Pro-Life Ministry

No Options, No Choice campaign continues: 

The Christian Medical and Dental Association of Canada (CMDA) wants to hear from Saskatchewan patients, families and healthcare professionals about their experiences with medically-provided death, known as “MAiD.” Ways to be involved:

  1. Share Your Story: Have you or someone you know had a concerning or difficult experience with MAiD (medically-provided euthanasia) in Saskatchewan? If something about your experience with MAiD concerned you, CMDA would like to hear about it. To share your story, visit the website at: https://cmdacanada.org/saskatchewan-experiences-with-maid-medical-assistance-in-dying/ or to discuss personally contact bmackinnon@cmdacanada.org or call 1-888-256-8653.
  2. Watch or share the CMDA presentation: The final stop of the “MAiD for You Tour” earlier this year was recorded in Regina and can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/live/GhnqXrJidRY?si=XBdR8K3dy0WpCbbD
  1. Pray for the No Options, No Choice campaign, for patients and families facing difficult healthcare decisions, for healthcare professionals seeking to provide compassionate care, and for Saskatchewan’s elected leaders as they consider these important questions.

Reverence for Life Sunday

Reverence for Life Sunday, Jan. 26, 2025- MESSAGE from Bishop Mark Hagemoen – Link

“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.” ~ Saint Pope John Paul II, Evangelium Vitae

Come celebrate the gift of life!  From its earliest stages to its final moments, human life shows us the wondrous love of our Creator God.  We are all called to respect, cherish and nurture this gift as we work together to bring God’s peace to our world.  We hope that you will use this website to explore the gift of life and to learn more about how you can celebrate with women and men who are embracing the challenge and gift of pregnancy.  Please join the Diocese of Saskatoon in spreading the joy of the gift of life!

Working with a diocesan Reverence for Life committee, Bishop Mark Hagemoen of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saskatoon each year declares the last Sunday of January as a Day of Prayer for Reverence for Life, on a date near to the anniversary of the Supreme Court’s January 1988 Morgentaler decision, which removed all legal limits to abortion in Canada.

2024 Reverence for Life Sunday homily:

Reverence for Life VIDEO –

Prayer for Reverence for Life

Almighty God, giver of all that is good, we thank you for the precious gift of human life:

For life in the womb, coming from your creative power, / For the life of children, making us glad with their freshness and promise, / For the life of young people, hoping for a better world, / For the life of people who are disabled, teaching us that every life has value, / For the life of the elderly, witnessing to the ageless values of patience and wisdom. / Like Blessed Mary, may we always say “yes” to Your gift. / Help us to realize the sacredness of human life and to respect and cherish it from conception to its natural end. / And bring us at last, O Father, to the fullness of eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord.

AMEN

Prière pour la révérence pour la vie

Dieu Tout-Puissant, donateur de tout ce qui est bon, nous te remercions pour le don précieux de la vie humaine:

Pour la vie dans le sein maternel, provenant de ton pouvoir créatif, / Pour la vie des enfants, nous rendant heureux de leur fraîcheur et de leur promesse, / Pour la vie des jeunes, espérant pour un monde formidable, / Pour la vie des personnes qui sont handicapées, nous apprenant que toute vie a de la valeur, / Pour la vie des personnes âgées, témoignant des valeurs intemporelles de patience et de sagesse. / Comme la bienheureuse Marie, puissions-nous toujours dire “oui” à Ton don. / Aide-nous à réaliser le caractère sacré de la vie humaine, à la respecter et à la chérir de la conception à sa fin naturelle. / Et amène-nous enfin, ô Père, à la plénitude de la vie éternelle en Jésus-Christ notre Seigneur

AMEN
Question about medical / health ethics? For information or inquiries related to health ethics, plese contact the Catholic Health Association of Saskatchewan (CHAS) ethicist, Dr. Mary Heilman at mary.heilman@saskhealthauthority.ca or call Dr. Heilman at (306) 655-5197.
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Using art and technology, Alexander Tsiaras visualizes the unseen human body.

 

Healing from abortion

Watch and be inspired as Shawna Arnold shares her powerful story of finding healing after abortion in this edition of “My Catholic Story.” For Shawna’s blog and book: LINK

* If you need to talk to someone confidentially about a past abortion, please visit Rachel’s Vineyard: Rachel’s Vineyard website

Unplanned Pregnancy?

