The mission of the newly formed Respect Life Ministry at St. Vincent's is:

To represent the essence of Catholic teaching that all life is sacred and precious to God at every stage from conception to natural death. The Respect Life Ministry seeks to open hearts and minds through education, service, advocacy and prayer, helping people to choose life and give hope.

We invite you to join our mailing list so that you can be informed of our upcoming events. To signup and for more information please call Pauline Fijalkiewicz at 773-755-9598 or email her at fijalkie@yahoo.com.

Wednesdays
6:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.
Little Sisters of the Poor
2325 N. Lakewood Ave.

Please join the Respect Life Commission every Wednesday as we help the Little Sisters of the Poor serve dinner at St. Mary's Home, located just a few blocks from St. Vincent's.

The Little Sisters of the Poor house 150 needy, aged residents at St. Mary’s and provide them with a loving home where they are treated with dignity, care and compassion.

The St. Vincent de Paul Parish volunteers do more than just serve dinner each Wednesday, we help celebrate birthdays and share laughs. After dinner, we walk residents to their rooms, listen to their stories and share our experiences with them. Our goal is to form friendships. We know by their smiles that they enjoy seeing us every week, and we are sure they would love to meet you too.

To learn more about volunteering at St. Mary’s or to join the Respect Life mailing list, please call Pauline Fijalkiewicz at 773-755-9598 or email her at fijalkie@yahoo.com.

Sunday, May 9th
Mother's Day

O God of all creation, nurture and protect this tiny child and keep her safe in the sanctuary of her mother’s womb.

As you so wondrously form her heart and mind and lungs and soul, so strengthen our will to lovingly nurture and protect her.

Give us the eyes to see her as our sister, the minds to welcome her as our own, and the faith to defend her as your child.

We ask this through the intercession of Mary, our Blessed Mother, and the mother of all the little ones, through Christ, your Son, our Lord. Amen.

Happy Mother’s Day from St. Vincent’s Respect Life Commission!

The Women’s Centers of Greater Chicagoland sent our parish a letter thanking us for our donations during advent to the Baby Bottle Project.

This last advent our parish collected a total of $2,781.76!

These funds allow the centers to provide assistance to women in crisis pregnancies, helping them to choose life for their babies, and assisting them in coming to a place of confidence and self respect. The Women’s Centers have over 5000 appointments with women every year and give away over $800,000 in material goods.

Thank you to everyone who was so generous!

From Mary-Louise Kurey (Archdiocese's Respect Life Office):
Update on HB 6205 (a.k.a. Illinois FOCA):
Those who weren't in attendance missed the wonderful announcement that it appears the Illinois FOCA bill, HB 6205, is done for the year. Things can always be resurrected until the General Assembly concludes for the year, but it looks very good right now.

This is fantastic news, and this is YOUR victory! Many thanks for the hard work that each of you did to make this happen! You did so much, calling and meeting with your State Representative, helping your friends and neighbors do the same, writing letters, going to Springfield, and more, to communicate opposition to this harmful piece of legislation. Thank you!

Judge's Decision on IL Parental Notice of Abortion Act: Mixed Outcome
In other important news, today a Cook County Circuit judge dismissed the ACLU's case against the Illinois Parental Notice of Abortion Act, deciding that the IL Parental Notice of Abortion Act is Constitutional, and dissolved the temporary restraining order. But, the judge placed a 60-day stay on enforcement of the law for the ACLU to appeal. The good news is this is the first time that an Illinois Court has upheld the law against an ACLU challenge. On the other hand, this "stay" could lead to further "stays" throughout the appeals process. Another negative outcome is that the Illinois judge also found a "right" to abortion under the IL Constitution, but not one which is broader than the federal "right" under Roe. So it's a mixed outcome. More information can be found here from the Thomas More Society: www.thomasmoresociety.org

As you know, this law, which has already been upheld in federal court, has been on the books since 1995. Over the past 15 years, more than 50,000 minor girls have had abortions in Illinois - many being brought across state lines - without the protective benefit of this law. The American Bar Association's study finds that most teen pregnancies are fathered by men older than 20. Surely, the lack of a parental notice law puts young girls at risk for exploitation by older men who then use abortion to conceal the evidence of their crimes. We must keep persevering in prayer that this just law, which protects young girls, the rights of parents, and our unborn brothers and sisters in the womb, will soon be enforced.