Parishes, groups across central and southern Indiana help build culture of life

Betty McKinley, left, and Sherry White, both members of St. Michael Parish in Greenfield, talk with children about the models of babies at various stages of fetal development at the Riley Festival in Greenfield on Oct. 2. The St. Michael pro-life group has provided volunteers for the Hancock County Citizens for Life booth for the past 33 years. (Photo by Natalie Hoefer)

Compiled by Natalie Hoefer

Each year, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) recognizes October as Respect Life Month.

In recognition of this focus, The Criterion has compiled pro-life highlights from around the archdiocese over the last 12 months.

It is impossible to list all of the pro-life activities throughout central and southern Indiana during the last year. But this roundup offers a sampling of many of the good works accomplished to embrace life at all stages.
 

• Americans United for Life ranked Indiana the seventh most pro-life state in the nation.
• Five bills in support of respecting life were passed during the 2015 state legislative session, including one which allows for the development and use of newborn safety incubators for the safe surrender of unwanted babies; one that allows fines for incomplete—or failing to submit—termination of pregnancy reports; and one setting guidelines for the disposal of the remains of aborted children.
• According to an Associated Press article in the June 7 issue of The Indianapolis Star, the number of abortions in Indiana has declined by 20 percent since 2010, faster than the 12 percent national rate of decline.
• In its first three months of operation, the new Women’s Care Center in Indianapolis served more than 200 pregnant women, 97 percent of whom chose life for their babies.
• Great Lakes Gabriel Project purchased a second recreational vehicle to be customized as a mobile ultrasound unit, which will be present at the Bloomington Planned Parenthood facility on days when abortions are performed.
• The pro-life group at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish in New Albany arranged a parish prayer service—including eucharistic adoration, Scripture and a litany for life—on Jan. 22 to mark the anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion. Several hundred people participated in the prayer service.
• The pro-life group at St. Agnes Parish in Nashville did a “Spiritual Adoption” program—where an unborn child is prayed for during the course of nine months—with students in fourth through 12th grades starting in September 2014, and ending with a baby shower at the end of the nine months. The gifts from the baby shower were donated to the Brown County Pregnancy Care Center.
• The pro-life group at St. Rose of Lima Parish in Knightstown supported the Henry County Pregnancy Care Center through a baby bottle fundraiser, and by collecting diapers and other baby items through the parish’s Advent Giving Tree.
• Once a month, members of the Terre Haute Deanery pro-life group meet for Mass at the Carmelite monastery in Terre Haute, pray in front of the Planned Parenthood facility in Terre Haute, then pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet in St. Patrick Parish’s adoration chapel.
• On the third Thursday of every month, the pro-life group at St. Joseph Parish in Indianapolis offers adoration from 11 a.m.-7 p.m. and Mass at 5:45 p.m., all for the intention of women experiencing crisis pregnancies.
• Wabash Valley Right to Life, which is supported by Catholic parishes and other area churches in Clay, Parke, Sullivan, Vermillion and Vigo counties, sponsored and secured more than 600 names to list in a full-page, pro-life advertisement in the Terre Haute Tribune Star, taking a stand for life.