By Sallie Bachar
Catholic Herald Correspondent

Diocesan Respect Life Office has new director

Hudson -- How does an already very busy woman who is a wife, mother and grandmother of fourteen, plus president of the Village of Lublin, find time for one more job? "When you have a large family," said Ruth Schimke, "you get used to lots of work."

Schimke was appointed director of the Diocesan Respect Life Office by Bishop Fliss on June 2, succeeding Alice Martin of Ladysmith.

She is a member of St. Stanislaus Parish in Lublin and has always been active in pro-life and respect life issues. Even though she has lived in rural areas all her life with her large family she is a civic-minded woman who is interested in how laws and legislation affect people's lives and has always tried to keep herself informed.

Schimke looks upon her first year in office as one of learning. "I want to get my hands and heart around what needs to be done," she said. "The value of human life has been deteriorating, and there is much to learn and deal with to bring this issue to the forefront of people's consciousness."

Studying and learning is nothing new to Schimke. "I have been going to school all my life," she stated. She had two years of formal college education but has taken many classes in spiritual development, religion and Bible study, trying to deepen her faith and foster her relationship with God.

Schimke, a retired insurance agent who owned her own agency, credits that with playing a large part in the development of her love and respect for all life. "Selling insurance wasn't just a job," she said. "The people became my friends and I felt a responsibility to them."

Helping others deal with the tragedies and difficulties she encountered as an agent contributed to her growth in compassion and understanding. "Those things impacted my daily life more than most people who are not exposed to such situations," she said.

Schimke feels very passionate about human life. "It is a gift from God that is given us to carry closely to our hearts no matter what type of packaging people come in," she said. Having given birth to seven children and almost losing one of them has made her realize how precious life is. "Things like that really change you," she said.

She feels her greatest challenge ahead as respect life director is in the area of the elderly. "I want to find out what can be done to help them and awaken others to the problems that they experience." She believes in their right to live meaningful lives and to die with dignity in a natural way instead of being coerced into euthanasia.

"I am dismayed at the lack of concern for them," she said. "Most people don't even think about the elderly, and our society has not owned its responsibility to them. I would never have dreamed that these issues would concern us today but they face us daily."

Schimke and her husband John have been married for 45 years and have seven children and fourteen grandchildren. They moved to Lublin in 1997 where she is active at St. Stanislaus as a reader and Communion minister as well as president of the Council of Catholic Women.

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© Superior Catholic Herald, 2003