“I’m pregnant…”

These words are met with such different reactions.

Scenario #1: “Honey, we’re pregnant.”

The husband jerks back and claps.  He smiles and through laughter and tears he celebrates, “Oh, baby, that’s wonderful!  This is the best news ever!   Thank God!  I’m going to be a dad!”

Scenario #2: “Mom.  Dad.  I’m pregnant.”

The parents grin and rush over squealing, “We’re going to be grandparents!”

Scenario #3: “I’m pregnant.”

Silence.  Boyfriend says nothing until the shock and fear dissipate, “Gee, I, uh, is it…what?  Like, is it mine?  What are you gonna do?  I’m not ready for this.  I thought you were using protection.  This can’t be happening.”

Pregnancy can be the most joyful news or a terrifying shock.  It can be the answer to many months of prayer and silent desire or something that couples avoid and protect against.

If you are pregnant, whether it is welcome news or not, please know:

  • You are loved. 
  • You are not alone. 
  • You are blessed. 

God has entrusted to you a child.  There are people in your family and community who love you and who will support you in your pregnancy.  They know you are scared and they want to help.

Congratulations and may God bless you…

For practical assistance in Saskatoon, contact:

Saskatoon Pregnancy Options and Support Centre

The Saskatoon Pregnancy Options and Support Centre is committed to providing generous support, education and acceptance to women and their families who are experiencing unplanned pregnancy, by striving to meet their emotional, spiritual and physical needs. Contact (306) 665-7550 or email: contact@saskatoonpregnancyoptions.com or use the texting service (answered after hours) at 306-261-2760. The centre is located at #107-2543 Dudley Street, Saskatoon. For more information see the SPOSC website: www.saskatoonpregnancy.com

Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide

How can we respond to the legalization of euthanasia in Canada?

Call to Conscience:

With physician-assisted suicide (euthanasia) now legal in Canada, healthcare practitioners and facilities in some provinces are in a compromised position. Those who cannot support assisted suicide or euthanasia because of their conscience, faith, or commitment to the Hippocratic Oath are forced to compromise their convictions. This is wrong.

The Coalition for Healthcare and Conscience is working to protect conscience rights of health care professionals: Canadians for Conscience

How to Get Involved:

Protection of Conscience: www.canadiansforconscience.ca/

Vulnerable Persons Standard: www.vps-npv.ca/

Euthanasia Prevention Coalition: www.epcc.ca

Finding the Gifts:

“Finding the Gifts” is a video project funded by the Knights of Columbus. The Communications and Education sub-committee of a Bishop’s Advisory Group produced the videos hoping to capture the gift of life and hope that can be found even in difficult circumstances. View the videos here:

 

Palliative Care

Suicide Prevention

L’Arche: a community of caring

Care for the Elderly

Dying Healed workshops:

The Dying Healed workshop teaches important issues about human suffering, human dignity and the power of human presence, as well as other end of life issues.

The workshop includes important pastoral and practical aspects of what to say, how to listen, and how to be with people who suffer illness, disability and loneliness. It is intended to be a preparatory training for those who would like to spend time with people who are elderly, ill, disabled and dying; those people who are the most vulnerable to the negative influences to Canada’s euthanasia and assisted suicide law.

Those interested in hosting a Dying Healed workshop can contact Jacqueline Saretsky at (306) 292-5531 or Email jsaretsky@rcdos.ca for more information.

Ongoing advocacy:

Catholic Bishops of Saskatchewan issue three texts related to the issue: 

The documents released Feb. 6, 2017 include:

  • A Pastoral Letter – Living Through Our Dying  – The bishops say that the Pastoral Letter is “addressed to our brothers and sisters in faith and all people who have the gift of life. Our aim with this letter was to initiate a dialogue with our culture, recognizing that many struggle to see our opposition to PAS as an expression of compassion. We wanted to articulate what we stand for (more than what we oppose), to recognize the challenge of placing our trust in God, and to extend the invitation to hope that our faith offers.”
  • A Pastoral Reflection – Jesus: the Word Who is Life  This text is directed towards parishioners, and could be used as a homily (for instance during Lent) or for catechetical purposes. It works from a paschal perspective, speaking of human dying under the headings of Jesus in our living, our dying and our hope for resurrection. The bishops say the Pastoral Reflection “situates the Paschal Mystery as the foundation of our understanding of the meaning of human dying. It is intended to be formative catechesis primarily for our own faithful, but it may well be of use to our Christian brothers and sisters as well.”
  • A set of guidelines for priests, deacons and laity providing pastoral care to the sick and dying – Care for the Dying: Pastoral Directives which the bishops say are “intended to give support and guidance to those ministering to people facing the end of their lives. It was our hope to write guidelines which would equip those in ministry to follow Jesus faithfully, while extending his invitation of faith and life to those tempted to choose the circumstances of their own death.”

