Pro-life focus urged for Feast of Annunciation

Sydney
7 April 2002

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Pro-life focus urged for Feast of Annunciation

More than 50 US Catholic leaders have signed a statement co-written by three major pro-life apostolates to draw special attention to the Feast of the Annunciation.

Priests for Life, Human Life International and the Missionary Image of Our Lady of Guadalupe drafted the statement regarding the feast, to be celebrated on April 8.

Usually it is observed March 25, but this year that date falls in Holy Week.

"As Catholic leaders at a time when our society is beset with the evil of abortion, and when the human embryo is treated as a mere object for scientific research, we believe that the celebration of the feast of the Annunciation is more important than ever," the statement said.

"By celebrating this feast with special solemnity and by spending more time meditating on its doctrinal and spiritual lessons, the faithful can be even more solidly rooted in their pro-life convictions and spurred on to effective action in defence of life," it added.

The statement urged parish priests to "lead their con gregations in special pro-life observances on this solemnity each year".

Leading the list of signers were Fr Frank Pavone, co-founder and senior adviser of Priests for Life; Fr Tom Euteneuer, president of Human Life International; and Dan Lynch, director of Missionary Image of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Among the other signatories were the heads of the American Life League, the Solidarity Institute, the Catholic Leadership Institute, the National Black Catholic Apostolate for Life, the Pope Paul VI Institute for the Study of Human Reproduction, the World Federation of Catholic Medical Associations, the Society of Catholic Social Scientists, the Catholic Medical Association, the Euch aristic Apostles of the Divine Mercy, the Human Family Foundation and the Family Life Centre International.

The statement and list of signatories are available online at: www.priestsforlife.org/news/annunciation.htm. CNS