Respect Life Month: The Church’s Teaching on Human Life
October is Respect Life Month, a time for Catholics to reflect upon the sacred dignity of every human person. The Church’s teaching begins with a simple but profound truth: human life is a gift from God. Every human being possesses an inviolable dignity because every person is created in the image and likeness of God.
This dignity does not depend upon age, health, ability, independence, or whether a person is wanted or expected. From the first moment of conception until natural death, every human life is worthy of our love and protection.
This principle has important implications for several of the most serious questions facing our society today.
Abortion: The Church teaches that human life must be respected and protected from the moment of conception. Direct abortion—the deliberate ending of an innocent human life in the womb, whether as an end or as a means—is gravely contrary to the moral law. This teaching is not based upon a judgment about whether a child is wanted, healthy, or capable of living independently. The unborn child is already a human person and therefore possesses the same fundamental dignity and right to life as every other human being.
At the same time, the Church calls us to compassion. Women facing difficult or unexpected pregnancies deserve the support of their families, their parish, and society. Respect for the unborn child must be accompanied by genuine concern for the mother and a willingness to walk with her in difficult circumstances.
Euthanasia and assisted suicide: The Church likewise teaches that human life remains sacred when a person is elderly, seriously ill, disabled, or approaching death. Direct euthanasia—intentionally causing someone's death in order to eliminate suffering—is morally unacceptable. Assisted suicide is likewise contrary to the dignity of human life.
This does not mean that every possible medical treatment must be continued indefinitely. The Church distinguishes between intentionally causing death and allowing death to occur when burdensome, dangerous, extraordinary, or disproportionate treatment no longer offers reasonable benefit. At the same time, ordinary care, including appropriate food, water, comfort, and human accompaniment, should not simply be abandoned. Palliative care can help a person face suffering and death with dignity while respecting the sanctity of life.
In vitro fertilization (IVF): The Church also teaches that the desire of a husband and wife to have a child is good and worthy of respect. Infertility can cause profound suffering, and the Church encourages legitimate medical research and treatments that seek to overcome infertility while respecting the dignity of the spouses and the child.
However, the Church teaches that IVF is morally unacceptable because it separates the generation of a child from the marital act and places the creation and selection of human embryos under a technological process. IVF also frequently involves the production of multiple embryos, some of whom are frozen, discarded, selected against, or lost. The Church cannot accept treating human embryos as biological material that may be produced, selected, experimented upon, or destroyed.
This teaching is ultimately not about being against medicine or technology. Rather, it is about ensuring that medicine remains at the service of the human person. Medical technology should heal, assist, and protect human life—not determine which human lives are worthy of being born or which lives are worthy of continuing.
Respect Life Month therefore calls us to a consistent Catholic vision of human dignity. The child in the womb, the person with disabilities, the elderly person nearing death, the suffering patient, and the child conceived through difficult circumstances are all persons loved by God.
We are called not merely to defend life in principle but to build a culture of life in practice: supporting mothers and families, caring for the sick and elderly, accompanying those who are suffering, assisting couples experiencing infertility, and ensuring that no person feels that his or her life is a burden.
As Catholics, we proclaim the Gospel of Life because we believe that every human life is a gift from God, every person bears His image, and no human being is ever disposable.
In Christ,
Fr. Joe Connelly