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Dear Friend of Defend Life,

First, thanks to all who gave so generously to our Christmas Matching Grant Campaign.

Your wonderful generosity will help Defend Life to continue fighting the Culture of Death and promoting the Culture of Life. Our January Defend Life Irish Lecture Tour featuring Bernadette Smyth, the vivacious mother of four who has almost single-handedly kept legalized abortion out of Northern Ireland, is a great example of what we do in Defend Life.

When a great activist, Pastor Ed Martin, from Ocala, Florida, called in early December, he told me of his plans to bring Bernie Smyth and Alicia Brennan, Bernie's assistant, to Washington for the March for Life, arriving on Sunday evening, January 18. Ed's hope was to have Defend Life arrange for Bernie to speak on Monday and Tuesday and then spend most of Wednesday on Capitol Hill visiting pro-life senators and congressmen for photo ops. We began ~he "Irish Lecture Tour" on Monday morning with a guided tour of the breathtaking Franciscan Monastery in Washington which contains an actual scale replica of Calvary including the crucifixion scene and the tomb in which Christ was buried. It was built in the 1890's by Italian artisans. It is the next best thing to visiting the Holy Land itself!

Then it was onto Emmittsburg along with Lewis and Genevieve Fleury from Towson, long-time pro-lifers, who drove the second car necessary to escort the three Irish girls and the four Floridians who accompanied us. Father Jack Lombardi, a wonderful pro-life priest, gave us a personal tour of the grotto where Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton took her children to pray and picnic on Sunday afternoons. The "Irish Girls" were fascinated as we told them about the heroic life lived by Saint Elizabeth Ann including such interesting tidbits as dancing with George Washington at his first inaugural ball in New York City when she was a debutante and still an Episcopalian.

Next it was down the hill to historic Mount Saint Mary's Seminary where Bernie was introduced by Monsignor Ed Lynch, retired pastor of Immaculate Conception in Towson, and a true friend of the pre-born. Bernie mesmerized the 60 or so seminarians and locals who were present with her poignant conversion story to pro-life - activism. It was the "graphic pictures" of aborted babies which her friends from the Irish Republic owned but were not using which converted her. This talk was arranged by Father Kevin Rhoades, the Rector who was delighted to have Bernie Smyth speak as well as Father Peter Ryan, S.J., a long-time friend of Defend Life from his days at Loyola College.

Then onto Blessed Sacrament Parish in Chevy Chase, Maryland, right on the boundary between the District of Columbia and the State of Maryland. It's the same parish where Pat Buchanan grew up in the 1940's and of which he speaks so fondly in his autobiography, Right from the Beginning. Cynthia Bertolini, a young stay-at-home mother, arranged for this talk after receiving a copy of our blanket e-mail as well as arranging a delicious lasagna feast prior to Bernie's presentation. We were graciously hosted by Monsignor Thomas Duffy, the long-time pastor, and Father Anthony McLaughlin, a tenaciously pro-life Irish priest in residence who is presently studying Canon Law at Catholic University.

Bernie gave another great pro-life talk to about 80 enthusiastic persons including about eight student pro-life leaders from the University of Maryland. They sat attentively in the first row, "glued" to each word of her heart-felt message. (This wonderful talk was recorded and I'll tell you later how you can obtain a free copy for your enjoyment and inspiration.) On Tuesday morning it was off to Gonzaga High School where Bernie spoke to approximately 300 students in the three groups of combined religion classes. Beth Goslin, the pro-life youth director at St. Martin's in Gaithersburg, had made arrangements. Beth, who cut her teeth in pro-life activism at Villanova University, contacted Father Robert Rokusek, the chaplain at Gonzaga who was very open to the idea. Dr. Terry McGuire, a Gonzaga graduate and a major benefactor to that school, had helped lay the groundwork for. this speaking appearance by befriending Father Robert Novotny, S.J., the president of Gonzaga and a native Baltimorean.

Then it was off to Annapolis where Bernie and Alicia Brennan, met a true American patriot, Chief Judge Roy Moore, who went to the wall to keep God in government by publicly displaying the Ten Commandments in his courthouse in Alabama. Then, onto Oakcrest Village for another talk arranged by Eileen Bolgiano, the co-founder of Defend Life.

We wound up that evening at St. Francis Xavier in Hunt Valley where Bernie spoke to about 50 persons. Special thanks go to Father Jeff Dauses, the pastor there, who was delighted to have dinner with Bernie and Alicia and also to Jim Althoff, the head of the pro-life group who arranged this talk.

On Wednesday, the "Irish Girls" headed up to Capitol Hill where they visited such pro-life heroes as Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, Congressman Roscoe Bartlett of Maryland, Congressman Chris Smith of New Jersey, and Congressman Henry Hyde of Illinois. How blessed are we to have such courageous, tireless, dedicated pro-life leaders as these.

Our last visit was with Henry Hyde, a "giant among giants." Congressman Hyde, who was walking with difficulty, graciously posed for us in front of his Rayburn Building first-floor window which overlooks the Capitol. The Capitol Dome cooperated by majestically shimmering in the afternoon winter sun.

Congressman Hyde then read to us some soul stirring pro-life prose which he had copied from a plaque at a hospital dedication he had attended.

I told this true patriot that I was never more proud of him than when he so eloquently led the impeachment debate against William Jefferson Clinton on the floor of the House of Representatives back in 1998. Congressman Hyde replied with a grin that "President Clinton will always have an asterisk (*) after his name in the history books because he was indeed impeached!" Then it was on to the Dubliner with the "Irish Girls" for some late afternoon lunch with John Jakubcyk, a prolife activist attorney from Phoenix, the president of Arizona Right to Life, and the father of 11. It's always like "old home week" at the Dubliner where so many great pro-lifers gather. We were honored to meet Ray Flynn, former ambassador to the Vatican, and former Mayor of Boston who said he would be pleased to speak for Defend Life in the future.

Finally, it was off to the Shrine with Joe Scheidler and the Irish Girls for the magnificent vigil Mass the night before the March for Life. Afterwards, on the steps of the Shrine, we met a group of Catholic midshipmen from the Naval Academy in Annapolis along with their two Catholic chaplains. Now that we know who these chaplains are, we will try our best to have one of our great Defend Life speakers give a talk at the Naval Academy soon.

It was perhaps the busiest three days of non-stop, pro-life activity that I can recall, since first cutting my teeth way back in 1972. And the main event, Nellie Gray's 31 st Annual March for Life, one of the best and biggest ever, was yet to begin!

Thanks to all of you who so generously support all that we do in Defend Life to save pre-born babies from death by abortion arid to hasten the day that legalized abortion in America will be but a bitter memory!

May God Bless you always!

For Life,
signed Jack Ames
Director

P.S. I almost forgot to tell you about Sunday, January 18. Alicia Brennan, the #2 pro-life leader in Northern Ireland, spoke at two events Defend Life co-sponsored, Lexington Park in Saint Mary's County and Germantown in Montgomery County. All told, Bernie and Alicia spoke to approximately 600 persons!

P.P.S. To obtain a free audio cassette tape of Bernie Smyth's talk at Blessed Sacrament in Chevy Chase, send a self addressed envelope with .60 postage to: FFM, Box 698, Bowie, MD 20718. Write "Bernadette Smyth Tape" on the lower left hand comer of the envelope.