I was really excited to hear about the first annual Catholic School Life Rally held earlier this month outside the South Wind Women’s Center abortion clinic in Wichita, Kansas. The idea for the rally was conceived by the 10-member senior class at St. John’s Catholic High School in Beloit, Kansas. One of the highlights of the rally was an impressive and heartfelt speech given by one member of the class, 17-year old Katie Greenwood. Here are some of the highlights of Katie’s speech:
I am the oldest of 13 kids. I love each of my brothers and sisters so much, I couldn’t live without them. But, I do have three siblings that I have to live without. I’ve actually never met them. My mom has had three miscarriages; the most recent miscarriage was actually confirmed two nights ago. Do you have any idea the heart-wrenching experience I went through the night my parents told our family what happened? I want you to picture 10 kids, ranging in ages from 17 to 2 years old, so excited for a new baby brother or sister. We were so happy. I was going to get to be the godmother to this child, we were already having the sibling wars on whether the baby should be a boy or girl, we already had the names picked out. We could not wait for this baby. Picture that joy. Now can you imagine the sorrow in my family when we were told that our baby brother or sister died before we ever got to meet him or her? That we will never, ever get to see this child grow up? Never get to show him our world? We would have cherished this child, just as we would cherish any other child in the womb of any other person. Children are a blessing. They are precious and sacred. They are loved by God, and we acknowledge the love and value that God places on every, single one of them. … I believe every human life is precious and every person – whether they are the mom seeking the abortion, the baby growing inside the womb, a clinic worker inside the abortion clinic or an abortion doctor. I believe that no matter if you are black, white, green or purple, Mexican or Chinese, God finds so much value in your life and so do we. I don’t care if you [have] Down syndrome or [are] paralyzed, tall or short, a couple pounds overweight or skinny as a pole, I don’t care if you are 100 years old or 1 day old…I believe that every human being has value and is loved by God. Every single human being is loved by God, I know this for a fact. … I believe that if we push for change within our culture, we will make that change happen. Having all of you here gives us hope because you are all willing to participate in educating others of what abortion actually is. The late Pope John Paul II called our generation the Pro-Life generation. We are making his words a reality through our actions and our prayers today and for the days to come. Because all of us know, and all of us are well aware, that while educating ourselves on the science of when life begins, educating ourselves on the different forms of abortion, educating ourselves on the psychological process of why a woman would choose an abortion, each of us knows that the real battle in this fight is not in the minds of people, it’s in their hearts. If we can change hearts by simply praying that these future moms and clinic workers be open to the grace that God is offering them, that’s when real progress can be made. And that’s what we are asking you to do today, we want you to pray. … We desire to show the women that come to the clinic, and the people that work there, that we care. We don’t wish to damn them; rather we want to show them our compassion. We want them to see that someone does love them and cares about them.
To Katie and all the students who took part in the Catholic School Life Rally: May God bless you for your courage!
