for new parish couples and for current parish couples who are newly married or expecting a new baby. 
• Hold a bake sale to raise money for groups of parishioners in need, other parish ministries, and for external not-for-profit organizations like Birthright or Alexandra's House.
• Coordinate with Knights of Columbus or other organization to donate a trip to Washington DC for the March for Life as an item in your annual parish or high school fund-raiser auction.  This will not only raise money for a great cause but also send someone to Washington DC, raise awareness for your parish Respect Life ministry, and  build your relationship with Knights and other organizations
• Volunteer at a hospice home.
• Volunteer with Special Olympics.
• Participate with LifeFront in sidewalk prayer/counseling.
• Join Catholic Medical Association.

Prayer and Worship

• Link pro-life content into parish website or create a pro-life webpage--you have youth in your parish looking for service hours that can do this.
• Implement a spiritual adoption program in your school or parish.
• Create podcasts or recordings on parish website for all parishioners to listen to and for fellow parish coordinators to use in their respective parish activities.      
• Work with Newman Center and other student Christian organizations like the Student Baptist Center and Student Lutheran Organization to provide external speakers and support to pro-life activities on campus. 
  Note:  Keep in mind some of our faithful pro-life brothers and sisters in Christ belong to denominations that openly promote a pro-choice position.  This is just as much an opportunity for education as with our own pro-choice parishioners who claim to be Catholic! 
• Organize a Deanery Respect Life team.
• Participate in liturgical ministries (lector, extraordinary minister, cantor, etc).  It's not a sin to volunteer for these ministries knowing people will say, "Hey that's a member of our Respect Life team!"
• Lead a weekly hour of perpetual adoration for the unborn.
• Participate in the Legion of Mary, a Catholic organization of prayer and service that visits parishioners, provides religious education, and organizes community services such as prison ministry.
• Organize/promote/participate in Life Chain the first Sunday in October.      
• Travel to Washington D.C. to participate in annual March for Life and the National Right to Life Conferences. 
• Participate in January pro-life rally at the downtown Kansas City courthouse for those who cannot make the trip to Washington D.C.
• Participate with LifeFront in sidewalk prayer/counseling.

Public Policy Advocacy

• Develop, coordinate, and facilitate presentations for parishioners on the Church's teachings on the sanctity of life, the parish Respect Life ministry, and discussions on current prolife topics in the news.  
• Raise funds for March for Life pilgrims in your parish.
• Do a presentation on Faithful Citizenship or something valuable to everyone but not exclusively pro-life.
• Do a presentation on the Church's teaching on Catholics being involved in public policy along with instructions on how to write effective letters to legislators and to local newspaper editors.
• Sponsor guest speakers who can speak from firsthand knowledge about the physical, psychological, emotional, and spiritual scars of abortion.  Also, experts who can speak authoritatively about the impact on society, the healthcare system, the government, the school system, and the criminal justice system.
• Attend the annual Missouri Catholic Conference meeting in Jefferson City in the Fall.
• Create an election display for the entrance of church and sponsor a voter registration event (separate from USCCB Faithful Citizenship presentation).
• Travel to Washington D.C. to participate in annual March for Life and the National Right to Life Conference. 
• Participate in the January pro-life rally at the downtown Kansas City courthouse for those who cannot make the trip to Washington D.C.
• Attend Pro-Life Lobby Day in Jefferson