Guest column: Catholic church is more than 'pro-life.' We support women.

Count me among the many who are grateful for the recent Dobbs decision from our Supreme Court. I attended my first March for Life rally in D.C. in 1982, as a Cardinal Stritch Catholic High School student traveling from Oregon, Ohio.

The Catholic Church’s "pro-life" position has held steady for over two millennia. Although certainly anti-abortion, it is so much more. To be "pro-life" is to respect human life from conception to natural death — for the frightened mom in a crisis pregnancy, to the father (present or absent), to the newly conceived human life in the womb. To be "pro-life" is to be for the widow, the orphan, the immigrant, the refugee, the inmate on death row, the mentally ill, the addicted — indeed, for all of humanity, those with visible brokenness noted above, and all the rest of us (myself included) whose brokenness might not be as apparent to others. To be "pro-life" is to will the good of the other in the fullest sense of that term, not simply the most "expedient."

The Catholic Church, peopled as it is with imperfect persons, occupies the "pro-life" space firmly, with compassion and mercy at the forefront. In Oklahoma alone, our Catholic Church has multiple nonprofit hospital systems, Catholic schools open to and serving all, prison ministry, the Center of Family Love in Okarche serving adults with developmental disabilities, Willow Pregnancy Support, the Gospel of Life Dwellings for end-of-life care, Saint Ann’s and St. Katharine Drexel retirement centers, and more. Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City also provides life-affirming services to people of all faiths or no faith: Immigration services, refugee resettlement, adoption & crisis pregnancy, counseling, homeless services, rent/utility assistance, disaster recovery and much more.

Each Catholic parish, in addition to liturgical and sacramental roles, also has its own menu of ministries, whether food pantries, services to the home-bound and more. One such ministry is called Project Gabriel, a confidential, compassionate parish-based ministry, that helps women struggling with unplanned pregnancies.

This ministry began in Houston in 1973, when the pastor of St. Michael Parish put a sign outside the rectory that read, “If you will have your baby, this parish will help you in every way.” Not every Catholic parish across Oklahoma has a formal Project Gabriel ministry — but any and every parish can connect women seeking help with their pregnancy to Catholic Charities or parishes that do formally have that ministry. Project Gabriel, partnering with local agencies such as Willow, Infant Crisis Center, Catholic Charities and more, uses local, trained mentors to engage and assist women in need of resources, supplies and emotional and spiritual support. These trained volunteers offer what women have always offered one another (as sisters, friends or neighbors) since pregnancy began: loving presence and support.

We celebrate and promote life even when circumstances are difficult, because there is no life that doesn’t have moments of difficulty. With love and support, difficult moments pass, and the blessing of life recognized, shared and multiplied.

Patrick J. Raglow is the executive director of Catholic Charities Archdiocese of Oklahoma City.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Opinion: Catholic church is more than 'pro-life.' We support women.