Gatherings and events for Respect Life and Respect Life-related issues are held at St. Mel Parish and various other locations in the area and throughout the year. If you would like to announce or post an event (a book reading, lecture series, performance, movie etc.), please let us know about it in advance. 

(St. Mel Respect Life Ministry reserves the right to edit or not publish any events we do not feel to be appropriate to our audience.)

Friday, January 4, 2008, 11:00 AM: First Friday. A one hour special memorial during the Respect Life Holy Hour at St. Mel Church to pray for the unborn. Download the Adobe flyer by clicking here.

Friday - Sunday, January 18 - January 20, 2008: Rachel's Vineyard Retreat in Los Angeles, California;

A Rachel's Vineyard weekend is a chance to get away from all the daily pressures of work and family and focus on this painful time in your life through a supportive and non-judgmental process. The time away provides an opportunity to deeply enter the grieving process and identify all the ways your abortion may have effected you.

Local Host: Rachel's Vineyard Los Angeles; Contact Christine Lowe 866-2-RACHEL rvla.christine@gmail.com and go to: www.rachelsvineyard-la.org

Saturday, January 19, 2008, 6:00 PM: Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, 555 West Temple Street, Los Angeles, CA, officeofthearchbishop@la-archdiocese.org

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles Celebrates Life with the Annual Shantigarh Requiem for the Unborn Mass & Memorial Candle Service. This inspiring Mass is the high point of the many commemorative Pro-Life activities held during January. Please make every effort to attend. Pastors and school principals are asked to encourage parish and school families to attend. For further information contact John Bonaduce at Shantigarh@aol.com

Saturday & Sunday, January 19-20, 2008: Anniversary of Roe-v-Wade - At all Masses we will be distributing helium filled balloons that are printed with “All Life is Precious” to children after Masses, one page flyer will be available to adults that explains the historical significance of the activity; Parental Notification Petition will be available as well for signature www.friendsofsarah.com.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008, 6:30 PM: Divine Mercy Pro Life Mass for the Unborn will be celebrated by Fr.Tom Cusack Click for more information

Sunday, May 13, 2008: Mother's Day - An annual event, Get On The Bus* offers free transportation for the children and their caregivers to the prison, provides travel bags for the children, comfort bags for the caregivers, a photo of each child with his or her parent, and meals for the day (breakfast, snacks on the bus, a special lunch at the prison with their parent and dinner on the way home), all at no cost to the children’s family.  On the bus trip home, following a four hour visit, each child receives a teddy bear with a letter from their parent and post-event counseling.

* Friday, May 9, 2008 – From various cities in California to the following prisons:
o California Institution for Women (CIW) – Corona, CA
o Central California Women’s Facility (CCWF) – Chowchilla, CA
o Valley State Prison for Women (VSPW) – Chowchilla, CA
o Ventura Youth Correctional Facility (VYCF) – Camarillo, CA

Sunday, September 7, 2008 : Grandparents Day. National Grandparents Day is a United States secular holiday celebrated on the first Sunday after Labor Day. Come join us in celebrating and commerating the lives of our elderly, infirmed and disabled, who enrich our lives in so many ways.

Month of October 2008: Respect Life Month - 31 days of prayer, education, pastoral care and events focused on all Respect Life issues. Events include daily Masses devoted to Respect Life issues, special articles distributed to our schools, RCIA, and ministries, published reference materials and contact information in our vestibule, speakers, and gatherings to facilitate discussions.

October 16 And November 20: Respected Moral Theologian Here, Fr. Richard Benson, C.M., a moral theologian and frequent contributor to The Tidings, will be speaking at St. Mel on Thursday, October 16 and Thursday, November 20. The October 16 presentation is entitled: “Embracing Our Dying: Catholic Morality for End of Life Dilemmas”. This presentation will review Catholic teaching on end of life care. It will review the distinction between ordinary and extraordinary care, discuss the morality of pain control and the use of artificial nutrition and hydration. Catholic teaching makes it clear that euthanasia and suicide are seriously evil, at the same time, terminal patients and their families are often faced with difficult choices. Many Catholics and their families want to know if every medical procedure, even those that seem overly burdensome, is morally required by the Church. This presentation will address all these issues. Fr. Benson is a Vincentian Father, a member of the Congregation of the Mission, Province of the West. He has served at St. John’s Seminary, full time, since 1993. Currently he is the Academic Dean and Chair of the Moral Theology Department.

Right to Life League of Southern California:  Vickie Thorn to Lead Trainings in Southern California, Thursday, November 20, through Saturday, November 22: Ms. Vickie Thorn founded Project Rachel, a ministry bringing healing to those who have been involved in or affected by abortion.  Priests and counselors across the country have been trained to deal sensitively with those who come to that ministry.  Ms. Thorn will conduct a series of one-day trainings in Southern California to train additional priests and counselors:

Thursday, November 20, from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., at St. Bede the Venerable Parish, in La Canada  (Archdiocese of Los Angeles)
Friday, November 21, from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., at the Pastoral Center in San Bernardino  (Diocese of San Bernardino)
Saturday, November 22, from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., at Marywood Center in Orange  (Diocese of Orange)

For more information, please contact the Right to Life League of Southern California at (626) 398-6100 or at:  http://www.RightToLifeLeague.com