“It’s easy to categorize those on the margins and those not on the margins,” says Miriam Sammartino, executive director of Catholic Charities of Yolo-Solano. “If you think about it, we’re all on the edge of that margin.”

She makes an eloquent case for how everyone skirts the edge and owns a share of misfortune. This common reality, albeit experienced on a variety of levels and not solely in the economic realm, compels and convicts Christians to walk with those in need.

An attorney, an immigrant and an advocate, Miriam admits “I am a very vocal person and I ask a lot of questions,” casually linking these characteristics to “the huge leap from being an attorney to Catholic Charities.”

On Friday, October 11, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law SB 24, which will require all UC and CSU campus health care clinics to make abortion-by-medication available to students by state paid campus staff. 

Bishop Jaime Soto released the following statement:

"Sadly, Governor Newsom has paid heed to the rhetoric of the abortion industry and ignored common sense by signing SB 24. Innocent children in the womb will be sacrificed to a distorted 'throw-away' ideology that discards lives considered inconvenient. The dignity of all women on the university campuses of California will be diminished. 

"We must not grow weary of doing good and proclaiming the truth. May the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary sustain our hope as well as our work to build a culture of life."

October is Respect Life Month; a time to join together as one Catholic Church to defend the dignity of all human life, from the time we are knit together in our mothers’ wombs until we take our final breaths, each moment of our lives is a gift from God. Each year the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops designates the first Sunday of October as the beginning of an annual Respect Life program. This year’s theme, Christ Our Hope: Every Season of Life, is particularly suited for our times.

Today the gift of life is threatened in countless ways. Those who are most vulnerable, rather than receiving the protection they deserve, are all too often seen as a burden and as expendable. As new attacks on human life continue to emerge, we can be tempted to despair, but Christ instead offers us unfailing HOPE.