April 2026 Newsletter

Featured article: "To Write or not To Write"

Annabella Salvucci

It is 6:22 in the morning on April first. The newsletter must be published today. The problem is, I've been hit with writer's block, and have deleted and re-written this article four times, each on wildly different subjects. I need to get a move on, so I have decided to write about writing.
A few minutes ago, as I was scrolling my Pinterest feed, I came a cross a little meme-quote that said, "each book you've read is just a different combination of the same 26 letters." Needless to say, I hate that quote. It reflects my hatred of the nihilistic, literal, soulless view that society insists on taking regarding humanity. "We are just organic matter," they say. "Life is an illusion," they cry. As if the arts are just some sort of flunk of nature instead of the core kernel of our humanity. As if expression meant nothing. As if, only as if, the whole of human beauty was created from some simple neurons randomly firing.
Birds sing, dolphins converse, and flowers beautify. Only humans write. It is not some letter combinations randomly scrambled, it is another form of people letting out their soul, their ideas, their lifeblood. It's the most astonishing thing. And if anybody tells you that the English language sounds weak and stupid, then you can be sure they never actually read anything good. German is strong, Italian lively, French emotional, and English, last of all, is poetic. You cannot capture the same beauty in Russian as you can in English.
But writing sets itself apart in another way because it holds the ability to express more than just emotions or a feeling, but whole viewpoints, ideas, and universes. You cannot debate through a painting, nor start a revolution through music. Writing is the most manipulative of the arts. It is a gift, a power which mustn't go unchecked. Anybody can wield this power if they only sit down and start to write. It's a dangerous game to play. The potential and persuasivity of a sheer essay is astounding. Imagine what could be done with a paper, a book, or even a series.
There is a funny story my dad would tell me. A monk was living in an abbey, and he wanted to be able to smoke as he prayed. So he went to his abbot and asked, "can I smoke while I pray?" The abbot said no, and the monk had to obey. Some time later, he saw one of his fellow brothers smoking and praying at the same time. So he asked him how he convinced the abbot to lat him pray and smoke, as he had tried the same thing to no avail. And the other monk replied, "because I asked him if I could pray while I smoked."
Even the slightest changes in wording can change the response you get. Words are more important than what people take for granted. The whole job of being a contract lawyer is, essentially, discovering each word's hidden meanings. My aunt who is a contract lawyer, in addition, said just last Christmas that AI is terrible at choosing the perfect word.
But perhaps, as you may be thinking, you're bad at writing. Luckily for you, writing can be taught. And even bad writing, as bad as bad writing can be, is better than no writing at all. My brother has no natural talent for writing, and for the longest time couldn't write an essay to save his life. But after some careful tutoring, he has become fairly well-spoken and quite the activist, writing the Hail Mary in Latin using chalk at an abortion clinic, and explaining to the college newsperson the significance of that in decent prose.
Writing is beautiful, writing is powerful, and writing is human. Writing is what builds and what destroys society. Writing can change minds and turn hearts. Writing inspires, writing cries and laughs. But, most importantly, writing...
is easy.
To write is the simplest yet strongest thing one can do. So, I beg of you, write. Write your ideas, your soul, your very principles. Writing is not just letters, writing is everything.
We need you to write.

Prayers

Anima Christi

Soul of Christ, sanctify me.
Body of Christ, save me.
Blood of Christ, embolden me.
Water from the side of Christ, wash me.
Passion of Christ, strengthen me.
O good Jesus, hear me.
Within your wounds hide me.
Never permit me to be parted from you.
From the evil Enemy defend me.
At the hour of my death call me
and bid me come to you,
that with your Saints I may praise you
for age upon age.
Amen.

Quotes

"Abortion is the greatest destroyer of peace, the greatest destroyer of love." – Mother Theresa

"Abortion is the ultimate exploitation of women." – Alice Paul

"Abortion is not healthcare because pregnancy is not a disease." – Dr. Haywood Robinson

Memes

News

Undercover video reveals a New Mexico abortion clinic will abort babies up to 34 weeks, including for people from out of state, like Texas, where doing so is illegal.
https://www.lifenews.com/2026/03/12/undercover-video-catches-abortion-center-admitting-it-kills-babies-up-to-24-weeks/?cmid=45e423ca-d40e-4a95-863d-be89e9a7767c

Upcoming Events

Rosary for Life: April 7th @ 7pm ET

Apologetics Night: April 14th @ 5pm ET

Monthly Meeting: April 20th @ 7pm ET

Members - Please Consider Submitting Content:

This newsletter relies heavily on the contributions of group members. There are a number of items we are looking for:

1. Creative content: We have implemented a segment of the newsletter dedicated to the topically relevant artistic contributions of group members, regardless of medium. If you have anything to share, please send it in. We'll accept most mediums, including (pictures of) paintings, graphic design pieces, songs, videos, poems, etc.
2. Articles: We are accepting topically relevant articles from group members. Please note, however, that the newsletter editors reserve the right to modify articles in order to make them suitable for publication. Such modifications may include grammatical corrections and removal of potentially offensive content.
3. Quotes & Literary Passages: We are also looking for any topically relevant quotes or literary passages to fill a segment of the newsletter. Anything from a simple sentence spoken by a saint to a paragraph from a book can be accepted.

If you want to submit anything from the above categories, or you simply want to provide feedback or suggestions, please email us at hscstudentsforlife@gmail.com and we will get in touch with you shortly.