Our Mission

The mission of the Respect Life Ministry is to promote an active respect for human life at all ages and stages. With much prayer, we work to maintain sensitivity and awareness of current human life issues: abortion, euthanasia, embryonic stem cell research, ethical medical treatment and advances. To this end, one of our goals is to educate, motivate and inspire parishioners so that we can further the building up of the Culture of Life, both within the Church and out into the wider community. All of us are called to participate at some level because these issues affect us all.  Join us at our monthly prayer vigils, in supporting our local crisis pregnancy centers, and in encouraging those wounded by abortion to find healing and restoration in the mercy of Jesus Christ. Contact us at Respect_Life@StStephenCatholic.org.

Respect Life Current Events

Join us on the second Saturday of each month for a prayer vigil outside the abortion mill in Tampa. All Women's “Health” Center of Tampa is located at 3330 West Kennedy Blvd, Tampa, FL 33609.

Join us on the second Saturday of each month to pray the Pro-Life Rosary after the 8:30 a.m. Mass.

40 Days for Life starts on September 22 and lasts until October 31. Please pray for the unborn and for an end to abortion. St. Stephen Catholic Church will host Pro-Life Rosary Decades every Sunday in October at the 7:30 a.m., 9:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. Masses. Please show up fifteen minutes prior to the morning Masses on the Sundays in October. Further, you can participate by joining the Life Chain on October 3 from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. We will be on the sidewalk in front of the church property on Boyette Road. Please wear a pink or blue t-shirt and signs will be provided. You can also participate by participating in the prayer vigil which will happen on October 9 at 2010 E. Fletcher Avenue in Tampa, FL from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. If you have any questions, please contact  respect_life@ststephencatholic.org.
 

Resources
 

Foundations of Life:  https://foundationsoflife.org/.

List of other Tampa Bay area LIFE resources are available at ht tp://embracelife911.org/pregnancy-centers.
 
ABORTION PILL REVERSAL – IT MAY NOT BE TOO LATE!   www.abortionpillreversal.com
(877) 558-0333

Rachel’s Vineyard,  www.RachelsVineyard.org, for confidential help with healing after abortion.

Support After Abortion,  www.SupportAfterAbortion.com.
  Catholic Charities Adoption Service  https://www.ccdosp.org/adoption-services/.
  For Natural Family Planning and Fertility Care Services please contact Linda MacKenzie at lmackfl@aol.com. You can also learn more about the program by emailing Fertilitycaretb@aol.com or call (813) 541-8517.

 

Tentative Schedule for the Year

Memorial Flag and Cross display on church property in honor of the unborn children aborted since the 1973 Supreme Court decision of Roe v Wade which legalized  abortion for any reason through all 9 months of pregnancy.     
            
Annual Baby Shower for local pregnancy care centers to assist pregnant and parenting mothers and families in need.

March for Life – Washington DC, St. Augustine and Tampa Bay.
  Pro-Life Stations of the Cross during Lent.
  Yard Sale for Life.

Easter.

Divine Mercy Sunday – Promote post-abortive healing opportunities for those wounded by abortion.
  Mother's Day.

National Day of Prayer.
  Father's Day.
  Stewardship Fair.
  Respect Life Month – Pro-Life decade of the Rosary at every Sunday Mass.

40 Days for Life.

Life Chain. Elections – Parish education on LIFE issues.

Foundations of Life Gala.
  Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Novena to St. Joseph, Protector of the Innocents.
Christmas.
Feast of the Holy Innocents.
 

 

Prayer for Life
Mary, bright dawn of the new world, Mother of the living, to you do we entrust the cause of life: Look down, O Mother, upon the vast numbers of babies not allowed to be born, of the poor whose lives are made difficult, of men and woman who are victims of brutal violence, of the elderly and sick killed by indifference or out of misguided mercy. Grant that all who believe in your Son may proclaim the Gospel of life with honesty and love to the people of our time. Obtain for them the grace to accept that Gospel as a gift ever new, the joy of celebrating it with gratitude throughout their lives and the courage to bear witness to it resolutely, in order to build, together with all people of good will, the civilisation of truth and love, to the praise and glory of God, the Creator and lover of life.   ~Pope John Paul II