Sister Grace Dominic headlines 36th Annual Stand Up for Life Dinner

It was a night to remember. The 36th Annual Stand Up for Life Dinner was held on Sunday November 18th with 1200 in attendance.

People of all walks of life from newborn to baby boomers were in attendance to celebrate life. Many groups were represented from local universities like Pennsylvania, Cabrini, Villanova, Temple, Drexel, and Holy Family. There was representation from eleven Catholic high schools in Philadelphia.

Using a joke about a team losing 18-0 in a baseball game, Father Chris Walsh reminds us that there is hope even if we feel defeated in our efforts to save the unborn, poor, elderly, immigrant, victim of war, and even refugee. The dinner in itself is a celebration for all that is accomplishment, especially the thirteen babies saved during the Fall 2018 40 Days Campaign.

Dr. Monique Ruberu 

discussing Sidewalk Servants

The even also featured speeches from Dr. Monique Ruberu and Tom Stevens. Ruberu discussed the sidewalk servants and wants everyone to participate in this peaceful loving outreach between now and the next 40 Days Campaign. Stevens told us that the future of the movement is bright and must "feel encouraged to go back into the mission field."

Part of the evening was dedicated to honoring three individuals who exemplified the pro life cause.

The first was Gene Krueger, the recipient of the pro-life pioneer award. He has prayed in front of an abortion facility since 1975 that he would soon help established Helpers of God's Precious Infants in Philadelphia.

"We won't give up, shut up, let up, until we have stayed up,  stored up, prayed up, preached up for the cause of Christ's precious unborn." His words of acceptance.

The second recipient was Martha Short, who received the St. John Paul the Great Be Not Afraid Award. Short was a part of Pennsylvanians for Human Life for more than 20 years going to schools taking about the dignity of the human person. In her acceptance, she shared how an 8th grade teacher invited her to speak to the class. Little did she know the daughter of the teacher was sitting in Martha's midst.

The final award given out was the John and Harriet Stanton Young Leader Award. The recipient of the award is Theresa Dierkes, a student from the University of Pennsylvania and an active member of the Penn Newman Center housed at Sts. Agatha and James around the corner from the now closed Gosnell's House of Horrors.

The final part of the evening was the guest speaker who did not have to come too far. This year Sister Grace Dominic of the Sisters of Life gave a talk. Prior to giving her "yes" to God, she was a journalist and covered St. John Paul the Great.

In her talk, she reflected on the memory of the late Steven McDonald, focusing on love and mercy. He forgave the man who shot and left him quadriplegic while married and awaiting the birth of his son. He kept being a witness to those two virtues even until his death.

Using a story from her time with Visitation Convent in New York, Sister Grace Dominic discussed how a six week pregnant woman was bitter about her pregnancy, yet she postponed her abortion time after time. In time she experienced God that helped her with the advent of her unborn daughter. Love is not afraid of the cross.

She encouraged everyone to engage in deep prayer to defeat the culture of death. We are called to be a people of mercy. We must pick up the pieces broken from the secular culture. We must give God permission to transform hearts with love.

Sisters of Life lead "How Great Thou Art" 

at the annual dinner

 

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Pregnant, need help or know someone who does?  

National Hotline: Call 1-800-712-HELP or Text 'HELPLINE' to 313131.
In Southeast Penna:  Call the Community Women's Center at  215-826-8090

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An Engaged Couple Wants Unborn Babies to Live At Home and Abroad

Emily with her fiancée Nathan engaging a college campus (Courtesy of their GoFundMe page)

In 2016, I friended an outstanding and incredible young woman named Emily Faulkner. At the time she was a college student at Colorado State University. Since we connected on Facebook ,we have shared each other pro-life's posts, supported each other in our fight for the unborn, and even met face to face at the SEEK Conference in San Antonio.

Recently, Emily and her fiancée, Nathan founded a non profit with a simple pro life message. Here's my interview:

Who you are? Where do you live? Originally? Parish? What work you do to advance the culture of life?

I was born and raised in Colorado and received my Bachelor’s Degree in Biology from Colorado State University in May 2017.  I grew up in Parker, CO going to church at Ave Maria Catholic Parish.  I always knew I was going to be a veterinarian, and my degree and goals through college reflected that (but as I got more and more involved in pro-life work, I realized that God was not calling me to be a veterinarian but to be a pro-life activist).  I began to get involved with the pro-life movement around my second year in college.  Although I had always been pro-life because of my upbringing, I had little to no idea what abortion really was and what it meant to be “pro-life”.  I first got involved with the Students For Life club at my school when I was 19.  The club, however, was only focused on reaching out to those at our campus church who were already pro-life.  I knew we needed to do campus outreach as well.  Eventually everyone from the club graduated or left, so I became the sole member and made myself President and revived the club.  After I did that, I recruited more than 20 people to the group and we were doing pro-life activism regularly on campus.  We brought many pro-life speakers to campus in an attempt to engage the large pro-choice community in dialogue.  One thing I am most known for is suing my University over a pro-life free speech issue.  I wanted to bring a pro-life apologist to speak on campus and was denied funding because they (the board who decides where the funding goes) did not like the topic of abortion and it was too divisive.  I proceeded with a lawsuit and won.

After I graduated, I got a job as a Field Representative with the Leadership Institute and traveled to Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont and New Hampshire to do campus activism with pro-life and conservative clubs.

After my 3 month contract was up, I moved to the DC area and began work as a fundraising consultant for conservative campaigns.  It wasn’t long, however, before I really felt God telling me to make a leap of faith and start my own pro-life organization. 

