Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options
Our readersJanuary 10, 2020
(Unsplash)

In conjunction with the annual March for Life and the lead editorial in this issue, we asked America’s readers for examples of promoting a culture of life in individuals or groups, either by themselves or with their neighbors.


I’ve recently moved to Detroit as a Jesuit volunteer, and I’ve been amazed by the beauty, strength and community I’ve seen in the city. One small example of this is a weekly vigil held in Clark Park, in southwest Detroit, called the “We Stand With Our Neighbors Weekly Vigil.” (They have a Facebook page.) This is a group of teachers, counselors and anyone in the community who feels called to stand in support of the immigrants living in the community.

This started shortly after the 2016 election when teachers heard from their immigrant students that they felt unsafe in the school and community. The teachers then decided that this public witness each and every Friday afternoon would be a good way to show support and love for immigrants. It is a perfect time, right when school is getting out. It is a high traffic area and many people walking by show their support with smiles and waves. This has shown me that people in my community care about the wholeness of life. They saw a need in their students, and they responded to it.

William Myers
Detroit, Mich.

[We have] participated in 40 Days for Life in Portland, Me., and the annual Pro-Life Walk in Sanford, Me, sponsored by the local Knights of Columbus and we have written pro-life letters to the editor at the Portland Press-Herald.

Daniel and Gloria Rooney
Sanford, Me.

We brought medical and dental care to an urban area that had neither. Additionally, we built in ways to address some social determinants of health like nutrition, health literacy, social isolation and transportation.

Carolyn Capuano, H.M.
Canton, Ohio

I am a fat-acceptance activist. I have existed in my fat body and been very vocal about it, challenging the idea that the point of our bodies is to be perfect. It’s not. And that is a very real part of a culture of life. Whether it’s a child found to be “imperfect” in the womb or a person at the end of life, the culture of life says that it’s not the state, size, ability or health of our bodies that make us important—it’s the fact that our bodies enable us to have relationships—with God, with others and with ourselves. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church says, we are obliged to regard our body as good (No. 364), and I bear witness to that in my large body. I take up the space I need to and invite others to do the same.

Amanda Martinez Beck
Longview, Tex.

As a retired pediatric nurse practitioner, I always wished I did more. The simple thing I did do was congratulate young gals who came in pregnant. Those who gave birth to their babies were grateful for the positive support, as the most common response to a teenage pregnancy is negative.

Janet Nagy Hanley
Milton, Mass.

We have helped build a culture of life in our community by seeing immigrants and refugees as our sisters and brothers, hosting them and inviting others to do so. We have hosted educational programs advocating gun safety. We have done analysis of poverty and promoted advocacy in light of our findings.

Sister Martha Ann Kirk
San Antonio, Tex.

My daughter with Down syndrome is a eucharistic minister once a month.

Jean Roma
Cotuit, Mass.

More: Pro-Life

We don’t have comments turned on everywhere anymore. We have recently relaunched the commenting experience at America and are aiming for a more focused commenting experience with better moderation by opening comments on a select number of articles each day.

But we still want your feedback. You can join the conversation about this article with us in social media on Twitter or Facebook, or in one of our Facebook discussion groups for various topics.

Or send us feedback on this article with one of the options below:

We welcome and read all letters to the editor but, due to the volume received, cannot guarantee a response.

In order to be considered for publication, letters should be brief (around 200 words or less) and include the author’s name and geographic location. Letters may be edited for length and clarity.

We open comments only on select articles so that we can provide a focused and well-moderated discussion on interesting topics. If you think this article provides the opportunity for such a discussion, please let us know what you'd like to talk about, or what interesting question you think readers might want to respond to.

If we decide to open comments on this article, we will email you to let you know.

If you have a message for the author, we will do our best to pass it along. Note that if the article is from a wire service such as Catholic News Service, Religion News Service, or the Associated Press, we will not have direct contact information for the author. We cannot guarantee a response from any author.

We welcome any information that will help us improve the factual accuracy of this piece. Thank you.

Please consult our Contact Us page for other options to reach us.

City and state/province, or if outside Canada or the U.S., city and country. 
When you click submit, this article page will reload. You should see a message at the top of the reloaded page confirming that your feedback has been received.
Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.

The latest from america

On this episode of “Hark!”, we follow a figure the Bible never mentions, but whose bold gift leads us straight to the heart of Christmas. This is the story of “The Little Drummer Boy.”
Maggi Van DornDecember 01, 2024
To kick off the fourth season of “Hark! The stories behind our favorite Christmas carols,” we have a Christmas song that begins on a plodding, somber note and erupts into a thrilling epiphany. We’re exploring “We Three Kings.”
Maggi Van DornNovember 29, 2024
A Homily for the First Sunday of Advent, by Father Terrance Klein
Terrance KleinNovember 27, 2024
How realistic is “Conclave”? A canon lawyer weighs in.
Colleen DulleNovember 27, 2024