Workshop to focus on sanctity of life issues

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Aden Batar

SALT LAKE CITY — As part of the diocesan pro-life efforts, the Office of Marriage and Family life will be offering a Respect for the Dignity of Life workshop on Jan. 27.

“Our bishop really wants to get the message through that whenever we look at another person we are looking at an image of God,” said Veola Burchett, director of the Office of Marriage and Family Life.

Burchett emphasized that everyone is created in God’s image.

“We don’t only need to give everyone respect as human persons but as a reflection of God in the world,” she said, explaining that God’s image takes many forms, including that of an unborn child, a person who has mental or physical challenges, a beautiful model, an elderly person or a refugee or immigrant.

“God is infinite in the way he presents to us,” she said.

This year’s workshop will have three main presenters: Fr. Christopher Gray, parochial vicar of the Cathedral of the Madeleine; Jean Hill, the diocesan government liaison and director of the Peace & Justice Commission; and Aden Batar, director of Immigration and Refugee Resettlement for Catholic Community Services of Utah.

Fr. Gray’s presentation will be based on the consistent Catholic teaching about the sanctity of life from conception to natural death.

“Our teaching on dignity of life has never changed,” Burchett said. “Our Church has always been consistent that we must value life from the womb to natural death and in that time period all life must be taken care of, all life must be valued and appreciated, respected, nurtured and cared for. That’s what Fr. Gray is going to talk about.”

Hill’s presentation will cover issues pertaining to Catholic social teaching that will be discussed during the 2018 Utah State Legislative session.

“She is going to speak on the life issues that are going to be brought up in the state legislature; on how we can help in the progression of those issues that help with life issues that support families in poverty, that support the homeless, and support the ill and the underserved – basically those living on the edges,” Burchett said.

Batar will speak about immigrants and refugees and will also share his personal story as a refugee resettled in Utah.

“In today’s atmosphere we are looking at immigrants and refugees as ‘them’ as opposed to ‘us,’ and we look at them as drains on our society,” Burchett said. She gave examples of how some people think that if refugees or immigrants receive any governmental assistance “somehow we won’t have enough to eat … that we won’t have a roof above our heads; that  if we provide them with a roof, if we give them a coat, somehow we lose our coat, rather than recognizing that we still have our coats and a roof on our heads.”

However, the gifts and talents of immigrants and refugees enhance the community, she said.

“What they bring to us sometimes outweighs what we give to them,” said Burchett, adding that “We are Catholics. Our way is to … respect people no matter their stages of life or where they come from, or what language they speak.”

 WHAT: Respect for the Dignity of Life workshop

WHEN: Jan. 27, 9 a.m. – 1 p.m.

WHERE: St. Joseph the Worker Parish, 7405 S. Redwood Road, West Jordan

COST: $20 per person; includes breakfast

All are welcome. Registration deadline is Jan. 25; visit https://www.dioslc.org/about-us/diocese-calendar/40-respect-for-the-dignity-of-life/individual-registration