WINDSOR TERRACE — Working in the pro-life movement isn’t kid’s stuff. No one knows that better than a small group of parishioners at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in Windsor Terrace, who are working at the grassroots level to promote the sanctity of life.

Meet the Respect Life Ministry at Immaculate Heart of Mary, a group formed by Deacon John Cantirino in 2019 to bring like-minded individuals together.

The ministry’s membership fluctuates but contains a core group of about 12 people who are dedicated to the pro-life cause. The group, which meets once a month, prays together, of course, but members also take action on several fronts.

For example, the ministry participates in the March For Life in Washington, D.C., every year. 

Once a year, the ministry organizes a special Mass for parents who have lost children. “And it doesn’t matter to us how they lost their children, whether it was due to an illness or whether they had an abortion,” Deacon Cantirino explained. “We’re not here to judge anyone.”

In addition, members employ their political muscle by calling and writing to elected officials to voice their concerns about legislation they find objectionable.

The ministry also keeps up with the latest developments in the pro-life movement. The meetings often feature guest speakers, including activists and authors.

The ultimate goal of the ministry is to profess the Catholic faith and promote one of its basic tenets — that all life is sacred.

To that end, Deacon Cantirino likes to remind the ministry’s members that life is valuable — from the womb to the grave. “Certainly the abortion issue is important, but we cover all the right to life issues, like the death penalty, assisted suicide, and euthanasia, and even some of the new reproductive technologies,” he said.

One of the issues the ministry is watching carefully right now is assisted suicide, in large part because a bill has been introduced into the New York State Legislature that would allow doctors to help terminally ill patients end their lives.

The Catholic Church opposes suicide and the idea of doctors helping people kill themselves is anathema to ministry members.

“Doctors should be our healers,” member Denise Collins said. “Their first priority is supposed to be ‘Do No Harm.’ Our Catholic faith teaches us that death is part of life. We cannot avoid all pain. Doctors and nurses can alleviate pain but they should not be bringing about death.”

Members of the ministry have different reasons for joining the group. Collins, a charter member, said state politics propelled her into action. 

“When Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed the Reproductive Health Act in 2019, I read the news and it was like a wake-up call. I hadn’t really been paying close attention before,” recalled Collins, who has been a parishioner of Immaculate Heart of Mary since 2000 and has served as a lector and an extraordinary minister of holy Communion.

The Reproductive Health Act expanded abortion access in New York State. “That night, I went into the sacristy and I ran into Deacon John. We started talking. The ministry formed soon after that,” she said.

Thomas Kallahan, another Immaculate Heart of Mary parishioner, is one of the ministry’s newer members. He joined in 2022 after returning from the March for Life. He came back from Washington feeling energized and eager to commit himself to the pro-life movement. “I was invited to the meetings and I just kept going,” he said.

Looking back, he realized that he was seeking to carry on with the momentum he saw at the march that year. “When you go to the march, you see so many young people. It gives me hope for the future. It’s very encouraging to know the world isn’t necessarily as dark as sometimes one might think,” he said.

Kallahan, who is aware that the pro-life movement faces strong cultural headwinds in a society that promotes pro-abortion positions, said he admires the work of the ministry. 

“We are in New York and New York is one of the biggest secular states. And so there’s a lot of pressure on people and cultural influence to be pro-choice rather than pro-life, even if you are part of the church. So the fact that it (the ministry) even exists is something that impresses me,” he explained.