Archive for the 'Club News' Category

There’s an article in the current issue of the Catholic New World — the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Chicago — highlighting four strong pro-life clubs at Chicago area high schools: St. Patrick and Mother McAuley High Schools in Chicago, Regina Dominican High School in Wilmette, and The Willows Academy in Des Plaines.

All of these clubs have either used our Pro-Life Curriculum, or had members attend our TeenSpeak conferences over the past few years — or both — and based on personal experience, I can assure you that they’re all doing great work!

You can read the article here.

“Phenomenal!” “Absolutely fantastic!” “I loved it!”

These are just some of the comments that sum up the reaction of the more than 140 teens and adults who attended TeenSpeak 2012 on January 28 at the Doubletree Hotel in Oak Brook, Illinois—the largest crowd we’ve ever had at a TeenSpeak conference!

The day began with an engaging and enthusiastic talk entitled “Making Abortion Unthinkable: The Art of Pro-Life Persuasion,” by Right to Life of Central California’s Josh Brahm. Drawing from his experience as one of few pro-life speakers who has formally debated leaders from “pro-choice” organizations like Planned Parenthood and NARAL, Josh emphasized the need to “focus like a laser beam” on the humanity of the unborn child when talking with someone who sees nothing wrong with abortion.

The audience loved Josh’s talk. High school student Sadie Huddleston remarked, “It was so informative! This talk truly brought out the issue of abortion and clearly informed me of ways to approach and how to answer pro-choicers.” (more…)

The National Catholic Youth Conference was HUGE. Total attendance was over 22,000!

This was our second time going to an NCYC, and we’re so glad we came! We had a booth in Victory Park, and we were thrilled at the response we got from everyone who stopped by.

Our “YOUR MOM Chose Life” pins were a huge hit! We gave away nearly all of them by the end of Day 2 of the 3-day conference, along with 500 “I’m Pro-Life. Ask Me Why!” buttons provided by Students for Life of Illinois.

We also gave out hundreds of pro-life stickers provided by Stand True, and pieces of pro-life literature provided by Human Life Alliance. We also had some great conversations with several teens who are interested in starting their own pro-life clubs.

We’re already looking forward to being at the next NCYC in 2013. And next time, we’ll know to bring a lot more buttons and stickers!

We’re getting ready to head to Indianapolis later this week for the 2011 National Catholic Youth Conference.

We’ll be at booth 267 in the Victory Park, and we’ll be giving away lots of pro-life literature, stickers, and buttons.

If you’re one of the 20,000+ teens who will be there, I hope you’ll stop by and see us!

Two of the most exciting things going on the pro-life movement right now are:

1. The exploding pro-life youth movement
2. The expanding ties among pro-lifers internationally

These two dynamic forces are coming together next week at the first-ever International Pro-Life Youth Conference, November 11-13 in Los Angeles.

The conference is being hosted by Survivors, Ireland’s Youth Defence and Students for Life, with the sponsorship of such cutting-edge pro-life groups as Live Action, Stand True Ministries, Human Life Alliance—and Generations for Life’s parent organization, the Pro-Life Action League.

I’m proud to be one of the speakers at the IPLY Conference, along with such pro-life “rock stars” as:

• Lila Rose of Live Action
• Bernie Smyth of Ireland’s Precious Life
• Jill Stanek, the Queen of pro-Life bloggers
• Bryan Kemper of Stand True
• Troy Newman of Operation Rescue
• . . . and more!

Student registration is a mere $35 for the whole weekend, but registration closes November 9th—so act now if you want to attend. You can get more information here or go straight to the registration page here.

This historic conference will motivate, educate and equip pro-life youth to end abortion in their lifetimes. It is not to be missed!

Tuesday, October 18 is the eighth annual Pro-Life Day of Silent Solidarity.

For one day, people all over the world will give up their voices in solidarity with babies who have had their voices silenced by abortion.

It’s a little over a week away, and already, students from over 1,300 schools—along with over 140 homeschools, 50 businesses & ministries, and over 460 individuals/non-students—in 47 countries have registered to participate!

Stand True Ministries, which sponsors the Pro-Life Day of Silent Solidarity, is dedicating this year’s Day to the memory of Students for Life of America’s Kortney Blythe Gordon and her unborn daughter Sophy, who were tragically killed in a car crash this past weekend.

Are you willing to give up your voice for a day for those who will never have a voice?

For more information and to register, go here.

Crusaders for Life — the club responsible for starting the recent pro-life flash mob phenomenon — is hosting LIFEapalooza 2011, and you’re invited!

Here is the trailer:

LIFEapalooza 2011 will be held on Sunday, September 25 from 12:00 noon until 8:00pm at Madison Meadows Park in Lombard, Illinois [see map here].

