Erman Tejeda
There is a phrase that summarizes my outlook on life: “Be the change that you wish to see in the world” (Mahatma Gandhi). I firmly believe that if I want to change my little world, firstly, I need to be a humble heart who takes care of others. I do not want to reach the end of my life without trying to help somehow.
Biography: My name is Erman and I am an undergraduate law student at the National University of Rosario, Argentina. At the beginning of this year, I was given the opportunity to work as an intern with the Latin American Centre of Human Rights (CLADH). This great experience opened my horizons about how human rights are affected in daily life, especially for mothers with children who live in poverty behind prison bars. Currently, I am also involved in a youth organization called “Grupo En-Camino” dedicated to promote the values of sexual integrity, respect for life, and the traditional family; sharing the message of the true love culture with local high school and college students. Moreover, I enjoy taking part in charitable activities, not only to help others, but to also make friends. My first experience in that kind of activity was with an NOG named “University Students for Development” (http://universitarios.org.ar/). In the same hand, every Saturday morning I contribute to generate a christian vision of the life as a catechist in a poor neighbourhood of Rosario city (http://www.aras.org.ar/).
Thoughts: I truly appreciate this opportunity! It will surely allow me to improve my knowledge and skills in order to defend life and the traditional family in the public arena. I am interested to learn more about bioethical issues at the international level. Furthermore, I will be able to share moments with people who are really diverse but joined for a single aim: to be better Christians, better professionals, better leaders. I expect to spread the message of the dignity of human life to young people, the most vulnerable part of society and who have to presently face a culture without values and principles.
Eileen Wittig
Biography: Eileen is a senior at Benedictine College, studying English with a concentration in law and politics after first studying Psychology and Biochemistry. She is also involved with the college’s Republicans group and the foreign exchange students’ orientation. In what’s left of her time she enjoys participating in theater and writing for her other, spare blog. After graduation, Eileen hopes to go to law school, pursue a career in politics on an administrative level, or enter the blogging and writing world permanently. Raised in a Boston suburb in New Hampshire and spending the last few years in central Wisconsin, Eileen is now splitting her time between college in rural Kansas and breaks in Kansas City.
Thoughts: Pope St. John Paul II, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, and Pope Francis have all been strong advocates for young adults to use technology and social media to teach the world that life and morals are worth fighting for. With the entire world to fight, Catholic young adults need encouragement from each other. A society’s success depends on its morals, particularly on its view of the value of life and family. Aristotle wrote that the family is the first building block of a nation, to be used as a guide for the structure of its society. If life and family are not defended, then there is no society. The International Youth Coalition is giving us a voice and an opportunity to accept the challenge to save society, and, in turn, the world.
Joshua Mechaelsen
Biography: Joshua is an undergraduate student at Patrick Henry College in Purcellville, Virginia, pursuing a degree in International Politics and Policy. A native of central Iowa he is partial to wide open spaces and rushing winds. When he is not writing for IYC or studying towards his degree, Joshua enjoys running, gardening, reading, meaningful conversations with friends, good tea, and writing for his own personal blog.
Thoughts: For just as a body without a spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead. ~St. James the Apostle
I fully believe that belief in God is important. However, as St. James the Apostle says, even the demons believe in God. True faith is meant to be so much more than belief. As our belief in God is worked out in His ordained institutions such as the Church and the Family, our faith is matured into what the Catechism calls the fullness of Christian life. I am honored and humbled to be asked to write for the International Youth Coalition and to support the work of C-FAM as they proclaim the value and sanctity of human life, the Church, and the family.
Leah Miller
Biography: My name is Leah Miller and I am originally from a small farm and small public high school out in west-central Minnesota. I am going into my senior year at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, MN. My major is Political Science with a focus on American Politics and I have minors in Catholic Studies and Physics. At St. Thomas, I love playing in intramurals (basketball, volleyball, Frisbee…), swing dancing, being a part of Catholic Studies Leadership Interns, and being a member of the Students for Human Life club on campus. I just finished up my semester abroad studying Theology and Catholic Studies in Rome, Italy. Looking forward, I see myself doing any number of things right after college, law school, grad school, government relations, maybe farming. For me, being pro-life is such a gift, the community and the resources available for us are both great tools for fighting this worthy battle. While I was in Rome, I was able to participate in the March for Life (Marcia per la Vita), and finishing in St. Peter’s Square to see Pope Francis give a blessing to the marchers truly made me realize what a world mission this is.
Thoughts: This is a great opportunity, to work for C-FAM and IYc in order to promote not only life, but also critical thinking and discussion about all issues pertaining to the pro-life movement. Throughout my time as an engaged Catholic adult, I have grown to realize the depth of doctrine that is present, the answers that seem the simplest are just the opposite. The beauty of our Church is represented in not only the encyclicals and the saints, but also the laity who are pushing to make a difference in this world so that we all can become holy.
