Building a Culture of Life
“The great task that has to be faced today for the renewal of society is that of recapturing the ultimate meaning of life and its fundamental values...The struggle will be long, and it needs each one of you. Place your intelligence, your talents, your enthusiasm, your compassion and your fortitude at the service of life!”
Inspired by Saint John Paul II, we take as our motto Cultura Vitae, the Culture of Life. We aim to help our students understand, as John Paul II taught, that every “human being is endowed with a dignity that must never be lessened, impaired or destroyed but must instead be respected and safeguarded.” During our first annual Respect Life Formation Friday last week, our students had a powerful experience that reinforced this truth.
Our students and faculty met at St. Martha’s Church (thanks to the gracious hospitality of Fr. George Suszko and Blanca Goetz) to kick off the day with an emotionally moving presentation by Anastasia Ortiz, a S.H.A.R.E ambassador. S.H.A.R.E is an outreach program of the Community Pregnancy Clinics (CPCI) that aims to equip young teens, adults, and parents with critical information on chastity and human development. Students watched the Glimpse Inside presentation, which uses physician-led videos on fetal development, guided 3D/4D ultrasounds, and a thought-provoking curriculum to provide scientific evidence of life in the womb. Anastasia shared her incredible story of being saved by the Sarasota Community Pregnancy Clinic when she went there in need of care, love and support. Her story of the prodigal daughter moved our students as they saw how God’s love, mercy and healing was found through her choosing life for her son. We are grateful to Madison Campbell, the Outreach Coordinator for CPCI, for her part in coordinating this presentation.
Next, our students attended Mass with the St. Martha community before Board Member Kathie Carolan spoke to the students about her work as a volunteer sidewalk advocate and what to expect when the students and faculty headed over to peacefully pray in front of Planned Parenthood. Students prayed the Rosary and St. Michael prayer before heading next door to the Sarasota Community Pregnancy Clinic for a tour, lunch and a service project sorting baby supplies for the clinic. The clinic manager Suzanne Vandenbrink and her team were incredibly welcoming and informative. Our students were happy to help in any way possible knowing the life-saving work that is done there. Our day was wonderfully blessed and marked the beginning of a beautiful partnership with CPCI.
We know that “. . . we are facing an enormous and dramatic clash between good and evil, death and life, the ‘culture of death’ and the ‘culture of life’,” as JPII coined it, but we also find much hope in our students. We ask you to join us and all the saints in heaven in praying for all young people, that God’s light will guide their path.
What Our Students Had to Say…
“Respect Life Formation Friday truly helped me understand that Pro-Life cause and made me realize that Prolife is for the mothers and the babies. I also realized it is not some kind of forceful movement, instead it’s a loving one. ”
“The most impactful part of the day was when Anastasia told us her beautiful story. I almost came to tears a few times, and it was amazing how close she’s gotten with God and how much she’s healed. It was truly inspiring. ”
“The most impactful part of the day for me was definitely Anastasia’s story about how she came to find the clinic. It showed me that sometimes women feel like they have no other choice but to have an abortion. The clinic helps these women see that they don’t need to get an abortion and that they can find help. ”
“The CPCI staff were so welcoming to everyone who walked in no matter what they believed in. They were kind and loving to each individual person who was there, and the staff was nice to each other too. It really set a good example of how everyone in general should treat each other.”