MAY 2023 NEWSLETTER

Featured Article:

Embracing Motherhood, by Hannah Blosser

 "I want to be a stay at home mom when I grow up." How often have we heard those words spoken by young homeschooled girls? Chances are, pretty often. Children learn quickly from example, and in a homeschooling family it's common for the girls of the family to want to be like mom when they grow up someday. However, this sentiment is not so familiar to modern society. In fact, it's often looked down upon. There is a common theme in our culture that causes stay at home moms and traditional marriage and family values to fall into the "not trendy" pile today. That theme is selfishness.

 The society of today tells women "you can do anything!" and "empowers" them to climb the business ladder, make more money, and live their own lives. While it's good for women to have ample job opportunities and the ability to earn a living, our culture has taken it to extremes. Women are encouraged to be like men, even to strive to be equal to men. Equal in pay, work, and lifestyle. They are discouraged from becoming "tied down" as mothers in a household and told that motherhood is the second-best option. Having a job and being "free" from the responsibilities of family is better.  

 People today have lost sight of what it means to be a woman and a mother. Motherhood is difficult. It is a high and beautiful calling that requires complete selflessness and humility. Modern society rejects these virtues, pushing them aside in favor of a novel form of vanity, hidden in the guise of an extreme version of "self-love." The truth is, women are hurting because of this. Every woman is called to be a mother in some way. Whether married to a man and becoming mother to their own children, as a sister or nun with spiritual sons and daughters, or even being mother to those around her by her friendship and loving care. Whatever season in life a woman may be in, she is called to motherhood.

 We often forget the heroism of our own mothers. They nurture us from the time we are conceived, go through the joyful pain of childbirth, spend sleepless nights comforting us, and along with our fathers, become our primary educators as we grow up. Our mothers quietly encourage us as we take our first steps into adulthood, realizing that we need to make our own decisions, but standing by to catch us in case we fall. Motherhood, in all of its forms, is the most heroic vocation in the world. After all, it was the calling of our first mother, Eve, and of a young girl from Nazareth, who would become the Mother of God and Queen of Heaven. Mothers are all at once nurturers, teachers, comforters, and queens of the domestic Church. It's a job only the strongest can handle, supported by a husband for protection and love, and a merciful Father for the grace to keep going.

God bless all of our mothers and may the Blessed Mother Mary keep them all in her loving care!

Prayers:

A Prayer in Gratitude for Our Mothers
From the Catholic Diocese of Dallas

Good and Gentle God, we pray in gratitude for our mothers and for all the women who have joined with you in the wonder of bringing forth new life. You who became human through a woman, grant to all mothers the courage they need to face the uncertain future that life with children always brings. Give them the strength to live and to be loved in return, not perfectly, but humanly. Give them the faithful support of husband, family and friends as they care for the physical and spiritual growth of their children. Give them joy and delight in their children to sustain them through the trials of motherhood. Most of all, give them the wisdom to turn to you for help when they need it most. Amen.

Source: https://www.cathdal.org/home/prayers-for-mothers-day

Pro-Life Quotes:

"Adoption was such a positive alternative to abortion, a way to save one life and brighten two more: those of the adoptive parents." - George W. Bush

"How dare they tell us we have to kill our children to fulfil our dreams. Women are better, stronger, and more deserving than that." - Laura Klassen

"How can there be too many children? That is like saying there are too many flowers!" - St. Teresa of Calcutta

News:

Students for Life of America Challenges PETA

On Endangered Species Day, SFLA sends letter to PETA President, asking for support for Red Bag Medical Waste Requirements to protect waterways. “Other industries do not receive permission for government-sanctioned, corporate dumping of medical waste,” wrote SFLA’s Kristan Hawkins. “The Abortion Industry should not receive tacit permission to pollute.”

Source: https://studentsforlife.org/2023/05/19/students-for-life-of-america-challenges-peta-to-join-our-efforts-to-protect-the-environment-and-endangered-species-by-stopping-the-practice-of-dumping-medical-waste-from-chemical-abo/

Potential Harms of Chemical Abortion Pills to America's Water Safety Still Ignored

“Facts from the ‘fact check’ make one thing clear: despite known issues with pharmaceuticals in the water, the potential harms of Chemical Abortion Pills have been ignored. Lack of evidence and testing from U.S. sources doesn’t justify government-sanctioned, corporate dumping of chemically tainted medical waste and human remains into America’s waterways,” said Students for Life of America President Kristan Hawkins.

Source: https://studentsforlife.org/2023/06/02/thank-you-politifact-for-making-our-case-about-the-potential-harms-of-chemical-abortion-pills-to-americas-water-safety/

Upcoming Events:

June meeting - to be announced!

Our elections recently took place and we are in the process of transitioning our new leadership team! It's a very exciting time but also very busy as we wind down the school year and some of us graduate high school. Congratulations to our new leadership team members!

Submit 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.