VOICE FOR LIFE HOLDS CONVENTION

With the goal of inspiring a passion for defending life, Voice for Life held its second annual convention Saturday at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Scott City."Our purpose is to gather together people who are working for the pro-life movement, to educate and motivate them," said Rosie San Paolo, the founder of Voice For Life. The Catholic lay organization supplies pro-life information to and encourages action in parishes in the Springfield-Cape Girardeau Diocese."People need to be educated about the issues, but they don't always have time to read everything," San Paolo said. "This conference gives us a chance to pool our resources and share things."On Saturday, about 100 people came to hear Bishop John J. Leibrecht speak on the Catechism's teaching on social justice, as well as programs on using media to get out the right-to-life message, developing legislative skills and reflections on the death penalty.

Leibrecht, bishop of the Springfield-Cape Girardeau Diocese, said the Catholic church teaches that its members should try to bring justice to the world. This includes protecting lives from the unborn child to the frail elderly person he said.

Some issues like the fight against abortion have brought church members into the political arena, Leibrecht said. But that's as it should be since many public policies have a ethical issues associated with them, he said."As citizens, we have the right to speak," he said. "As religious citizens we have a right to say what we think is right."He said the Catholic church's social doctrine proposes principles, provides criteria for making judgments using those principles and gives guidelines for action.

In the pro-life movement, Leibrecht said, the principle is the belief in life, the criteria is no violence and the action is working to get public policy to reflect the belief in life.

He said that belief in life and the stance the church takes against abortion is rooted in the Catholic church's recognition that from the point of conception the object in the womb is human."Theologians and others may argue over the point at which this fetus becomes a human person. But there is no argument that if left to develop it will be human," he said. "This cuts off the argument that this is just a glob of material."San Paolo said she is seeing a growing number of people who are voicing the rights of the unborn. She said when she formed Voice for Life in 1988, few people would come to the meetings."Now when we have meeting, people want to come and do things for the right-to-life cause," she said.

Spreading that enthusiasm to work to stop abortion to a younger generation at Saturday's conference was Penny Lea, who was a speaker for the youth program.

She urged the approximately 30 teen-agers to speak up for what they believe in."There are people who put their fingers in their ears and say bad things happen and I can't do anything about it," said Lea, a motivational speaker with I Believe in Life ministry. "But you can do things to fight bad things like abortion. But it takes guts to fight for what you believe in."She urged the teens to spread the pro-life message to their friends, abstain from premarital sex and refuse to take drugs.

These are not the types of things that will make students popular in school, she said. "But you can be part of the problem or part of the solution," Lea said.

Lea's presentation inspired several Scott City teens to work even harder for these things they already believe in.

Cousins Brandi Compass, 14, and Renee Compass, 13, and Danae Danis, 14, all of Scott City were taking pro-life literature to give to friends. "I'm going to stand up for what I believe in," said Renee Compass.