Lack of resources is the number one fear that women identify when facing unexpected pregnancies.  Click on the image to connect with people and organizations that want to help support you with the resources you need to feel empowered and hopeful for your future…because you and your baby matter.

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Life Matters: Marriage, the Sanctuary of Life

St. Michael is a “Walking with Moms” parish, which means that we can provide emotional, material, and spiritual support to pregnant women. When a pregnant woman in crisis is matched to our parish we have Respect Life volunteers in place and ready to accompany her and help find solutions for both short-term needs and long-term concerns. Archbishop Naumann articulated the following in a January 2020 homily, “Our goal…is to take concrete steps to expand the help available to mothers, not only during the pregnancy but for months and even years after the child’s birth. We want to do everything possible to help both mother and child, not only survive but thrive.”

About Walking With Moms
Pregnant and parenting moms in need are in our parishes and neighborhoods.  As Pope Francis reminds us, our parishes should be “islands of mercy in the midst of the sea of indifference.” Everyone in our parish community should know where to refer a pregnant woman in need. 

On March 25, 2020, the Church celebrated the 25th anniversary of the papal encyclical Evangelium vitae (The Gospel of Life).  This anniversary gives us a wonderful opportunity to assess, expand and better share the resources available to pregnant women and families in need at our parish level.  We invite all parishioners to join the “Walking With Moms” initiative and a year of service. 
 
As part of the archdiocese Walking with moms initiative, the SMA Respect Life Committee will work to meet the needs of the Gabriel Project which is the support arm for Walking with Moms.

Gabriel Project is a ministry of the Archdiocesan Pro-Life Office providing help to pregnant women in need. Through the Gabriel Project the mother can receive the spiritual, material, and emotional support she needs to choose life for her baby and an empowered, healthy future for herself. 

Click here to learn how to volunteer to be an Angel and mentor a pregnant woman in crisis.
 
At St. Michael, we are building a team of volunteers who can be available when needs such as these arise from the Gabriel Project that will in turn support Walking with Moms:
● sewing
● knitting/crocheting
● meal train
● pop-up baby shower
 
If you’d like to join our team, please contact Cassie Myers for more information.

Foster Care Support - The Church is the answer.

Foster Care statistics are eye-opening. In Kansas, 7,484 children are in foster care, and there are about 2,000 foster homes. In Douglas, Wyandotte & Johnson Counties, just over 1,350 children are living in group homes. In Johnson County, about 25 children per month are removed from their homes, and 5-10 children per night are in one-night placements while long-term care is located. Nationally, upon aging out of the system, 1/3 will become homeless, 1/5 will become incarcerated, and a large percentage become victims of trafficking.

Are you a foster family, is God placing fostering on your heart, or are you feeling called to serve the foster community? If you are a foster family or discerning fostering, please let us know. Our parish family wants to provide you emotional, material, and spiritual support. If you feel called to volunteer, St. Michael recently signed up to participate with Care Portal, a platform that connects material needs of foster children and families to the community with real-time opportunity to respond.

Foster Care Prayer
God our Father, through the loving sacrifice of your son, Jesus Christ, you have given a home to us and all the forsaken.   Give us the eyes of Christ to see the vulnerable children and families in our midst. Give us hearts that break for what breaks the heart of Jesus.  Encouraged by the example of St. Joseph, foster father of the Lord, enflame us with the compassion of your Holy Spirit to make our homes and parishes places of love, support and protection for kids in crisis and their families.

Are you a Foster Family, or Is God putting Fostering on your heart?  We are looking to support you! 
Please contact Desiree Greco, Parish Life Coordinator at [email protected].

For information on the need in Kansas and in Johnson County, visit: https://archkcks.com/foster/safe-love. 

Respite Care

Click here to learn how to become certified to offer respite care for foster families.

Mission

To promote the value of life from conception to natural death through prayer, education and financial support. Our focus will be on creating increased awareness of the issues of today that are eroding the value of life and the liberty of conscience through education of our parishioners and the surrounding community.

Primary Goals 

1. Grow our active membership and increase participation in Respect Life activities
2. Provide ongoing Respect Life educational opportunities
3. Increase our public witness to life within our families, the parish, our community and that nation at large

Recurring Events  

Pro-Life Rosary: The 1^st Saturday of every month held outside an abortion clinic, 4401 W. 109th Street at 9:00 a.m. after 8:15 a.m. Mass.

Life Chain: The first Sunday in October, a nationwide, peaceful hour of prayer on the sidewalk to support the dignity of and right to life. 

Rose Weekend: Typically the 3^rd weekend of January.  Roses to commemorate the anniversary of Roe vs. Wade.

40 Days for Life: St. Michael has two days in the Spring and the Fall to sign up for this peaceful prayer time on the sidewalk outside a local abortion clinic. 

Baby Bottle Drive: Between Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, baby bottles are distributed and then collected to raise money for local pregnancy crisis centers.  This effort is coordinated by the St. Michael Knights of Columbus. 

Pro-Life Dinners: St. Michael hosts tables at the annual dinners for the local pregnancy centers.  Wyandotte/Olathe Pregnancy Center and Advice and Aid Pregnancy Center. All parishioners are invited and encouraged to attend. 

Respect Life Resources

Prayer for Life

Eternal God, source of all life, you have created us in your own divine image.  By the power of the Holy Spirit, your Son became flesh and revealed to us the sanctity of all life.  Grant, we implore you.

Protect all unborn children; Guide and support all expectant parents; Comfort the aged, the sick and the dying; Strengthen prisoners, especially those awaiting execution, and their victims. Bring peace to our world, torn apart by war, terrorism, and countless acts of violence against life.

May the St. Michael community bear witness to a seamless culture of life and so value the dignity and worth of every human being, from conception to natural death.  Grant this through Christ our Lord. Amen.