Recent words marking October as Respect Life Month from Bishop Daniel E. Thomas of Toledo, chairman of the USCCB Committee on Pro-Life Activities, come with profound urgency and grace.
“[This Jubilee Year] offers us the opportunity to appreciate anew, and with immense gratitude, the gift of the new life that we have received in baptism, a life capable of transfiguring death’s drama,” he wrote.
During this Jubilee Year of Hope, Bishop Thomas invites us to confront a culture often indifferent, and sometimes hostile, to the sacred dignity of human life. Drawing from Christ’s victory over sin and death, the bishop’s message is one of hope, urging Catholics to become beacons in a world thirsting for divine mercy.
“The life, death, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ is the foundation of our hope,” he said. “Through Christ, our sins are forgiven, death is overcome, and life is victorious.”
One of our stories that honors Respect Life Month is about the opening of a pro-life medical center in New York City. CompassCare Pregnancy Services CEO Jim Harden said of the organization’s choice of Staten Island to open the new center was made because “between Staten Island and Brooklyn … this particular region is the largest abortion hub in the nation.”
The Jubilee Year reminds us that our baptized existence “transfigures death’s drama,” as Bishop Thomas notes, echoing biblical teachings on hope as an anchor for the soul.
Yet, this hope is tested daily by assaults on the sanctity of life. From the scourge of abortion, which claims countless innocent lives each year, to the rising acceptance of assisted suicide that preys on the vulnerable. The senseless violence against schoolchildren, while in moments of prayer; to the dehumanizing treatment of immigrants amid changing policies. Ideological violence also shatters communities.
These are not abstract issues but wounds on the faithful. As Catholics, we cannot ignore how such acts erode the innate dignity of each person.
A glimmer of progress, however, shines through in recent legislative victories.
Earlier this year, President Donald Trump signed the budget reconciliation bill, incorporating a one-year ban on federal Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood and other major abortion providers.
The move marks a critical step toward aligning public policy with moral truth. Bishop Thomas rightly thanks Catholics for their prayers and calls for continued intercession throughout October, that all such funding may cease permanently.
But hope demands more than policy change; it calls for personal witnesses to do the right thing. “This Jubilee Year we are challenged to be agents of hope to those whose hearts are burdened by trial, difficulty, or suffering, offering them the hope that comes from Christ Jesus alone,” Bishop Thomas wrote.
For example, the Church’s initiatives, like Walking with Moms in Need, offer tangible support to expectant mothers facing hardship, providing resources, companionship, and love rooted in Christ’s compassion. Similarly, The Bridge to Life in College Point offers women and families facing unexpected pregnancies evidence-based, life-affirming information on pregnancy options.
Citing Pope Leo XIV, Bishop Thomas concluded: “How important it is that each and every baptized person feel himself or herself called by God to be a sign of hope in the world today.”
Let his words propel us to action. Praying fervently and advocating boldly that the living the Gospel of Life in our families, parishes, and society, will inspire us.
For in defending the vulnerable, we proclaim that life, in every stage and circumstance, is a sacred echo of God’s eternal love.