FAR ROCKAWAY — On a quiet Saturday morning at St. Mary Star of the Sea Church in Far Rockaway, the next generation of pro-life advocates put their faith in action and participated in a Day of Service.
On Jan. 11, a group of about 20 teens gathered at the church for a Pro-Life Youth Day organized by the Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry for the Diocese of Brooklyn and The Bridge to Life, a pro-life center in College Point.
They spent their morning in the church center decorating picture frames that The Bridge to Life would later place in gift bags for new moms to take home after giving birth.
The participants, many of whom are members of St. Mary’s youth group glued brightly colorful beads shaped like hearts, flowers, and crosses on the picture frames and wrote messages such as “Super Mom,” “You Are Loved,” and “You Are Not Alone.”
One of the teens, Jennifer Osorto, got creative with her picture frame by affixing tiny plastic bottles, baby carriages, and rattles.
“I hope the mom who gets this likes it,” Jennifer said. “I hope it makes her smile.”
Another participant, Anibal Ulloa, had a similar goal. “I think I’m going to make someone happy,” he said as he glued flowers to his picture frame.
The young people also added personal messages in greeting cards to the gift bags to give an emotional lift to the anonymous moms who will receive them. Along with the cards and picture frames, the gift bags contain diapers, bottles, onesies, and other necessities, said Francesca Yellico, executive director of The Bridge to Life.
Yellico explained that the goal for the day was to help the teens feel a connection to mothers who chose life over abortion even though they don’t know them personally.
“We’re creating a new generation of pro-life ambassadors, she said. “They’ll go out into the world and spread the message of life and hope.”
After the decorating session, the young people walked into the church for a prayer service where they prayed the holy rosary and placed candles on the altar to symbolize the children whose lives were saved from abortion.
While there is hope that the high school students will carry a pro-life message into the world in the future, in many ways, they’re already doing it, said Father James Kuroly, the diocese’s director for Youth and Adult Ministry.
“There is that seed that we’re planting so that they’re able to truly lead the pro-life movement in the future, but they’re the here and the now,” Father Kuroly said. “They’re doing it for us today.”
The emergence of young people in the pro-life fight comes as the movement faces strong opposition in many parts of the country. Figures show that since the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision overturning Roe v. Wade and allowing states to create their own abortion laws, little has changed in pro-abortion states like New York.
According to the Guttmacher Institute, a pro-abortion research organization, an estimated 125,480 abortions took place in New York State in 2023, which was about 12% of abortions nationwide. The number also represents an increase of about 15,000 from 2020, when 110,360 abortions were performed in New York State.
At St. Mary Star of the Sea gathering, however, the talk was about life, not abortion.
One of the teens, Allison Penida, wasn’t sure what she’d find when she arrived for the Day of Service, but she said she came away from it with a newfound respect for mothers who choose life over abortion.
“Now that we’ve been given the task to make messages for moms, I understand the struggle,” Allison said. “I hope they can put their picture of their little baby in the frame and remember at that moment that even though sometimes you feel stressed, a baby is a gift.”
