About Us
Our Role |
Our Staff |
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The Respect Life Office of the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City - St. Joseph was founded in April 2006 to provide pro-life education, pastoral care, prayer and worship, and public policy advocacy for our Catholic faithful and for the residents of northwest and western Missouri.
All programs, activities and events reflect the authentic teachings of Sacred Scripture, the Magisterium and Church Tradition under the direction of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) Pastoral Plan for Pro-Life Activities. The Respect Life Office has three key roles:
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Deborah Cygan Sheppard
Director, Respect Life & Human Rights Offices (816) 756-1850, ext. 544 email: sheppard@diocesekcsj.org Deborah Cygan Sheppard, MHA, FACHE, has most recently served as Vice President of Women's and Pediatric Services for HCA Midwest Health in the Kansas City Region, where she launched the Maternal-Fetal Health Center, built a maternal transport team, added complex pediatric services, improved the patient experience for expecting mothers, and enhanced the pediatric preparation of all HCA emergency departments and urgent care clinics. She also has previously served at Medical City and Medical City Children's Hospital in Dallas, TX as Assistant Vice President of Business Development; Children's Medical Center Dallas-Legacy Hospital in Plano, TX; and Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, where she was the Director of Operations and Director of Business Development and Professional Services. Deb, regarded as a collaborative leader and consensus builder among her colleagues, is an FACHE Fellow and received her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the Simon School of Business at Washington University in St. Louis, MO, and her Master of Health Administration from the Washington University School of Medicine. Deb lives in Lee's Summit, MO. Her son, George, is a college freshman in Dallas playing baseball. They both enjoy living on the lake, and cooking for friends.
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Our Model
Everything the Church does could in one form or another be considered, "pro-life". As a result, the Respect Life Office could potentially find itself participating in so many activities and events that we would not be available to do the work that only we are uniquely qualified to do.
Therefore, every Respect Life Office program, activity, and event must meet all three of the following criteria:
A key step in developing all of our Respect Life Office programs is identifying our stakeholders:
All of our stakeholders fall into at least one of three roles:
To reflect that we are truly all doing His work, we label the recipient whom we ultimately serve, “The Father”, the donor who made the ultimate sacrifice, “The Son”, and the team member without whom we could do nothing, “The Holy Spirit”.
Therefore, every Respect Life Office program, activity, and event must meet all three of the following criteria:
- Must directly defend or preserve the sanctity of human life
- Must have a Catholic identity or reflect a core tenet of the Catholic faith
- Must provide an opportunity for our faithful to give back using their God-given gifts of time, talent, and treasure.
A key step in developing all of our Respect Life Office programs is identifying our stakeholders:
- All Respect Life Office programs, activities, and events must be as effective as possible and must meet the needs of everyone who relies on us for education, pastoral care, prayer and worship, and public policy advocacy.
- There will always be important requests for critical assistance or for needed activities that do not necessarily meet the criteria above; therefore, these will be referred to the most appropriate Chancery office, community partner or local parish.
- There will be some requests for assistance or activities that may meet all of the criteria above, but for any number of reasons the Respect Life Office is either not the most appropriate Catholic organization to address the need or another organization is already serving the need. The Respect Life Office will actively work to ensure the need is met in the most effective and most efficient manner.
- The Respect Life Office is truly blessed to be able to focus on so many important and worthwhile activities but there will be times when we are unable to meet every valid request due to either current priorities or a lack of expertise in a specific area. By always working to provide "opportunities for our faithful to give back using their God-given gifts of time, talent, and treasure", we can also ensure all valid requests receive the same level of attention by asking the right volunteers to assist us if and when necessary.
All of our stakeholders fall into at least one of three roles:
- "Shareholders" -- Externally contribute to the work of the office
- "Customers" -- Externally benefit from the work of the office
- "Associates" -- Internally do the work of the office
To reflect that we are truly all doing His work, we label the recipient whom we ultimately serve, “The Father”, the donor who made the ultimate sacrifice, “The Son”, and the team member without whom we could do nothing, “The Holy Spirit”.
Examples:
- Recipients of Ministry Services -- woman assisted by the Project Rachel post-abortive healing program
- Donors -- donor contributes financially to the Project Rachel program
- Team Members -- Respect Life Office associate manages the Project Rachel program
- Parish Volunteers & Committees -- Parish Respect Life Coordinators promote Project Rachel program in their parish
- Community Partners -- Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas post-abortive healing program refers women to our Project Rachel program
- Chancery Offices -- Family Life Office provides Project Rachel program referrals to mothers and grandmothers
- Program Volunteers & Committees -- parishioner who goes through the Project Rachel program decides to assist the Respect Life Office as a post-abortive speaker or Project Rachel consultant for other post-abortive women