The three texts were released Feb. 6, 2017 – exactly two years after the Supreme Court decision that struck down the ban on physician assisted suicide and euthanasia. The new reality came into effect across the country when Bill C-14 received royal assent in June 2016. The documents from the Catholic bishops of Saskatchewan were released to mark the World Day of the Sick, Feb. 11.

Other pastoral letters from the Saskatchewan bishops on issues raised by legalization of assisted suicide and euthanasia include:

Death with Dignity

FAQ – Video 1

FAQ – Video 2

 

 

 

Dying Healed workshops:

The Dying Healed workshop teaches important issues about human suffering, human dignity and the power of human presence, as well as other end of life issues.

The workshop includes important pastoral and practical aspects of what to say, how to listen, and how to be with people who suffer illness, disability and loneliness.

It is intended to be a preparatory training for those who would like to spend time with people who are elderly, ill, disabled and dying; those people who are the most vulnerable to the negative influences to Canada’s euthanasia and assisted suicide law.

Those interested in hosting a Dying Healed workshop are invited to contact Jacqueline Saretsky at (306) 292-5531 or e-mail jsaretsky@rcdos.ca for more information.

“Our Catholic faith is unwavering in its respect for and protection of human life from conception to natural death. We cannot and will not participate in or support euthanasia or physician assisted suicide, to which we are morally opposed… Trusting that God is present to and at work in every human life, we are called to minister generously to all who call on us, regardless of their faith, with a bias toward life and our understanding of it as God’s beautiful gift.”

– Catholic Bishops of Saskatchewan, Care for the Dying: Pastoral Guidelines in an Era of Physician Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia.

 

 

 

Community organizations addressing life issues:

Saskatoon Pregnancy Options Centre

The Saskatoon Pregnancy Options Centre is committed to providing generous support, education and acceptance to women and their families who are experiencing unplanned pregnancy, by striving to meet their emotional, spiritual and physical needs. Contact (306) 665-7550 or email: spoc@sasktel.net or visit the website at:  www.saskatoonpregnancy.com 

Rachel’s Vineyard

Rachel’s Vineyard is a safe place to renew, rebuild and redeem hearts broken by abortion. Weekend retreats offer you a supportive, confidential and non-judgmental environment where women and men can express, release and reconcile painful post-abortive emotions to begin the process of restoration, renewal and healing. Rachel’s Vineyard can help you find your inner voice. It can help you experience God’s love and compassion on a profound level. It creates a place where men and women can share, often for the first time, their deepest feelings about abortion. You are allowed to dismantle troubling secrets in an environment of emotional and spiritual safety. Rachel’s Vineyard is therapy for the soul. Participants, who have been trapped in anger toward themselves or others, experience forgiveness. Peace is found. Lives are restored. A sense of hope and meaning for the future is finally re-discovered. Find out more about this important healing ministry at: http://www.rachelsvineyard.org or for confidential information contact Elaine at (306) 480-8911 or e-mail: r.vineyardsk@sasktel.net

Pro-Life & Alliance for Life Saskatoon, Inc.

Contacts: afl@allianceforlifesaskatoon.ca,  St. Joseph’s Rectory, 535 – 8th Street East, Saskatoon, SK S7H 0P9 Ph: 642-2464, or Hugh Brennan, Ph: 306-975-0551

(If no one is available, please leave a message.) The office is open on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Alliance for Life Saskatoon is a local pro-life educational resource centre, focusing on abortion and euthanasia.  We provide videos, books, pamphlets and other resources free of charge to anyone in the community wishing to educate themselves or others on these issues.

Campaign Life Coalition Saskatchewan, Inc.

