Photo By DALE DONG
Pro-Life Youth Conference attendee Hope Ellis was one of more than 50 students at the event.
Pro-Life Youth Conference attendee Hope Ellis was one of more than 50 students at the event.
Youth Congress prepares next generation to respect all people
GREEN TOWNSHIP-Astrong desire to bring an end to abortion exists—and it exists among all age groups, explained Greg Frank, executive director of Right to Life of Summit County.
He knows it’s true because he gets the calls and e-mails at his office all the time from young people who share his concern for the unborn.
Frank recently spoke about the pro-life movement to a group of about 50 Ohio junior high and high school students attending a weekend leadership retreat at Queen of Heaven Parish, in Green. The Pro-Life Youth Congress sponsored the retreat, which also included a 5K ‘Walk for Life,’ where the students and their families “symbolically took the first step” toward ending abortion.
The Congress is an organization Frank helped form three years ago to meet the desire of youth to actively participate in the pro-life movement. Youth in grades seven through 12 join the organization to learn how to be pro-life ambassadors and become leaders who spread the ‘culture of life,’ Frank said.
“We have ‘Right to Life’ for adults and college students have ‘Students for Life’—but there was nothing for younger people,” Frank said. “So now we have the Pro-Life Youth Congress.”
In recent months, Frank has even had calls from grade-school-age children who want to become involved. He’s exploring the possibility of developing a program for this younger population, too.
The Pro-Life Youth Congress, sponsored by Right to Life of Summit County, had its first members primarily from Summit County. Three years later, the organization has grown to cover 16 Ohio counties with more than 200 members. Cuyahoga County has the newest chapter involving more than 50 teens and Fostoria, near Toledo, is about to start a chapter with 95 new members.
Frank also stated that a chapter already exists in Indiana and interest in starting new chapters has been expressed in other states, which include Michigan, Texas, and Louisiana.
“There is a hunger for this kind of pro-life leadership,’ Frank said.
Congress members focus on building their leadership skills through various activities throughout the year, explained Matt Burgasser, this year’s president of the Congress.
Burgasser, 17, a senior at Canton Central Catholic High School, especially looks forward to attending Washington D.C.’s March for Life in January with his fellow congressional members. The January pro-life rally falls on the anniversary of the Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court decision, which legalized abortion in 1973.
Burgasser explained that they are already planning for this trip—scheduling buses and—more importantly—encouraging youth-congress members to invite friends to attend. When a friend invited Burgasser to take this trip a few years ago, he discovered the Pro-Life Youth Congress and became actively involved. Now, as president of the organization, he hopes to expand membership in the same way.
The Washington D.C. trip is by far not the only event. In addition to holding frequent prayer vigils outside of abortion clinics, every quarter the Congress plans a ‘congressional session’ to address pro-life issues and to build leadership skills.
Throughout the year, the youth focus on education, good decision-making, purity, chastity, and justice. They will also participate in the national ’40 Days for Life’ event. This 40-day event includes fasting and prayer, as well as the ‘Life Chain,’ where pro-life people will line streets across the country on Saturday, October 4, holding hands and praying to peacefully support the end of abortion.
The 40-Day event begins in late September and extends into November. November is ‘National Adoption Month,’ Frank explained.
Frank is pleased with Burgasser’s work and the other congressional officers’ leadership this year. In addition to the quarterly congressional session events and the leadership retreat, this year’s officers decided to meet every two weeks to better plan events and to monitor the organization’s progress toward goal attainment. Their next major goal is to have members in each of Ohio’s 88 counties by August 15, 2009, Frank explained.
They chose the August 15 date because it is the Feast of the Assumption; the day the Catholic Church celebrates the Blessed Mother’s assumption into heaven. “Mary is the patroness of the unborn,” Frank said.
Regina Friedl, 15, home-schooled in Akron and parishioner at St. Mary Parish, Akron, stepped-up to be the vice president of the Congress this year. It is her responsibility to spearhead the growth of the organization. “I wanted to do more,” she said, as she described how she felt a call to work toward ending abortion.
Friedl, who has been involved with the Congress since its inception in 2005, said that “there is a fire” among young people to bring an end to abortion.
As part of the plans developed during the leadership retreat, Friedl will be calling Catholic schools, as well as church youth groups from all denominations, to try and build their membership and reach their goal of covering all Ohio counties. Once Friedl makes contact, Burgasser and other officers plan to give a presentation about the Congress at any school or youth group that expresses an interest.
Other plans made during the leadership retreat included Frank and a delegation of congressional members attending the high school retreats held at The Franciscan University of Steubenville to introduce the Pro-Life Youth Congress to literally thousands of potential new members.
Brown is a freelance writer.
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