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The Respect for Life Committee represents St. Raphael Catholic Church in the Archdiocese of Washington’s mission to promote respect for and safeguarding of the dignity of all human life from conception to natural death, seeking to change the current culture of death to a Culture of Life.

St. Raphael’s Respect for Life Committee (RFL) seeks to promote a greater reverence in both our parish and faith community, for the dignity of human life from conception to natural death.  We approach this task with a readiness to nurture and sustain this precious gift of human life through pro-life education, advocacy, works of charity and prayer.  In an effort to successfully promote a culture of life in an increasingly complex world, we share the Catholic Church’s teachings on a wide range of life issues, such as abortion, embryonic stem-cell research, euthanasia, contraception, infertility procedures and the death penalty.  We humbly commit ourselves to spreading the message of God’s Word and Love as it pertains to the infinite values of each human life created in His very image and likeness (Genesis 1:26).  We support Saint Pope John Paul II’s comments during his 1999 visit to St. Louis:  “And so, America:  If you want peace, work for justice.  If you want justice, defend life.  If you want life, embrace the truth-the truth revealed by God.” 
 

Are you facing an unplanned pregnancy and are being pushed to resolve the “problem”?  You do not have to face this decision alone or make it hastily.  There are several life-affirming resources available to help not to regret your decision.  They are as follows:
 
Shady Grove Pregnancy Center                     Centro Tepeyac Pregnancy Center
16220 N. Frederick Road, #118                         12248 Georgia Avenue
Gaithersburg, MD 20877                                    Silver Spring, MD 20902
301-963-6223                                                     301-587-9516
www.pregnancy-options.org/                              www.centrotepeyac.org/
 
 
Archdiocese of Washington Resources               
Visit:  http://www.adw.org/pregnant-need-help/    
 
Healing after an abortion?
Call Project Rachel at 301-853-4565
 

The Mustard Seed Project is a letter-writing campaign that sends out a letter to the organizations and corporations who support Planned Parenthood (PP) with annual or personal charitable giving programs.  These organizations and corporations have in some cases supported PP for decades.  The letter-writing process has been effective in changing the minds of CEOs to no longer support PP and has resulted in the loss of funding in the millions.  A letter is composed with a difference entity every month.  The RFL Committee encourages parishioners to copy the letter and mail it to the addressee for that month’s letter.  The letters are linked to the documents menu on the right.