Bishop David Ricken of the Diocese of Green Bay recently highlighted the main points that differentiate the culture of life in comparison to the culture of death.

“’Like the Israelites, we each must make a choice: will we accept what St. John Paul II called the ‘culture of death’ or will we take steps daily to build a culture of life? To help us make this decision, we can examine the fruits of each culture,’” Ricken tweeted.

The examination correlates with a piece he wrote for The Compass, in which he described the  fruits of the cultures of both life and death, detailing that the practice of the culture of death is made evident through frequent occurrences of violence, poverty, destruction, and death. He also points to health care workers and crisis pregnancy centers as examples of the culture of life, The Compass reports.

In honor of Respect Life, during which the church celebrates sancity throughout life and conception until natural death, Ricken went on to explain the role of St. Joseph, who assumed the challenge of defending and caring for his wife through the unusual circumstances of her pregnancy and care for Jesus as if he were his own son, OSV explains. 

“As the faithful protector of both Jesus and Mary,” St. Joseph is “a profound reminder of our own call to welcome, safeguard and defend God’s precious gift of human life,” said Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of Kansas City, Kansas.

He makes the correlation between the sacrifice and ways of life of Joseph and similar acts of life practiced by people today in the form of nurses, practicing abstinence before marriage and pregnancy health centers.

In recognition of the efforts made by those who Ricken says practice his culture, a minimum of 10 centers are offering services to help pregnant women, young mothers, and people fleeing domestic abuse in the Green Bay area, Multicultural reports.