A prolific guest speaker, powerful youth witnesses and a palpable pro-life vibe were the highlights of the 30th annual general meeting of the St. Catharines Right to Life Association on February 27. A capacity crowd of 340 packed John Michael’s Banquet Centre in Thorold.

After a moving grace from Bishop James Wingle and a wonderful meal, President Phyllis Bonomi reviewed the activities of the past year in support of the Association’s mission to promote respect for life from conception to natural death through education. Some of those activities are:

• The downtown office, which serves as a video and printed material resource centre and the hub of all activities
• Education, including presentations by our speakers bureau at local schools and churches and support of chastity speaker, Chris Padgett, who addressed 20,000 high school students. The association had displays at several local events, including the Lincoln County Fair and supported mailings to doctors about alternatives in the case of Downs Syndrome. (90% of such babies are aborted.)
• Website, which continues to emerge as the primary source for reaching people seeking information. The main website, ChooseLife.ca, has 1,450 visitors per month. In addition, tireless effort has gone into developing sites such as AbortionClinics.ca and AbortionPills.ca, which offer factual information regarding abortion consequences.
• Media Campaign. St. Catharines RTL has contributed $12,000 to the “Reaching Minds through Media” TV ad campaign over the last two years. It also sponsors the “Let them live” and “I regret my abortion” billboards in Niagara Falls and St. Catharines and runs the “Did You Know?” newspaper ads in The Standard.

Particularly inspiring was the presence of over 70 youth. The audience heard from Regine and Courtney, two energetic and enthusiastic young ladies from Lakeshore Catholic High School. The girls described their success in organizing a Pro-Life club at the school. The Club ran a baby item drive, attended the Respect for Life mass at the Cathedral and participated in the national March for Life rally on Parliament Hill.

The guest speaker was prominent Canadian evangelist Rev. David Mainse, founder of 100 Huntley Street and Crossroads Centre in Burlington. His communications ministry has spanned close to 50 years.

Rev. Mainse recounted the pro-life battle, dating back to the early 60’s, which today has evolved into a national scandal, with no protection for the unborn. In 1975, he participated in a march on Parliament Hill and the presentation of a “Petition of One Million” Canadian names for the protection of the unborn. He supported proposed legislation by Jake Epp, Minister of Health, in 1989, to pass an abortion law. In 2008, Ken Epp, Conservative MP and friend of Rev. Mainse, proposed the Unborn Victims of Crime Act.

All of these initiatives failed and Rev. Mainse came to think of himself as a “Champion of Failed Causes”. This resulted in a deep searching in his heart and he came to the conclusion that it had to come down to the individual, acting in their community to make a change. He encouraged all of us to take a stand and act with the strength and integrity of Abraham. He denounced the lie that “you can’t legislate morality.”

He grew emotional when describing how precious and fragile life is in those first nine months. He recounted the struggles of his own granddaughter, Rachelle, who was born at 5½ months, while her parents were visiting Australia. For four months, she was forced to remain in an incubator, cut off from the loving embrace of her father and mother. Then, in a spontaneous moment, he introduced that granddaughter, Rachelle Mainse, now a young woman, who, by chance, was in the audience. Rachelle recounted how the deprivation of the parental touch in those first months traumatized her in later years. She was haunted by fears of being abandoned and always had to know where her parents were. It wasn’t until many years later that she was freed from fear by a powerful vision. Jesus came to her and wrapped his arms around her and told her “I love you; I have always been with you and always will”. She was grateful to the Association and its members for their work on behalf of the unborn.

Dr. Mainse concluded by challenging us to keep up the fight with the zeal of William Wilberforce, whose work helped abolish slavery in the U.K. two hundred years ago. This battle is just as critical.