Campaign Life is a political action pro-life organization working at all levels of government to secure full legal protection for all innocent human life, including the handicapped, the aged, and the unborn child. Contact: Phone (306) 249-2764; E-Mail louis.roth@shaw.ca

Carlton Trail Pro-Life

Contact: David Millette – mr.millette19@gmail.com

Saskatchewan Pro-Life Association

The aim of the Saskatchewan Pro-Life Association is to promote respect for all human life from the moment of conception to natural death, through education and political lobbying.  Alliance for Life Saskatoon, Inc. and Saskatchewan Youth for Life are the local affiliates of the Saskatchewan Pro-Life Association. https://www.saskprolife.com

Saskatoon Pro-Life, Inc.

Contact: Marcel D’Eon (President), 2517 York  Avenue South, Saskatoon, SK  S7J 1J6 343-9252.

Serena Living in Harmony with Your Fertility

Contact: Annette Bentler, c/o Box 7375 Saskatoon, SK S7K 4J3
Ph: 934-8223 or 1-800-667-1637 website: www.serena.ca or e-mail: sask@serena.ca

Serena provides accurate information and complete instruction in Fertility Awareness and Natural Family Planning. They Sympto-thermal test as taught by Serena is extremely effective as a method of pregnancy prevention, yet free of side-effects commonly associated with contraceptive methods. Fertility Awareness is equally effective when used by couples wishing to onceive or by those experiencing difficulty conceiving, as a means to pinpoint the optimal fertile time for conception.

For more information, contact the Serena office at 934-8223 or if out of the Saskatooon telephone area, phone 1-800-667-1637.

NFP Saskatchewan – Natural Family Planning

The Natural Family Planning Association (Saskatchewan) is an non-profit organization whose purpose is to teach the Billings Ovulation Method of natural family planning.

The Billings Ovulation Method was developed by Drs. John and Evelyn Billings, and is used by millions of women around the world. It is based on awareness of the woman`s natural signs of fertility and infertility, unmodified by any chemical, mechanical, or other artificial means.The Billings Ovulation Method has been validated by eminent international scientists and verified as extremely effective by the World Health Organization.

The Method takes advantage of the biological fact that women are infertile more often than fertile throughout their reproductive years.  When a woman learns the Billings Ovulation Method, she learns to recognize the fertile and infertile phases within her menstrual cycle.  This knowledge can be used to become pregnant, avoid pregnancy, and to safeguard reproductive health.Scientific studies indicate that with proper instruction and motivation, the Billings Ovulation Method in actual practice is 99.64% effective.

For more information contact: NFP Saskatchewan, Box 3807, Humboldt, SK. S0K 2A0, (306) 682-7771, nfpsask@sasktel.net or see: www.nfpsask.ca

What Can I Do To Be Pro-Life?

  1. Be passionate about the dignity of every human person.
  2. Seek out new friendships with neighbours and those who are isolated or on the margins.
  3. Pray frequently personally and in groups that you are part of for the respect dignity and reception of all life.
  4. Include families, single parents, those who have had abortions your family’s life.
  5. Be inclusive of life at all stages.
  6. Share stories of how you have been blessed by the gift of life.
  7. Learn how to support women and families who have suffered a miscarriage through the Diocesan Office of Marriage and Family Life.
  8. Post and share resources, songs, poetry and art that celebrates life.
  9. Be an ambassador of life wherever you go!
  10. Stand in awe with what your brother or sister in Christ carries rather than in judgment.
  11. Smile at and congratulate expecting mothers.
  12. Never judge parents by how many or how few children they have.
  13. Attend pro-life rallies.
  1. Volunteer at a pro-life resource centre such as: Saskatoon Pregnancy Options.
  2. Organize a volunteer drive to provide for the needs of organizations.  Ex: diapers, bottles, formula, or clothing for the Food Bank.
  3. Donate to a pro-life charity or volunteer your time.
  4. Volunteer to babysit, clean, cook for a new parent(s)
  5. Students can choose projects and presentations that celebrate life to evangelize peers and teachers.
  6. Read pro-life books to children such as Dr. Sues, or “The One and Only Ever You”
  7. Learn about life and how to celebrate life through science, culture, history, the arts, nature and mostly through those on the margins.
  8. Stand up for people in conversations.
  9. Work together and hold respectful discussions especially with those of different viewpoints.
  10. Listen for the sake of listening, people need to be heard.
  11. Be hopeful!
  12. Live in joy!
  13. Thank God everyday for the gift of Life!