Angell Lu-Lebel
Biography: My name is Angell Lu-lebel and I am a fourth year student at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. I was born and raised in Vancouver and its surrounding area. I am currently completing a Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology with a minor in Biochemistry. Over the years, my faith has slowly become more important to me, and it is slowly starting to change my beliefs and the way I live my life. It is important to me to find ways to express this. In my free time, I enjoy playing music and sports, as well as baking and reading.
Thoughts: As a person with a disability, certain aspects of life are not always easy. You may experience ignorance, isolation from those around you, and a general and systematic lack of understanding by others about your abilities and what you can accomplish. This type of behavior leads to fear, and fear often leads to avoidance. This type of avoidance has shown itself most prevalently in today’s society through the increased number of children who are aborted because they have a disability. Abortion is an issue which is close to my heart because I know how it feels to be unwanted, disliked and seen as a burden to society. I hope my small voice can add to the larger movement that is striving to make a difference in this area.
Kaitlin Fellrath
Biography: Kaitlin Fellrath is a student at Franciscan University of Steubenville, and is currently pursuing a degree in History and Political Science. She is a native resident of Mobile, Alabama and comes from a large Irish Catholic family. She holds a leadership position in the Ut Unum Sint Society for Christian Unity at Franciscan University, which strives to promote the cause of ecumenism among all Christians. Her interest in politics and international affairs was encouraged by her participation in Model United Nations, where she participated in the delegations of Moldova, Iran, and Palestine. Not eager to repeat this experience, she headed to Franciscan University to pursue her educational aspirations. In the spring of 2013, Kaitlin studied abroad in Gaming, Austria, an experience that taught her the beauty and universality of the Catholic faith. She enjoys travel, reading, running, and politics (though not all at the same time). In the future, she hopes to uphold and promote the teachings of the Catholic Church in the political sphere.
Thoughts: As Pope Saint John Paul II tells us in his encyclical, Evangelium Vitae, “the Gospel of life is something concrete and personal, for it consists in the proclamation of the very person of Jesus.” I am grateful for this opportunity to proclaim the person of Jesus to the world through the IYc. I look forward to engaging with international life issues through my blog posts. My prayer for this blog is that my readers leave their computer screens with a better understanding of the issues at stake in the battle between the culture of life and the culture of death. I also pray that, through my posts, readers come to a better understanding of their dignity as a human person, and through this understanding, a greater commitment to defending human life and the family, both at home and in the world at large.
Xavier Bisits
Biography: Although I come from Australia, I am now an undergraduate at the University of Cambridge, where I study Human, Social and Political Sciences. Next year, I will specialising solely in politics and international relations. At Cambridge, I am President of Cambridge Students for Life and Vice-Chair of the Catholic chaplaincy.
Thoughts: I am excited to be able to play a small part in the work of C-FAM. Much of the discourse in the UN surrounding human rights is unsound and there is much that Catholic social teaching has to offer to inter-governmental policy. The organs of the UN should be used to promote human rights – such as the right to life – rather than an ideological agenda grounded in the ethnocentric bias of certain Western activists. The Catholic Church, as the only institution on Earth that transcends all cultures and nations, is uniqely placed to promote human rights, protecting the weak against the strong, as it does every day at a grassroots level through its hospitals, schools and other social work.
Jillian Thomas
Biography: I am a graduate of Florida State University with a minor in English and a major in Political Science. As a political scientist, I am most interested in how political systems interact and affect the public. For example, even though the state of Israel is a secular democracy with three separate, distinct branches of government, religion plays an important part in politics and in national life, as Judaism is a spiritual, rather than a political, bond that respects the sacred traditions of religion and strengthens the spiritual bond between different religious sects in society.
Before I graduated from Florida State University, I also attended the University of North Florida, where I worked as an office assistant in the Philosophy and Religious Studies Department. This office assistant job introduced me to the philosophical and religious teachings of St. Augustine, Søren Aabye Kierkegaard, Alasdair McIntyre and Martin Heidegger. These philosophers continue to shape my thoughts on religion and, more importantly, virtue.
I hope that I can share my thoughts on important philosophical ideas with C-FAM and the world.
Thoughts: Secular Humanism is a relatively recent event in the course of history. It was not until 1851 that the term “secular” was coined, and it wasn’t until the late 18th century that Auguste Comte’s positivism and Church of Humanity, which greatly influenced modern sociology and secularism, became mainstream public discourse.
But what is the appeal of secular humanism? And why do secular teachings continue to influence our concepts of morality and virtue? First of all, I believe that the appeal of secular humanism and its continued influence on our thoughts and actions is the doctrine’s denial of religious influence in the natural sciences and in social relations. Secular humanists postulate that moral ideas have no relation to religious doctrine. Felix Adler, a prominent proponent of secular humanism, argued that morality is independent of religion. In his pamphlet Creed and Duty, Adler’s statements on morality sound familiar to modern man.
The right for right’s sake is the motto which everyone should take for his own life. With that measure of value, we can descend into our hearts and gauge ourselves and determine in how far we are already moral beings, in how far not yet. But right for right’s sake is only another form for expressing the independence of morality.