More details are posted on the LIFEapalooza Facebook page. You can also e-mail the Crusaders at babiesmaketheworldgoround@gmail.com.

When I first heard about National Pro-Life Chalk Day, I thought to myself: “This is a GREAT idea!”

On Thursday, September 8, Rock for Life and Students for Life of America are inviting pro-life students everywhere to take part in this very simple, yet very impactful event.

The idea is simple:

1. Pick up some sidewalk chalk
2. Find an area that has a lot of foot traffic
3. Use your chalk to write pro-life messages

If you chalk pro-life messages all around your school campus — or anywhere else — you’re sure to get a lot of discussions started about abortion!

You can find suggested chalkable pro-life messages and other tips on the National Pro-Life Chalk Day website.

I just got an e-mail from Jacque Cicchella, who is the moderator for the Geauga Catholic Teens for Life in northeastern Ohio. Jacque ordered a copy of our Pro-Life Curriculum for the club earlier this year, and I was eager to know what the club had been up to this summer.

Here’s what she wrote:

Geauga Catholic Teens for Life is AMAZING! I can’t begin to tell you what an incredible blessing these teens are in my life, our parish and the prolife movement. We have 25 teens in our group with 8-9 “regulars”. We meet weekly, we have officers and we’re very official. We meet for two hours each week and our meetings include a Gospel reflection, a spiritual warfare lesson a prayer activity (Rosary for Life, Stations for Life, etc.) and then a life topic lesson (A big thank you for providing the life curriculum!). I am amazed each week as the Gospel reading, the spiritual warfare lesson and then the life lesson are all intertwined with a common message. This part is totally unplanned. It’s all the Holy Spirit!

(more…)

19-year old pro-life activist Timmerie wrote on her blog recently about a Pro-Life Flash Mob she choreographed that was performed at Griffith Park in Hollywood and at Santa Monica Pier during Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust’s 14th annual Pro-Life Training Camp:

Excellent job!

I was shocked to find out this morning that Chicago teenager Finoy Lukose died tragically while swimming on July 19 in Lewis County, Kentucky.

Finoy attended our last two TeenSpeak conferences, and just from meeting him on those two occasions, it was clear that he was a young man who loved God with all his heart and was passionately committed to putting his Catholic faith into action by, among other things, fighting for the rights of unborn children, and serving others — as attested to by the fact that he died while on an Appalachian church service trip.

Finoy was to have been a senior this fall at St. Ignatius College Prep in Chicago, where he was part of the Respect Life Club, Student Congress, and the volleyball team.

He will be greatly, greatly missed. Please pray for the repose of his soul, and for his family during their time of grief.

Eternal rest, grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace.

The Archdiocese of Chicago’s Respect Life Office is hosting its second annual Justice and Life Youth Leadership Summit on July 25-26 at St. Cletus Parish in La Grange.

There will be great activities, praise and worship, daily Mass, and more. You can find out more information here, and get the registration form here [PDF].

I hope you can make it!

We were honored when we found out recently that Generations for Life has been named a collaborating member of the National Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry, since GFL is the first youth organization focused primarily on the pro-life cause that has been accepted as a collaborating member of the Federation.

The NFCYM hosts the biennial National Catholic Youth Conference, which we attended for the first time in 2009. That year’s conference, held in Kansas City, drew a crowd of over 22,000! At our display booth, we handed out over 1,000 “Precious Feet” pins, along with hundreds of pro-life stickers and pieces of pro-life literature.

Because of the thoroughly positive experience we had in in Kansas City, we’re really looking forward to NCYC 2011, November 17-19 in Indianapolis. This year we’ll also be giving away the “Your Mom Chose Life” pins — the winning design from the Pro-Life Button Workshop at our TeenSpeak conference held earlier this year.

Make your plans to attend NCYC 2011 now — and when you’re there, make sure to stop by and see us!

This time to counter Planned Parenthood’s poorly attended teen rally at the California State Capitol:

The youth group from St. Peter’s Catholic Church in Dixon, California deserves a hand for standing up — literally — to Planned Parenthood when the abortion giant tried to make inroads in their community by setting up a harmless looking booth at the town’s street fair this weekend.

When the church’s youth minister, John Johnson, found out the booth, he immediately sent out text and Facebook messages to everyone in the church’s youth with a simple invitation:

Meet in 10 minutes at street fair to protest Planned Parenthood.

Within minutes, seven members showed up and began praying on the sidewalk in front of their booth, and taped signs to their shirts making it clear that abortion is what Planned Parenthood is all about.

Planned Parenthood’s pink-shirted staffers, of course, weren’t happy. (more…)