Greetings! Allow us to introduce ourselves - we are the Gospel of Life Committee. We would like everyone to know who we are and what we are about.

We formed in the fall of 2000 led by Rita Brothers of the Catholic Pastoral Center with Fr. Tom Buckman, who was serving at St. Stephen’s at the time, giving us moral support. Thanks, Rita and Fr. Tom! We had 4 members who decided our first project would be a Pro-life Mass at the Cathedral on Jan. 20, 2001. It was bitter cold that day and the number attending was small but it was a beautiful commemoration of the tragedy that began in our country in 1973 and of the 45,000,000 innocent lives lost in our country since that day to the scourge of abortion.

In the fall of 2001, Dick Murphy enthusiastically took over the leadership of this committee and added about 10 new members from around the diocese with Fr. Richard Meredith agreeing to serve as our advisor. Our next project was our second commemorative Mass on Jan 22,2002 celebrated by Bishop John McRaith. Fr. John Vaughan was again very supportive of our ideas and efforts. This year the Cathedral was well filled - Praise Be To God!

The name of our committee comes from the encyclical, "The Gospel of Life," by Pope John Paul II. This encyclical will serve as our moral and philosophical guide. The U.S. Bishops issued a revised Pastoral Plan for Pro-Life Activities based on this encyclical in the fall of 2001 at their annual meeting in Washington D.C. In that plan they recommitted to the consistent ethic of life, but gave "urgent attention and priority" to the abortion issue saying it "necessarily plays a central role". Their document also points out the link between abortion and contraception, as well as the link with capital punishment, which "diminishes the value we place on all human life". Our committee will using an promoting this new document. One of the first things we are doing is asking all priests to consider something the bishops asked each parish to do in their new statement. They said, "Parishes should include in the petitions at every Mass a prayer that ours will become a nation that respects and protects all human life, born and unborn, reflecting a true culture of life."

Now we want to ask you, good people of western Ky., for your help. How can you help?

1. PRAY. This is the one thing anybody can do.

2. Let us know about all the things you or your parish are already doing to promote the pro-life cause so we can encourage each other and share ideas.

3. Let others know you think it’s important to speak up for life.

On this recent 6 month anniversary of the tragedy of September 11 - the day we were shocked and horrified to watch the loss of some 3500 lives, isn’t it hard to believe that number of lives is lost to abortion every day in our country? It’s our own ongoing Ground Zero. Abortion is truly the greatest moral tragedy in our country today. In the words of Archbishop Justin Rigali of St. Louis, "Let us all work and pray for the day when not only will abortion be illegal, but abortion will be unthinkable."

Committee members are: James Mathieu, Fr. Richard Meredith, Larry and mary Beth Conard, David and Nancy Wolf, Dr. Eddie Prunty, Gene Roberts, Joanne Frey, Tom nd Rita Parrott, Dr. Samuel and Kathy DunLany, Paul Stevens, Dick Murphy and Bob Hood.