Also, secularism is appealing to modern man because the doctrine stresses that individuals must enhance their well-being by appealing to the self for guidance, rather than on a single entity outside the body. The secularists believe that the scientific method and the constant search for objective truth will yield wonderful results for the world. In other words, science, rather than religious creed, best enhance the well-being of society. While science does improve lives, one cannot ignore Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s remonstrations to the secular West in his Harvard speech:
We have placed too much hope in political and social reforms, only to find out that we were being deprived of our most precious possession: our spiritual life.
Karl Hetzke
Biography: A native of Rochester NY, Karl is an undergraduate student at Union College in Schenectady NY, pursuing a double major in Political Science and Economics with a minor in Classics. For the past three years, Karl has been a volunteer leader with Young Life, a Christian youth ministry. Through his ministry with Young Life, Karl hopes to lead his high-school students to a deeper understanding of both themselves and Jesus Christ. An avid musician, Karl has been called “the best guitar player in the world” by his mother, and “pretty alright” by others; he also plays piano, drums, and marimba. Karl has been an active member of both Catholic Student Association and Intervarsity Christian Fellowship at Union College.
Thoughts: “Men go forth to marvel at the heights of mountains and the huge waves of the sea, the broad flow of the rivers, the vastness of the oceans, the orbits of the stars, and yet they neglect to marvel at themselves” St. Augustine.
For believers like Augustine, every single aspect of human life is a miracle. For Christ, human lives were worth giving his own for. I am convinced that Christ is worth following, and the precedent that Christ and Saints like Augustine set for the Church today is that no price is to great to pay to ensure that human bodies and souls are loved and respected. I believe this is why C-FAM does all the work it does to protect the dignity of all human life, from conception to natural death. As a devoted follower of Christ, and a passionate student of international relations and public policy, I am incredibly excited to be joining C-FAM.
Kyle Moodhe
Biography: Kyle is a recent graduate of the University of Virginia. He graduated from Mr. Jefferson’s University in May of 2014 with a B.A. in History. Some of his academic interests include Orthodox Theology, Medieval History, as well as American Political History. Outside of the classroom he has become an avid reader of Russell Kirk, Ven. Fulton Sheen, and Pope Benedict XVI. Mr. Moodhe hopes to pursue a career in the fields of law and public policy while still adhering to the tenets of the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.
Thoughts: I believe that God has called each of us to walk with Him along that “more excellent way” which is the path and person of Jesus Christ. As Catholics, it is our duty to make sure that this “more excellent way” is not made inaccessible by legal measures that threaten the family and society by extension.
The Church expresses in the Catechism what is ultimately at stake when the family is in jeopardy:
“In our own time, in a world often alien and even hostile to faith, believing families are of primary importance as centers of living, radiant faith.”
Only by protecting the family can we truly ensure that believers and unbelievers alike can pursue virtue and happiness together in society.
Eric Coufal Leaño
Biography: Eric is from Guadalajara, Mexico currently in his last year of Law School in Universidad Panamericana. He is currently participating in the Blackstone Legal Fellowship (BLF) organized by Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF). The BLF is a leadership development program designed to provide a rigorous nine-week summer legal internship, training Christian law students from all over the world to turn them into future leaders of Law & Public Policy, advocating for religious liberty, the sanctity of life, and marriage and family.
This program consists of an interactive training in natural law principles and constitutional jurisprudence, as well as having the opportunity to do an internship with allied organizations, such as the Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute (C-FAM), where he will be collaborating in it’s New York office this summer. He has also participated in the past Commission on the Status of Women (CSW58) in the United Nations as a volunteer with an NGO based in Guadalajara called Misión Mujer–AXIOS, which focuses on young adolescents providing them with workshops and counseling nation wide, based on values such as “human dignity, freedom with responsibility, and social commitment”.
Thoughts: Human rights are inherent to all human beings. From conception, each unborn child is by nature a human being; and every human being has the inherent right to life. This right shall be protected by law, and no one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his life. From this critical stance of what human rights really are, it is my humble opinion that these rights are not respected and fully complied with by States or even their own citizens and there exist many injustices, abuse, and a lack of interest towards them.
Organizations such as C-FAM are crucial and essential in society to defend and uphold these fundamental human values, and having the opportunity to do a summer internship with them has been a real privilege as I hope this experience will contribute to my formation and growth not only on a professional level, but also in a personal basis as a human being; helping me gain a greater awareness and knowledge regarding the issues that are being touched upon in the UN such as women’s rights, health, youth, and children’s rights, especially the most defenseless and innocent of all human beings which are the unborn children; whose rights are trampled upon and neglected every day.
Lastly, having the opportunity to participate in the past CSW in the United Nations, I have witnessed first hand the battle that is being fought regarding the Post-2015 Agenda and it has reaffirmed my belief that the need for strategic, sound, legal reasoning and planning is needed now more than ever in order to solidify and protect the inherent human dignity and rights of all human beings, and to care and protect the family, understood as the basic nucleus and the prime institution of society.