Life and Dignity of the Human Person

The Catholic Church proclaims that human life is sacred and that the dignity of the human person is the foundation of a moral vision for society. This belief is the foundation of all the principles of our social teaching. In our society, human life is under direct attack from abortion and euthanasia.

Did you know that approximately 1.2 million human lives are taken through abortion each year in the United States? Just this year, an Oregon couple filed suit against their medical provider for $7 million because the provider failed to diagnose their daughter with Down syndrome while she was still in utero – claiming they would have aborted her had they known.

At the other end of the life spectrum, we have our precious elderly. There are increasing numbers of Americans who believe that the “usefulness” of the aged has come to an end – that it is compassionate to “put them out of their misery.” Pope Benedict XVI has said, “…euthanasia is a false solution to the drama of suffering, a solution unworthy of man. The true answer cannot be putting someone to death, however ‘kindly,’ but to bear witness to the love that helps us to face pain and agony in a human way. We are certain: No tear, whether it be of those who suffer or those who stand by them, goes unnoticed before God.”

The fact is that all of our rights and freedoms come from God. It is God who has given us life, and it is he who has the power and authority to sustain life – from the beginning as a tiny embryo to the end of our earthly days as a valued elderly person.

We believe that every person is precious, that people are more important than things, and that the measure of every institution is whether it threatens or enhances the life and dignity of the human person.

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