By Susan Ciancio
Respect Life Month is an exciting time of year! It’s a month to show—through a myriad of ways—that all human beings are precious and valued. At the Culture of Life Studies Program, we do that with articles, on social media, and with our Pro-Life Essay Contest.
What is the Culture of Life Studies Program?
The Culture of Life Studies Program is a pre-K-12 Catholic, pro-life education program. We offer standalone lessons and resources to educators, schools, parents, and dioceses. Through our lessons, children build the foundation they need to live a faith-filled life and to combat the culture of death so prevalent today.
Pro-life champions like Abby Johnson, Ken Davison (founder of Holy Heroes), Bobby Schindler, Walter B. Hoye II, and more have advocated for our program and love what we have to offer. And Cardinal Raymond Burke has stated that CLSP “provides an excellent program to teach children, from their very earliest years through their teens, in an age-appropriate, consistent and systematic way, to understand and embrace the culture of life.”
Our lessons can be easily taught at home, in CCE classrooms, and in homeschool co-ops! You don’t need a theology background to teach our lessons, as all of the instructions are included. Plus, we even include discussion questions and answers and other fun ways to explore the faith!
We create every day’s lesson to be no longer than 50 minutes, but they can easily be broken down into two or three days, if that’s what your schedule requires. That means you can begin after dinner and finish on the weekends. It’s so easy!
Here are some of the topics our lessons cover:
- Development of the preborn baby
- Marriage
- Understanding disabilities
- Pro-life saints
- Treating others with kindness
- Pro-life citizenship
- Beatitudes
- The Ignatian concept of cura personalis
- Margaret Sanger
- Euthanasia
- Pro-life heroes
- Our Blessed Mother
- The Eucharist
- Caring for the elderly
- And more!
What is the CLSP Pro-Life Essay Contest?
Our annual essay contest is a chance for your student to shine and to win awesome prizes! Cosponsored by the Institute for Excellence in Writing, this contest, traditionally for middle schoolers and older, gives children the opportunity to share their knowledge and thoughts about pro-life topics.
This year, middle schoolers are asked to write about one stage of a preborn baby’s development (first trimester, second, or third). They must then explain the development in this stage and address three concrete ways they can help others see the humanity of the baby in this stage.
High schoolers are asked to choose one pro-life topic (abortion, IVF, euthanasia, etc.) and explain what it is, why it is a threat to human beings, and how, in their school or community, they will speak out against this practice, defend the vulnerable, and teach the value of every person.
Writing their thoughts and explaining how they hope to live their pro-life beliefs are crucial steps in helping kids develop the moral courage necessary to go out into the world and become pro-life leaders. We desperately need this today!
So take time this month to check out our lessons and encourage your kids to write! We cannot wait to hear what they have to say!
