Giving Witness to the Sanctity of Life in Catholic Schools
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March 17, 2025On March 13, 2025, Archbishop Sample released a Pastoral Teaching on the Sanctity of Human Life (Pastoral Teaching on the Sanctity of Life | Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon), a response to Oregon Governor Kotek signing a proclamation calling March 10 "Abortion Provider Appreciation Day." In it, Archbishop Sample shares:"There are moments when words fail. When the mind stares into the abyss and finds no bottom. When all that’s left is a kind of stunned silence - the kind you feel when you realize just how far a culture can drift from reality.
“Abortion Provider Appreciation Day” is one of those moments."His words echoed my own thoughts and feelings, especially seeing the way the increased number of abortions in our state are being celebrated as a victory for Oregon."...modern culture insists on turning tragedy into triumph. It demands not just tolerance for abortion, not just legal protection, but celebration. It must be honored, enshrined...no matter how loudly abortion is celebrated, something feels… off...If abortion were truly nothing, no one would need to justify it. No one would need to celebrate it. The fact that it must be ritualized as progress is itself an admission of its darkness. "Some might ask, "How is this message relevant or connected to the mission and work of Catholic education? What does this have to do with Catholic schools?" Great questions! I would argue this issue has everything to do with why Catholic schools exist and what they have to offer the world today.
Our Archdiocese of Portland Catholic Education mission playbook states that Catholic Schools exist to witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and proclaim the salvation of Jesus Christ, exercising His mission to teach. Speaking to the heart of this, Archbishop Sample notes:"...modernity has exchanged the wonder of life for the pursuit of power... A life is no longer a gift. It is an obstacle, a burden, a problem to be solved. This is what happens when a culture loses its sense of the sacred. When it stops seeing existence as a miracle, as something given, something to be received with gratitude. Instead, life is reduced to a transaction. A commodity to be managed. And, when necessary, discarded...That’s not progress. That’s collapse...But followers of Jesus have always stood in the way of that tide and simply said, No. Blessed are the poor. Blessed are the meek. Blessed are the ones with no power at all."As institutions commissioned by the Church to minister the salvation of Jesus Christ, Catholic schools have the sacred duty of giving a counter-cultural witness of the Gospel in a world that has lost a sense of the sacred. We do so by instilling in our young people a sense of wonder for human life, the type of wonder that allows life to be seen as a gift, not an obstacle, nor a burden or problem to be solved. This is accomplished when we aid students in their formation to be able to "see reality as it truly is," and "To embrace the mystery, the beauty, the wonder of existence itself."
Reality as it Truly is...
What is the reality we want students to behold and to wonder in? I would summarize it in the following way:
All humanity has been created in God's image and likeness. This grants us an infinite dignity and makes all human life sacred. This is a reality that can be understood through faith and the use of reason. This is a reality present from the very moment of conception in our mother's womb to when we take our last breath on this earth. Modern science and technology offer us the ability to behold and wonder in the reality of human life. We can see with beautiful and astounding detail how and when life begins. In the intricacies of the stages of fetal development, the miracle of birth, the stages of human growth and life, and even in our cellular composition, we see the imprint of an all-powerful God who created us out of love for a relationship of love with him, that we might be gifts of love to others. When truly seen, this reality has direct implications for how we live and organize our life, how we set up laws, how we carry out medicine and provide healthcare, and certainly for how we educate.This is reality is truth. It is truth that the youngest Preschooler through the oldest senior in high school can and should be led to behold and marvel in during their time in a Catholic school, that they might develop a sense of awe and reverence for human life, know their duty to humanity by consequence, and then in turn, be sent as disciples who are able to invite others to see and behold reality as it truly is.The Witness of the Catholic School: What Must be True?
To accomplish this, we must continue to recommit ourselves to our mission to guide and form young men and women in the fullness of truth as revealed by Jesus Christ and taught by the Church. Given the challenges of our times, we must also continue to grow in our witness as institutions committed to the Gospel of Life, which is at the heart of Jesus' message (Evangelium Vitae (25 March 1995) | John Paul II), not merely recognizing the sanctity of human life but being fully committed to defending and promoting the right to life. As Pope Francis noted in 2020, every human life, “unique and unrepeatable, valuable in and of itself, constitutes an inestimable worth. This, underscored Pope Francis, “must be announced ever anew, with the courage of words and the courage of action," (Pope Francis: “Every human life has an inestimable value”).Given the influence of the prevailing culture on the lives of many students, this will mean growing in our ability to engage with our students' deep questions and doubts with joyful conviction, charity, truth, and clarity. In short, to unabashedly and loving lead them to truth. This happens primarily through the witness of our frontline missionaries: our teachers. Without their joyful conviction and their witness to the Gospel of life, this is not able to happen.
A Catholic school living fully its mission will also ensure that while students are in our care they are not presented with any content or message, especially by those in positions of influence and authority over them, that would seem to indicate to them that our beliefs are merely one flavor on a menu of many valid beliefs to be held. Merely "a" truth among many truths." This includes ensuring that we avoid honoring, holding up or giving a platform in our schools to individuals who publicly support and celebrate positions, policies, or teachings contrary to the Church's teaching on the sanctity of life. Such things can lead to a grave confusion of the young that undermines our Catholic educational mission.To lovingly engage students where they are and lead them to truth, while protecting our school culture from influences that undermine our beliefs and lead impressionable young minds and hearts to confusion, are not mutually exclusive aims.Reverence for the Sanctity of Life: The Foundation for Proper EducationAs Archbishop Sample notes, this isn't about politics. The Church has long held that the right to life is the foundational right that allows us to give a coherent witness to life in all our work in service of the human person, whether in education, or in our ministry to the poor, the immigrant, or the marginalized. Reverence for the sanctity of life from conception to natural death and the giveness of our human nature in all its dimensions as male and female created in God's image and likeness, is the basis and foundation for human identity and human rights. As it pertains to our labors, without a reverence for the sanctity and nature of human life, no institution that claims to educate will be capable of properly forming and educating the human person--"a world that forgets that [life is a gift] is a world that has lost its soul."Thanks be to God, this reverence for life is at the heart of why we exist as Catholic schools. This is why Catholic education matters, and this is why this issue is so relevant to us in this time. We have the great opportunity of contributing to the formation of a generation of young followers of Jesus freed from the culture of death that pervades our world today--the leaders of tomorrow who will "make unconditional respect for human life the foundation of a renewed society," (Evangelium Vitae (25 March 1995) | John Paul II ).What a gift for us to be called by the Lord to take on the mission of being his agents of re-creation in the world at this time as institutions that confront the modern culture of death by giving a joyful counter-cultural witness of the sanctity of life. May we continue to recommit ourselves to this mission and may we continue to strive to live with the conviction that "darkness- it doesn’t get the final word."
Questions for prayerful reflection and consideration:
1) In what ways is our school giving witness to the sanctity of human life?2) In what ways can we continue to strengthen our witness to the sanctity of human life, and better assist our students in beholding reality as it truly is?3) In what ways can we strengthen our efforts to lovingly engage students where they are and lead them to truth, while protecting our school culture from influences that undermine our beliefs and can lead impressionable young minds and hearts to confusion?