Respect for Life
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Links to Important Documents
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Mustard Seed Letters
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Late-Term Abortion Education Program Bulletins
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Spring 2021 Bethesda 40 Days for Life Prayer VigilSt. Raphaels is supporting the Spring 2021 Bethesda 40 Days for Life campaign, which tracks the 40 days of Lent, beginning February 17 (Ash Wednesday) and ending March 28 (Palm Sunday). Incorporating this campaign into your plan of Lenten prayer, fasting and sacrifice is a great way to prepare for Easter. The campaign begins with an hour of prayer on Wednesday, February 17th from 8-9am on the public sidewalk in front of Leroy Carhart’s late term abortion facility at the Wildwood Medical Center, 10401 Old Georgetown Road in Bethesda. We wear masks and practice social distancing. More information and to sign up for 1 hour time slots/week anytime from 7 am to 7 pm daily is available here 40daysforlife.com/bethesda.Our parish will support the Campaign by coming together as a group to pray a rosary on the public sidewalk in front of abortion facility (address above) each Saturday from 10 - 11 am from February 20 through March 27. Please meet in the vestibule after the Saturday 9 am Mass if you need help with logistics. If you cannot attend in person, check the St. Raphael’s YouTube channel as the Knights of Columbus may livestream depending upon availability. [St. Raphael Catholic Church, Rockville, MD - YouTube]Monday Morning Prayer Vigil at Carhart’s Abortion Facility in BethesdaSt. Raphael’s also supports the weekly prayer vigil that occurs every Monday from 9 – 11 am at Carhart’s Abortion Facility (same location as above). This vigil is one of the main prolife efforts in Washington, D.C. Leroy Carhart is an abortion rights activist and one of the few abortionists in the country who performs abortions during the entire 9-month term. This is a campaign determined to shut down this horrific pre-born child torturer and killer who has killed or seriously injured numerous women, including two in May 2020 at his Bethesda facility. Only the skills of attending emergency physicians saved the lives of these two victims (leaving them permanently maimed). This prayer vigil seeks to inform the public of the evil taking place in Bethesda and includes signs showing the victims of abortion and the abortionist. For more information on supporting this vigil, please contact Dick Retta at dickretta61@verizon.net.
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Crisis Pregnancy Resources
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/Gabriel Networkcall or text 301-637-3223Monday - Friday 9 AM - 3 PM
If we are unable to answer, calls will be returned within one business day.
Archdiocese of Washington Resources
Visit: http://www.adw.org/pregnant-need-help/
Healing after an abortion?
Call Project Rachel at 301-853-4565 -
Mustard Seed Project
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. Links to the letters are available on the menu on the left.
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Gabriel Network Angel Friend Teams
Angel Friends are trained volunteers from local churches who help clients in crisis pregnancies with practical, emotional and spiritual support and accompany them through pregnancy and beyond as needed. Clients are referred to teams through Gabriel Network. If you are interested in joining the Angel Friend Team at St. Raphael's, please contact Carol DeGraba, cdegraba@gmail.com.
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Mission Statement:
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, Physician Assisted Suicide (PAS), 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 St. 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.”