Dear Brothers in Christ,
As you know, the month of October is designated as “Respect Life Month” by the Catholic Church in the United States. Perhaps at no time in the last half-century has this observance been more meaningful, especially for our local church in South Dakota. As several knowledgeable laymen shared at clergy days last week, an effort is underway to place a measure on the 2024 election ballot to enshrine a “right to abortion” in the South Dakota state constitution.
I encourage all clergy in the diocese to make an earnest effort to form the faithful of our parishes in the Church’s teaching on the fundamental dignity of the human person, and the specific local threat to human rights in South Dakota from the proposed abortion amendment. As a sizable number of you indicated during the Q&A portion of the pro-life presentation last week, there is a desire for a systematic, unified communications plan in advance of a possible pro-abortion ballot measure in November 2024. This is under development and will be shared with you soon.
The USCCB’s Respect Life Program— www.respectlife.org —offers a wide array of resources to help educate the faithful. Resources to assist clergy with homilies, intercessions for Prayers of the Faithful, bulletin announcements, etc., can be found at www.respectlife.org/priests-and-deacons .
While the USCCB resources are well-designed for presenting Catholic teaching on abortion in general, it is important to supplement this with information on the local challenge we face in South Dakota. Specifically, please urge your parishioners to “decline to sign” the abortion petition. The South Dakota Catholic Conference website contains numerous resources on the abortion amendment, including flyers, bulletin announcements, and an FAQ document. This resource page can be accessed at: sdcatholicconference.org/abortion-amendment . You also might find helpful information provided by the Life Defense Fund at https://lifedefensefund.com/
Included on the SDCC webpage noted above is “Bearing the Face of Jesus,” the pastoral letter that Bishop Muhich and I issued earlier this year. This will be a useful resource for helping construct homilies and educating your parishioners on the radical nature of the abortion amendment that is being advanced in South Dakota in your preaching and teaching.
I am grateful for your cooperation. As always, I welcome your ideas and input as we work to defend the God-given dignity of the most vulnerable members of our society.
Sincerely in Christ,
Bishop DeGrood
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Chris Motz | cmotz@sfcatholic.org