Respect Life Mass illuminates, inspires need for courage, presence, prayer
Bishop Michael Olson celebrates the Respect Life Mass at Holy Redeemer Church in Aledo on Jan. 22, 2026. (NTC/Juan Guajardo)
ALEDO — Bishop Michael Olson encouraged the faithful to follow the example of the Good Shepherd and protect the most vulnerable members of society in remarks made at the annual Respect Life Mass on Jan. 22 at Holy Redeemer Parish in Aledo.
More than 150 people attended the bilingual Mass. The group included many individuals working to protect life from conception to natural death. The altar was adorned with roses representing children lost to abortion.
“Tonight, we gather around the altar and we encounter the Lord Jesus, the Good Shepherd, in Word and in sacrament,” the bishop said in his homily. “We are nourished by His very Body and Blood that transforms us. He is here tonight with us, and He places in our midst a child — the child that is overlooked and neglected and hated because he is viewed as nothing more as than an inconvenience to success. He breaks apart a system by showing us the dignity of the human person, in the weakest among us.
“Let us pray for the wisdom to recognize Him present in the child and let us also ask Him for the courage to stand on behalf of the one who is not considered worthy of our attention. And that we go and find them and protect them for the sake of His Kingdom.”
The annual Respect Life Mass has been celebrated in the Diocese of Fort Worth for at least 15 years. The recent Mass was the first time it was held at Holy Redeemer.
“Most of the time it’s at St. Patrick [Cathedral in Fort Worth], but occasionally we will have it at another parish,” said Terri Schauf, the Respect Life coordinator for the diocese. “If you’re able to have it at a different parish that’s a little bit farther away, that makes it possible for people who would like to come, who maybe can’t travel to St. Patrick. And, we do have a few pro-life leaders in the parish in Aledo that I thought would be grateful to have it at their parish.”
The timing of the Mass and reception that follows is the same each year, said Schauf.
“The Respect Life Mass always falls around this date,” she said. “January 22 is the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, which is the court case that legalized abortion in the U.S. Abortion became legal Jan. 22, 1973.
“Sometimes people ask, ‘Well, why are we still doing this, because Roe v. Wade was overturned. Abortion is illegal in Texas.’
“Obviously, Respect Life doesn’t just touch on abortion. It is the primary issue with regard to Respect Life. But even though abortion is illegal in Texas now, abortions are still happening. Women in Texas are going to other states like Kansas to get abortion pills or to get abortions and they’re still coming back to our state in need of help. It may not be happening within our borders the way it was before, but women are still being harmed, babies are still dying. We also have the Mass to remember the almost 64 million babies that have died since Roe.”
The altar at Holy Redeemer cradled 64 red roses, each representing one million lives lost. A ‘Book of the Innocents’ was on display, which listed the names of known babies lost to abortion in the diocese, from parents who went through a healing retreat through Rachel Ministries.
The diocesan’s Respect Life office helps support different initiatives like Rachel Ministries, pregnancy centers, and the Gabriel Project that pairs up expectant mothers with a supportive adult. The office also informs, educates, and assists those wishing to volunteer.
“We’re grateful to Bishop Olson for having this Mass every year and for his strength when it comes to the life issues. He’s a great leader in that regard, spiritually, but also through his knowledge,” Schauf said.
During his homily, Bishop Olson explored the messages of the readings chosen for the Respect Life Mass.
“The prophet Isaiah speaks to us today in our first reading,” he said. “‘Listen, distant peoples, before birth, the Lord called me. From my mother’s womb, He gave me my name.’
“We are known by our name, by the Lord, even before our parents give us our names. Our fathers and mothers, who give us our name, as instruments of the Lord’s love — free and willing instruments of the Lord’s love in transmitting the gift of human life. That is not just simply a biological force, but is most especially a divine gift.”
The Mass was moving for Jennifer Guiliani, who lives near Aledo.
“I was a Protestant who converted,” she said, “and I was pro-choice for a very long time, and this was a very huge sticking point for me when I first converted. It has gone completely the other direction now. I am very, very pro-life and it was important for me to be here for that Mass.”
Bishop Olson further encouraged the faithful in their mission by recounting a homily from yesteryear.
“As Pope St. John Paul II courageously reminded us in his landmark homily preached in 1979 on the mall of the United States Capitol, ‘Much remains to be done to support those whose lives are wounded and to restore hope to those who are afraid of life. Courage is needed to resist pressures and false slogans, to proclaim the supreme dignity of all life, and to demand that society itself give it its protection.’
“As he quoted a distinguished American, Thomas Jefferson, [who] once stated: The care of human life and happiness — and not their destruction — is the just and only legitimate object of good government.”
It’s also following the example of the Good Shepherd.