Let Them Live was founded by myself and my fiancé, Nathan Berning, to identify pro-life advocates at the local community level, train them on alternatives to abortion and how to be effective in the movement, and mobilize them to volunteer their time trying to end abortion.  We are currently working on becoming a 501(c)3 non-profit!  In addition, we have already fundraised and donated $2000 to a local DC pregnancy center Maternity home and made a trip to Florida to do activism on college campuses with Created Equal, to show people what abortion actually looks like.  We are currently fundraising for our pro-life trip to Ireland.  Ireland’s 8th Amendment to their constitution recognizes the unborn as human and protects them from abortion and it is in danger of being repealed.  Just like the USA legalized abortion in 1973, Ireland is about to make that same mistake.  Myself and about 10 others will be traveling to Ireland to try and keep that repeal from happening.

As far as where I am living right now, I currently am hopping around all over the country (and world) doing pro-life work.  We have friends and family all over the country that we stay with and we are really blessed.  

Talk about your ministry. What drew you to starting it?

I realized that I could no longer sit idly by while millions of babies die every year because of abortion.  At one point it really hit me that if I don’t do something about this then I would be knowingly standing by while a major injustice happens.  My heart only wants to do pro-life work and there is no separating me from that now!

How has your Catholic faith brought you to where you are now?

I would not be where I am without my faith in God.  This work is hard beyond belief.  Money is always going to be tight and the emotional toll is high but everyday I just remember that Jesus didn’t have an easy or comfortable life either.  In fact, he calls us to just the opposite.  Being uncomfortable is where I find the most growth in my faith.  And God always pulls through.  Somehow when I think I may not be able to afford something or that my work is going to fail, God always helps me out.  I rely fully on my faith to do what I do.  I cannot do this work without God and God needs my hands to do this work, so it is like a partnership!

How many members are in your group? How have you met them?

Right now, just my fiancé and I are the ones running the show.  However, through our Facebook engagement we have been able to reach out to over 2,000 people (and growing).  I have connected with people all over the country who are pro-life.  You could say that I am building an army of pro-life warriors. Several of our close friends who support us so much that I consider a part of the team.  I have met them over the years (and mostly through the Leadership Institute). 

What are some activities you do together?

Even though it is just my fiancé and I right now, we travel all the time.  He has his own start-up businesses in the private sector but he will help me out on social media (and with activism from time to time!)  I want to just use this space too to mention that I could not have done this without Nathan.  He inspired me to follow my pro-life heart, he is my rock and my biggest supporter and God knew what He was doing when he put us together!

What are some of your goals going forward? How can we help you get the word out

Right now I am really trying to raise money for our Ireland trip.  My fiancé and I will be there for a month doing activism and because pro-life work is my full-time job, we cant necessarily afford it.  But this is crucial work.  This is the vote between life and death for hundreds of thousands of lives.  Anyone who reads this who wants to give to our cause would be very welcome to do so on our GoFundMe page (https://www.gofundme.com/send-us-to-ireland-to-savethe8th) and invite your friends to like our Facebook page “Let Them Live”!  And prayers, as always, will always be needed.

Please join us for a Courage and Commitment Stand Up for Life Rally in Northeast Philadelphia on January 21st.

Listen to inspirational speakers and learn how you can get involved in the support of LIFE in Northeast Philadelphia.  

After the program there will be time to sign up for the 40 Days for Life Northeast Philadelphia campaign which begins February 14^th.

Concentration Camp Survivor Urges Americans to Defend the Preborn: ‘Stand Up For the Innocent’

“I wish that the Christians had laid down their lives to save us. They were all pro-life; they were against what the government was doing. But they did nothing.”

By Carole Novielli
Live Action News

As a long time pro-life journalist and activist, I do not think I have ever been as moved speaking with an older pro-life activist as I was when I interviewed concentration camp survivor, Eva Edl, about her recent arrest during a pro-life rescue. 

At 82 years old, Eva was one of eleven Christians arrested on May 13, 2017, at the EMW abortion facility in Louisville, Kentucky, at a rescue organized by Operation Save America.

Eva once told an audience that her definition of courage is to “Do what you know you have to do no matter how much fear you experience.” Eva’s surname, Edl, means “noble” in German, but she jokingly says it’s really an acronym for “extremely determined lady.”

Eva considers a rescue — placing her body in front of an abortion facility — to be an act of obedience and worship to God.

She described the first time she participated in such an event. 

“The first time I realized there were abortion clinics in our country was in 1988. I said to my husband, ‘these are the death camps of America.’ I saw people sitting in front of abortion clinics in Atlanta and I’ve been involved ever since.”

Eva says that when she chose to sit in front of the Kentucky abortion facility, she knew the cost, but she believes that intervening on behalf of innocent children being led to their deaths is an act of mercy. 

“When the government decided to make it a Federal offense by passing the F.A.C.E. Act [Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances], most people didn’t dare to interpose and put their bodies in front of the door anymore,” Eva said. “I only rescued once in Philadelphia – but I knew that the time would come that we would have to risk it in order to give God the excuse to be merciful to our nation. I think it’s our last chance.”

Eva knows all too well what can happen when Christians are silent in the face of evil.

Eva is ethnic German, and at the age of nine, was one of many men, women, and children who were forcefully removed from their homes and taken to a communist concentration camp during the Hungarian occupation of Yugoslavia.

Live Action News report continues