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In October the Catholic Church in the United States celebrates Respect Life Month. We are called to cherish, defend, and protect those who are most vulnerable, from the beginning of life to its end. We are called to reflect more deeply on the dignity of every human life.
The dignity of human life is really at the center of the Radical Hospitality conversations we are having on campus this year. We believe that all human beings, without exception, are made in the image and likeness of God. Therefore every person is sacred!
When our 2023 Pacem in Terris Peace and Freedom Award recipients, Sheryl Olitzky and Atiya Aftab, co-founders of Sisterhood of Salaam Shalom, were on campus we heard about their beautiful friendship and their commitment to building relationships between Muslim and Jewish women of all ages. Together with the women in the Sisterhood chapters, they are building bridges and fighting hate, negative stereotyping and prejudice. Their vision of changing the world has been on my heart this week as we hear about the terrorism and violence in Israel and Palestine. To respect life, we must condemn terror and violence and instead work for peaceful resolutions between nations.
Of course, respecting the dignity of all people can be very challenging. At St. Ambrose, we work hard to increase our awareness of bias, injustice, and oppression. We have groups of students, faculty and staff who are committed to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Sustainability, Social Justice and Radical Hospitality.
In Gaudete Et Exsultate, #101 (Rejoice and Be Glad), Pope Francis challenges us to defend the sacredness of life:
“Our defense of the innocent unborn, for example, needs to be clear, firm and passionate, for at stake is the dignity of a human life, which is always sacred and demands love for each person, regardless of his or her stage of development. Equally sacred, however, are the lives of the poor, those already born, the destitute, the abandoned and the underprivileged, the vulnerable infirm and elderly exposed to covert euthanasia, the victims of human trafficking, new forms of slavery, and every form of rejection.”
Have a question about a program or event going on in Campus Ministry? Got an idea for something you'd like to see happen? EMAIL US at ministry@sau.edu.
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There are not many people this side of heaven who I love more than Dorothy Day, Catholic radical and creator of the Catholic Worker Movement. There was this ruggedness about her, a hardness brought about by a life of love found and love lost, of faith found and faith tried. Most of the time, she could be found with a cigarette in one hand, a coffee cup in the other, and a listening ear to whomever she was ministering to.
Life was hard for the Catholic Worker crew on Mott Street in New York City in the 60s and 70s. There were people who needed food, and people who needed shelter. There were people who needed money and people who needed jobs. But most of all, and the thing that Dorothy found most true, was that people also needed love –someone to sit down with them, share coffee with them and love them for who they were. Life was hard.
There’s a snippet of Dorothy’s diary that touches on how difficult their lives were at the time. It wasn’t really a lament, just a fact of life – that it is hard and it is overwhelming sometimes. At the end of the entry, Dorothy wrote, “But no one has a right to sit down and feel hopeless. There’s too much work to do.”
Life is hard. For me and for you. In the difficulties that life inevitably brings about, we often feel paralyzed – unable to move or work because the stresses and anxieties become too much to bear. In such moments, it is good that we are together. Because it is our shared life that reminds us that we’re not alone, and never were. You and me and everybody else – we stand as reminders to one another that while there may be a lot of work to do, we can do it together.
Have a question about a program or event going on in Campus Ministry? Got an idea for something you'd like to see happen? EMAIL US at ministry@sau.edu.
