Each year on Jan. 22, millions of Americans observe the anniversary of the 1973 Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court decision in prayer and mourning for the 1.3 million infants whose lives were ended by abortion in the previous year.
At Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago, we use this sad occasion to renew our determination to increase our support of life in all its stages. We strongly believe that human life is a precious gift of God, to be nurtured and protected from conception through natural death. As a faith-based, not-for-profit, professional social service agency, we value that sacred trust and rededicate ourselves to our mission to help our vulnerable, suffering and poor neighbors of all ages, religions, races and backgrounds.
Today, in a multitude of programs, Catholic Charities aids women and families who have chosen life over death for their children. The Arts of Living Institute, originated by Catholic Charities in 1971, is a comprehensive program enabling pregnant children and teens to continue their education while preparing for the social, financial, health and developmental responsibilities of parenthood. We work with adolescent girls, birthfathers and their families to prepare them for parenthood. We help adolescents and women who wish to make a plan of adoption for their children, and we assist poor couples who cannot afford maternity expenses.
In addition, Catholic Charities manages dozens of nutrition centers in low-income neighborhoods that provide healthy, wholesome food for pregnant, nursing or postpartum mothers and their infants and toddlers. We operate quality early-childhood development and day-care centers and after-school programs for children in poor neighborhoods; we care for children and teens in foster and relative family care, and for families in crisis through family shelters and in-home case management. If family income needs to be stretched, 11 emergency assistance centers with food pantries and clothing rooms are available in Chicago and Cook and Lake Counties.
Catholic Charities has developed effective self-sufficiency programs that currently guide 632 formerly homeless families with children through long- or short-term education, employment and housing programs.
We recognize that the destruction of human life is a tragedy and not an answer to personal, social and economic problems. We renew our commitment to the culture of life and remain unalterably opposed to the abortion culture of death.
