Respect Life Ministry

What is the Respect Life Ministry?

Current Activities of the Respect Life Ministry at St. Joan of Arc

• a. Our Lady’s Mantle
• b. Spiritual Adoption
• c. Holy Hour for Life

Contact Information

For any questions and to become involved in any aspect of the Respect Life Ministry, email us at: respectLife@stjoanofarc.com or call the parish office and ask to have your name and phone number forwarded to a St. Joan of Arc Respect Life Team member – someone will contact you.

What is the Respect Life Ministry at St. Joan of Arc?

The Respect Life Ministry at St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church seeks to help parishioners in living out the Gospel of Life. This ministry is more than just one among many ministries, but rather speaks to the core of who we are as Catholic Christians. The information presented in this part of the SJA website is intended to invite more parishioners to be involved in this ministry which flows from the heart of our Church. As ministers working to build the culture of life in our parish, as well as in our broader community, we stand beside those who also build the culture of life through other ministries such as religious education, youth evangelization, liturgy and prayer, service and spirituality.

If you are a parishioner of St. Joan of Arc, we encourage you to join with us in this effort whether you are serving in other ministries or not.

When human life is attacked, the Body of Christ is desecrated and the blood of the innocent cries out from the ground for justice. When the Just One sees this injustice, He will ask us as He asked Cain in the garden:

"What have you done?"
If you want to join us in planning and carrying out various Respect Life activities throughout the year, please call the parish office (602-867-9171) and leave your name and phone number. Please tell the receptionist on the phone that you want to be contacted by a member of the SJA Respect Life Ministry Team. You may also contact us directly via email at RespectLife@stjoanofarc.com.

"When the time comes, as it surely will, when we face that awesome moment, the final judgment, I've often thought, as Fulton Sheen wrote, that it is a terrible moment of loneliness. You have no advocates, you are there alone standing before God -- and a terror will rip your soul like nothing you can imagine. But I really think that those in the pro-life movement will not be alone. I think there'll be a chorus of voices that have never been heard in this world but are heard beautifully and clearly in the next world -- and they will plead for everyone who has been in this movement. They will say to God, 'Spare him, because he loved us!'"

- Congressman Henry Hyde

Current Activities of the Respect Life Ministry at St. Joan of Arc

Our Lady’s Mantle is a parish toolkit organized by lay, pro-life volunteers who are committed to maintaining a peaceful, prayerful presence outside of abortion clinics. Our goal is to make abortion unthinkable while we offer love, support & prayer to the abortion-minded. We reach out to women in crisis pregnancies with the love of Christ, offering free, loving, support to continue pregnancy. We know from experience that many women are unaware of the risks associated with abortion or the many centers where they can find material assistance.

We help make this information available. We accomplish our goals in three ways:

1. Remote Prayer either at home or at church
2. On-site prayer at the abortion clinic
3. Counseling the abortion–bound on the sidewalk

Through the Our Lady’s Mantle program St. Joan of Arc has adopted the Planned Parenthood abortuary at 3131 E. Thunderbird, Ste. 48, Phoenix, AZ 85032 (SW corner of 32nd Street and Thunderbird). The mission of this apostolate is the closure of this Planned Parenthood facility, where chemical abortions are performed.

Step 1.

Pray about your role

• Are you called to pray either on site or in a remote location for the end of abortion?
• Are you called to counseling the abortion bound on the sidewalk?
• Perhaps you are unsure where to direct your efforts. Prayer is the best place to start.

Step 2.

Once you have discerned your role. Email the Respect Life Team at respectLife@stjoanofarc.com to get on the schedule. Usually people choose one time slot (either one or two hours) per week to be at the vigil location. You determine your own schedule and you are responsible for showing up at your allotted time. A set of guidelines will be provided at the time of sign up.*

Step 3.

Stay Teachable. Our Lady’s Mantle Workshops are held periodically throughout the year. By emailing the SJA Respect Life Team at respectLife@stjoanofarc.com you can get the latest information about workshops and other information to help you become more effective in this ministry.

“It is proper for the noblest hearts to discover the most urgent need of their epoch and to consecrate themselves to it” –Father Lacordaire

St. Joan of Arc, Pray for Us
Our Lady of Guadalupe, Pray for Us

Spiritual Adoption We are now in our second year of participating in the Spiritual Adoption program. Beginning in January of 2011, parishioners were again asked to adopt a baby in danger of being aborted. This simple but powerful program requests that participants give their chosen baby a name and then pray for that baby throughout the next nine months. In October 2011 we will celebrate the births of these spiritually adopted babies during the national Respect Life Month (October). If you are not familiar with this program, you should know that only God knows who and where our adopted baby is. However, when we step into eternity, we will be thanked by the babies whose lives we helped save from abortion through our prayers… See: simple and powerful!

You may adopt a baby at any time during the program by filling out the adoption cards in the narthex of the church at the Respect Life table and leaving a portion of your card in the adoption basket for us to record another baby having been adopted. Your adopted baby thanks you from the bottom of his or her tiny, precious heart! Holy Hour for Life Each Wednesday at about 4:15pm in the chapel, we devote an hour of group and individual prayer in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament for an end to abortion, for victims of abortion and all sins against life, for those who perpetrate these atrocities and for those involved in the activities of Our Lady’s Mantle. The hour begins with the Rosary, includes time for private prayer and meditation and ends with the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, followed by Benediction. Please join us whenever you have time.