Utah Catholic Bishop Oscar A. Solis launched a 40-day prayer campaign this month for the sanctity of all human life, from conception to natural death.
The Salt Lake Tribune reports Solis urged Catholics in the Diocese of Salt Lake City to join him in prayer for unborn babies, those threatened by euthanasia and assisted suicide, the poor, people with disabilities, immigrants and refugees.
“This seems especially appropriate at this time of the Advent season, when we are awaiting [celebration of] the birth of Christ, the light of the world,” Veola Burchett, director of the diocese’s Office of Marriage and Family Life, told the newspaper.
Burchett said there are many assaults on the sanctity of human life today, including abortion, euthanasia and assisted suicide.
The prayer initiative will run through Jan. 18. Catholics are encouraged to pray “A Prayer to Our Lady of Guadalupe” every day. Guadalupe is considered to be the “patroness of the unborn.”
“We implore your intercession for every child at risk of abortion. Help expectant parents to welcome from God the priceless gift of their child’s life,” the prayer reads. “… Teach us to cherish and to care for family and friends until God calls them home. Help us never to see others as burdens.”
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The prayer campaign is near the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court decision that allowed abortion on demand in America. The decision had devastating effects. Nearly 60 million unborn babies have been killed in abortions in the four decades since Roe. Now, abortion activists are pushing for more abortion expansions, campaigning for taxpayer-funded abortions and abortions on viable, late-term unborn babies with disabilities; and euthanasia advocates are pushing assisted suicide bills in states throughout the country.
Catholics and other Christians have been some of the strongest leaders in the fight to protect human lives. Through prayer, material support, encouragement and love, pro-life Christians are stemming the tide and changing hearts and minds for life.
