Event broadens pro-life spotlight

By ROB HERBST
The Catholic Week
MOBILE – Soon after Roe v. Wade was overturned in June, Vagabond Missions’ Lauren Alley heard the usual criticism that those who are pro-life only care about the baby until birth.
It initially made her mad. 
It then made her think.
“It begged a question of me — what am I doing day-in and day-out that makes me pro-life all the way through?” Alley said. “The Church has all these programs and I had to ask myself the question, ‘What am I doing? Am I involved in those programs?”
Alley also asked hundreds at Corpus Christi Parish in Mobile on Sept. 15 for the Archdiocese of Mobile Respect Life Dinner to reflect on what they are doing to respect life.
The archdiocese’s inaugural Respect Life Dinner certainly celebrated the overturn of Roe v. Wade, but it also broadened the pro-life spotlight. 
Alley served as keynote speaker. The former McGill-Toolen Catholic High School teacher is a team leader for Vagabond Missions’ Mobile branch. Vagabond Missions serves inner city and urban teens, building relationships with them and bringing them closer to Jesus.
Vagabond Missions is not what those who stereotype the pro-life movement would classify as a pro-life organization. But make no mistake, Vagabond Missions is definitely pro-life. 
“That’s the heart of the pro-life movement. We don’t want you to just be alive. (In John 10:10) Jesus said ‘I want you to (have life and have it more abundantly).' How are you and I day-in and day-out making that our mission, that people are seen and known and loved?”
She included: “Isn’t that the ache of every human heart? To not just be alive, not just exist in the world, but to have purpose, to know that you’re wanted, to know that you’re valued, to know that you’re known, to know that you’re loved. Isn’t that the heart of every single person in this room?”
The Respect Life Dinner included a wide range of guests, from various schools’ pro-life groups to those who are elderly. Several ministries which respect life were also in attendance, offering information on their services.
Pat Arensberg, director of the Archdiocese of Mobile Office of Evangelization and Family Life, which organized the dinner, said the ministries in attendance were proof that criticizing the pro-life movement as solely focused on abortion is “a baseless attack.”
But those who are truly pro-life must refute the attacks with their actions.
“We’re here to celebrate, but we’re also here to lay down the gauntlet,” Arensberg said. “We have to pick up the banner now because now the real battle for hearts, minds and souls begins.”
According to Alley that means “standing on the margins.”
“If you want to erase the margins, you’ll stand on them,” she said. “To be pro-life means we can no longer stand on the sidelines. I know for a fact that’s nothing new, but we’re going to have to go and stand on those margins. It is no longer enough to say ‘you’ve got it, there are programs, good job.’
“What are you doing day-in and day-out?”
Archbishop Thomas J. Rodi echoed that message as well.
“Our credibility is going to come from a witness that we care about life,” he said. “If the world does not believe that we care, the world will not care what we believe. That’s our challenge. 
"We need to take a hard look at ourselves.”

Mae Rehm Award
The inaugural Mae Rehm Award was also delivered at the dinner. 
Mae Rehm passed away in August 2021 and was a pro-life champion. 
The award was given to her husband, Dr. Chris Rehm, for his commitment to pro-life matters.