1/02/2009
Welcome Marisa to the CPLC Staff
I hope you had a joyful New Year. I’m Marisa Alvarado and this is the end of my first week working for the Catholic Pro-Life Committee. A little about me: I graduated from the University of Texas in Arlington in 2005 with a degree in journalism, and I’m originally from San Marcos, Texas.

Fighting for the rights of the unborn and their mothers was not a top concern of mine until I was invited to pray the rosary in front of an abortion clinic in Dallas last year. That morning, as the first mother walked into the clinic, the gravity of the reality of abortion hit me. Tears started rolling down my face because I knew I was watching this young woman make the mistake of her life. Years later, she would look back to this morning with pain in heart and remember when she killed her own child. And, unfortunately, she wasn’t the only one to climb those steps that day.

After that, I listened more carefully to what Pope Benedict XVI and Pope John Paul II said about protecting the rights of the unborn, and I decided that if it was a priority to them, as a practicing Catholic, it needs to be a priority to me, too. I recently left a very good communications job in the secular world to work here at the Catholic Pro-Life Committee in Dallas. My family was not so understanding of this at first because making this kind of move during a recession is not what the world would consider “a good move.” At my previous job, I knew I was making a difference for my organization and the people who worked there, but I kept thinking about what I would say to God when we are finally face to face and he asks me what I did to protect his most vulnerable children during this time of intense attack. I want to be able to tell him that I did what I could with the gifts and talents he gave me. So, here I am. I thought I was making major sacrifices to take this position. What I’ve learned is that everyone here at the CPLC is making sacrifices so that you can benefit from having us a resource, a partner, a place to come to get answers, information, crisis help and healing.

I’m so blessed to be a part of the Catholic Pro-Life Committee and look forward to hearing your comments and questions as I become a regular blogger.

Peace in Christ,
Marisa

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Written at 10:50 AM by Andrew Smith.
1 comments
8/06/2007
Pro-Life Resources for you
We attended a pro-life conference for Respect Life Directors in Crystal City, VA over the weekend and came into contact with numerous resources that are spelled out below.

These resources are good for anyone considering starting a pro-life ministry and are wondering what to do, or for someone who just simply wants to further their own education on pro-life matters.

Carol Franz is an Adult Stem-Cell Transplant Survivor. At least, that's what her shirts say and her testimony is an indication of the powerful transforming, regenerative power of not only the human spirit, but the human body as well.

After enduring several chemo treatments for myeloma cancer she was injected with adult stem-cells at a hospital in Syracuse and in her words, was "reborn." Here cancer went away only to come back several years later and after another treatment with adult stem cells, she has been cured once again.

Carol has a compelling testimony and along with her friends, Doug Rice and Stephen Sprague, who also experienced miraculous healings via adult stem cells, are available to come and speak about their experiences.

Hands off Our Ovaries are a group of pro-life and pro-choice women who have come together to seek a moratorium on egg extraction from women for research purposes until "such time as global discourse and scientific research yields information sufficient to establish adequate informed consent."

Their concern stems from 25 women who have died as a result of egg harvesting and the FDA's non-interest in investigating these deaths. Also, there have been no long-term studies to show the possible risks of the procedure (which is painful to hear described) and whether or not cancer or infertility may develop from them.

Jennifer Lahl is on the Board of Directors for Hands Off Our Ovaries and spoke at the conference. She is very-well spoken and had an excellent grasp of the issues as they relate to the research and harvesting of eggs involved. I am sure she would love to come to your area to speak about this as well.

Here is an editorial in the Dallas Morning News written by Ms. Lahl.

SaintMax Worldwide uses modern technology to inject the word of Christ into pop culture. They have developed a 12 minute DVD about stem cell research that they will make available for you or your diocese at a minimal cost. The idea is to further raise awareness about what embryonic stem-cells have done (or rather not done) and to encourage the use of adult stem cells.

The diocese of Phoenix has used the video and showed it in every church in the diocese and are raising money to get a series of TV commercials on air locally. You can see some of these commercials and the 12 minute DVD on their web site.

I will have more resources up in the days to come.

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Written at 12:44 PM by Andrew Smith.
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