Chicago, IL (September 26, 2006) - On Saturday, September 30 at 7 p.m. St. Hyacinth Basilica will be the site of a special Celebration of Life Mass that will help launch the Archdiocese of Chicago’s Respect Life month. The church is located at 3636 West Wolfram Street, Chicago.

“Everyone who can attend this Mass to celebrate the sanctity of all human life with us will have a spiritual head start on Respect Life month,” said Margie Manczko Breen of the Archdiocese’s Respect Life Office. Respect Life month begins on Sunday, October 1.

Previous years’ liturgies have included a commissioning of Respect Life coordinators from Archdiocesan parishes by Francis Cardinal George, O.M.I., Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Chicago. However, as the Cardinal has yet to resume his public schedule, his attendance at this year’s liturgy is uncertain at this time.

The Mass will be followed by a reception and special veneration of St. Gianna Beretta-Molla who died at age 39, and soon after giving birth to her third child following a difficult pregnancy during which she told her doctor to save the child’s life over hers.

For more information, please call Manczkio-Breen at 312--5355.