{"id":2595,"date":"2008-11-11T15:39:00","date_gmt":"2008-11-11T15:39:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/2008\/11\/you-thank-the-lord-today-for-the-gift-of-your-child.html"},"modified":"2008-11-11T15:39:00","modified_gmt":"2008-11-11T15:39:00","slug":"you-thank-the-lord-today-for-the-gift-of-your-child","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/11\/you-thank-the-lord-today-for-the-gift-of-your-child.html","title":{"rendered":"“You thank the Lord today for the gift of your child…”"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is a not-insignificant development<\/a> down at the bishop’s gathering in Baltimore — and one that we can only hope will have far-reaching acceptance and implications: <\/p>\n

In a gesture with clear implications for debates over abortion, the U.S. bishops this morning voted on a new \u201cOrder for the Blessing of a Child in the Womb,\u201d in both English and Spanish.<\/p>\n

Though results of the vote were not immediately released, and the text will eventually require the approval of the Vatican, it seemed clear the bishops were positively inclined. Plans call for the text to be included in future editions of the church\u2019s Book of Blessings.<\/p>\n

In part, the blessing reads: \u201cMay almighty God, who has created new life now bless the child in your womb. The Lord has brought you the joy of motherhood: may he now bless you with a safe and healthy pregnancy. You thank the Lord today for the gift of your child: may he bring you and your child one day to share in the unending joys of heaven.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also an optional blessing for parish communities which reads in part: \u201cMay God bless this parish community as it welcomes the gift of new life and joyfully accepts the responsibility of sharing in the spiritual formation of this child (or children).\u201d<\/p>\n

In brief floor discussion, Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville argued that the blessing is \u201ca very tangible way to witness pastorally and sacramentally to the life of the unborn child.\u201d Kurz also suggested that the prayer could be used not only on an individual basis, but by parishes bringing together couples who are expecting children for public ceremonies of blessing.<\/p>\n

Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, president of the conference, called it a \u201cvery moving blessing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bishop Michael Pfeifer suggested that the conference eventually designated a nationwide Day of Prayer for the unborn.<\/p>\n

In part, these gestures suggest a “full-court press” from the bishops in terms of fostering a strong pro-life sensibility in the church.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is a not-insignificant development down at the bishop’s gathering in Baltimore — and one that we can only hope will have far-reaching acceptance and implications: In a gesture with clear implications for debates over abortion, the U.S. bishops this morning voted on a new \u201cOrder for the Blessing of a Child in the Womb,\u201d…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":204,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-links-r-us","category-the-pope-and-bishops"],"yoast_head":"\n"You thank the Lord today for the gift of your child..." - The Deacon's Bench<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/11\/you-thank-the-lord-today-for-the-gift-of-your-child.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\""You thank the Lord today for the gift of your child..." - 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Prior to that, Deacon Greg worked for 26 years as a writer and producer for CBS News, where he contributed to \"The CBS Evening News with Katie Couric,\" \"60 Minutes II,\" \"48 Hours,\" (Emmy Award, Writers Guild of America Award) and \"Sunday Morning.\" He was co-writer for the acclaimed documentary \"9\/11,\" hosted by Robert DeNiro. (Emmy Award, Christopher Award, Peabody Award, Writers Guild of America Award.) His radio essays were featured in the bestselling book \"Deadlines and Datelines\" by Dan Rather. He's also a two-time winner of the Catholic Press Association Award. Other places you may find him: AMERICA, U.S. CATHOLIC, CATHOLIC DIGEST, REALITY (Redemptorist Communications) and THE BROOKLYN TABLET. He also contributes homiletic reflections to the parish resource CONNECT!, published by Liturgical Publications. In November 2009, he began serving a three-year term as a consultant to the Communications Committee of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). Deacon Greg grew up in Maryland (Go Terps!) but he and his wife today live in the beautiful borough of Queens, New York. You can contact Deacon Greg at dcngreg@gmail.com.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/author\/gkandra"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2595","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/204"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2595"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2595\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}