The people of the Central Coast region involved in Respect Life ministry are always going to be active when it comes to protesting abortion. But in this vast area that stretches across two dioceses, from Lompoc to Paso Robles, "respect life" has a wider meaning.

Like, for example, helping a young family that was to be evicted from its home, after the expectant wife had lost her job and the husband's salary wasn't enough to meet a rent increase. The pro-life community made an appeal that raised $7,000 to pay for court fees and first month's rent in a new home, helped them get financial counseling, and helped the husband get a new job at a higher salary.

There was also the mother of 10, desperate for something so simple as sleep. A parish women's group organized a "grandmas brigade" to help babysit the younger children during the daytime so the mother could rest.

And so on, and so on.

"Abortion is an important issue, but it's not the only issue we address," says Dick McGreevy, a parishioner at St. Louis de Montfort Church, Orcutt, and chair of the ecumenical Right to Life of the Central Coast group that encompasses churches in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo Counties.

"We look for opportunities to get people involved in activities that are positive, pro-life statements. Maybe someone can't attend a planning meeting every month, but he can give two hours of his time on a specific day to staff a fundraiser booth, or participate in a walk. Everyone can help somehow; everyone can be pro-life."

Multiple activities
Central Coast Right to Life engages in a variety of activities throughout the year. Among them:

---participation in the upcoming Walk for Life Central Coast, an interfaith event scheduled Oct. 24 in San Luis Obispo (see sidebar). The walk was inspired by the event held in San Francisco in January, commemorating the anniversary of Roe vs. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that led to legalized abortion.

---participation (for more than 20 years) in a prolife Prayer Walk, starting from Santa Maria City Hall and ending at a Planned Parenthood clinic a half-mile away.

---sponsoring a cake sale on Respect Life Sunday in October and a See's Candy sale at Christmastime to support prolife agencies.

---collecting "baby bottles" filled with loose change to support pregnancy counseling centers.

---participating in walks and motorcycle rides to raise funds in support of CareNet Pregnancy Support and Resource Center in Santa Maria.

---sending more than 15,000 postcards from the region to protest the proposed Freedom of Choice Act.

---promoting prolife programs and activities suggested by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

---staffing prolife booths at the Mid-State Fair in Paso Robles (assisted by the Monterey Diocese), the Santa Barbara County Fair in Santa Maria, the Ventura County Fair in Ventura and the Strawberry Festival in Oxnard .

---holding occasional potluck dinners to enable those in the prolife ministry to better get to know one another.

---offering training to sidewalk counselors who minister at local abortion clinics.

---hosting presentations on sexually-transmitted diseases for school counselors, teens and parents in the area.

---ministering to youth at a local juvenile detention center, in collaboration with those who work in detention ministry, "to let these youth know that they are children of God, that they are loved," says McGreevy.

Additionally, as indicated at the beginning of the article, Right to Life members respond as needed to situations that may not fit precisely in what some would consider the respect life template (abortion, euthanasia, embryonic stem-cell research, physician-assisted suicide), but which nonetheless indicate a respect for all life, born and unborn.

Support for efforts
Through all of their activities, especially those that bring them into the public eye, "we receive very little grief," smiles McGreevy, "even at the County Fair. I think in 11 years here, I've seen maybe one or two adverse reactions from someone who came by the booth and disagreed with what we were doing. Maybe there's a funny look from someone now and then. But for the most part, we are received very favorably."

A quarterly newsletter is mailed to 125 different churches and groups in the Central Coast area, in which current life issues are addressed and prolife resources are provided. This, says McGreevy, is a service to not only the people of the area, but to church leaders.

"Pastors have so many demands on their time," he notes, "so we try to save them as much time as possible by providing information and resources that they can more easily share with their people."

The summer issue carried an article that detailed sidewalk counseling success stories, and another that reported on a newspaper story that addressed an increase in abortions because of the economic downturn.

"We find that many abortions happen because people think they have no other option," says McGreevy. "It's our job to let people know that, yes, there are other options, and here is what and where they are, so that they can make a better choice in favor of life, that they don't have to rely on Planned Parenthood. That kind of support appeals to pastors."

Lifelong commitment
McGreevey --- a graduate of St. Anthony High, Long Beach, and Loyola University, Los Angeles --- has worked in prolife ministry at parishes in Nebraska and California, both during and following his 28 years of service in the U.S. Air Force.

"We spent close to 30 years in Nebraska doing prolife ministry, prolife marches and so on," he recalls. "Then we moved to Riverside County, and at our parish in Moreno Valley we saw there was a need for organization in getting a handle on prolife efforts. I mentioned that to the pastor." He chuckles. "Same old story --- the pastor says, 'O.K., you're it.' And we got ourselves organized."

Eleven years ago, McGreevy and his wife Diane moved to Orcutt (south of Santa Maria), and became involved in parish respect life ministry at St. Louis de Montfort.

"It's a very rewarding ministry, and it is especially rewarding to see it grow and embrace so many people," he says.

In January, St. Louis de Montfort will reprise its White Cross Project for two weeks, in which crosses representing babies who were aborted are set up on the lawn of the parish. "We had 1,000 last year," McGreevy notes. "We're hoping the year will come when we won't have to have any."

For information, write to Right to Life of the Central Coast, PO Box 2611, Santa Maria, CA 93457.

Central Coast Walk for Life set Oct. 24 in San Luis Obispo

The Walk for Life Central Coast --- an interfaith, pro-life event --- is scheduled to begin Oct. 24, 11 a.m. at the Mission College Prep Gymnasium in San Luis Obispo.

Featured speakers include abortion survivor Gianna Jessen and pro-life advocate Rev. Dr. Clendard Childress Jr. of New Jersey followed by a walk through downtown San Luis Obispo in a peaceful demonstration of the commitment to human life, before returning to the Mission Prep Gym.

The walk will be followed by prayer vigils at various churches and temples in San Luis Obispo, including a Mass and rosary at 3 p.m. at Old Mission San Luis Obispo with Bishop Richard Garcia of Monterey presiding.

Gianna Jessen has spent most of her life traveling the world and telling her story. Her biological mother procured a saline abortion in her third trimester and Gianna was subsequently born premature, weighing only two pounds with Cerebral Palsy. While she now walks with a slight limp, she now competes in marathons, including the London Marathon in April 2006. The author of "Gianna: Aborted --- and Lived to Tell About It," she has addressed the House of Commons in England and presented testimony before the U.S. Supreme Court in Cahart v. Gonzales.

Rev. Childress of Montclair, N.J., is a Baptist minister and director of the Life, Education And Resource Network (LEARN. In 1998 he founded the Celebration of Life Daycare Center, which provides compassionate care for children from infancy to age five. In 2003 Rev. Childress was appointed to the National Pro-Life Religious Council of Washington, D.C. He is the author of "No Shepherd's Cry," published in 2006.

For additional information, call (805) 239-1597 or visit www.walkforlifecc.com. Donations may be sent to Walk for Life Central Coast, PO Box 615, Atascadero, CA 93423.