Monument declares parish is pro-life

By Bert Galipeau
Special to The Catholic Free Press

BLACKSTONE – A new pro-life monument was blessed at St. Paul Parish after the 4 p.m. Mass Saturday. Afterwards, parishioners asked about joining the parish’s pro-life team.
Team members had given suggestions for how to express on a monument why they were supporting the pro-life agenda. Murray Monument & Stone Company here helped a team member design the monument, and carved and installed it. An anonymous donor paid for it.
The monument sits beside the church on a canopy-covered patio. A bench from another part of the property was moved there, forming a little prayer area.
But why a pro-life monument?
A group of parishioners active in the pro-life movement believed a stronger statement of the parish’s position on life was needed.
The need for action could be found by looking to Vermont and Maine, which have legalized assisted suicide; Rhode Island, which codified access to abortion, and Massachusetts, where attempts are being made to expand access to abortion.
St. Paul’s pro-life team wanted to state how their parish was different. They were actively promoting life but sought prayer and participation from more parishioners.
The idea of a monument stating St. Paul Parish’s goals for supporting its pro-life position began to evolve and eventually was carved in stone.    
Inspiration came after reflection on the Gospels which tell of many plots to take Jesus’ life. His life was reduced to a “problem.” The suggested solution to this “problem” was the taking of his life.
The monument will serve as a reminder that people need never forget what has happened and continues to happen daily in society, when life is judged to be a “problem.”
The finished monument states that St. Paul’s is a pro-life parish, which means it supports any activity to respect, protect, love and serve life – every human life. The parish publicly declares its condemnation of a number of attacks on human life, including abortion, euthanasia, willful self-destruction and assisted suicide.     
The pro-life team will make available information to aid parishioners in making good moral decisions about pro-life issues. And it will make it known that God is merciful and forgives all sins.
The team’s guide will be from Pope John Paul II’s encyclical “The Gospel of Life” (“Evangelium Vitae”) which says: “To all the members of the Church, the people of life and for life, I make this most urgent appeal, that together we may offer this world of ours new signs of hope, and work to ensure that justice and solidarity will increase and that a new culture of human life will be affirmed, for the building of an authentic civilization of truth and love.”
The monument will not be just a passive monument to remember the past. The inscription on the back says: “This monument is erected to the memory of those innocents who have died unjustly. From Isaiah 49:15 we learn a mother may forget her infant, but God will never forget you.”
But the monument will be an active monument, to encourage all to build a new, authentic, civilization of truth, love and peace. The parish will be true to the statement on the front: “The Church of St. Paul. A pro-life parish. We do not apologize nor waiver on our support of pro-life issues. Every child brings us God’s smile.”

– Bert Galipeau is a member of St. Paul’s pro-life team, along with Pauline Lariviere, leader, and Suzanne Clark, Phil Dunlavey and Lynne Wigglesworth.  Photos by Bert Galipeau