The John-Henry Westen Show - Brand new Catholic-focused pro-life group launched in Ohio

00:00:00.460 Hello, and welcome to this special episode of the John Henry Weston Show, where we're

00:00:04.280 going to be talking with a young man who has started a new Catholic pro-life group and

00:00:09.460 who has just a great family.

00:00:11.460 We know Gabriel Vance because we brought him to Rome.

00:00:14.620 LifeSite began a first Catholic fellowship program and now an internship, and the first

00:00:20.980 crew was just an incredible group of young Catholics, totally vibrant for the faith,

00:00:26.520 and we've got Gabriel Vance with us today.

00:00:28.820 Stay tuned.

00:00:30.000 Let's begin, as we always do, with the sign of the cross.

00:00:50.360 In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

00:00:53.500 Amen.

00:00:55.080 Gabriel, welcome to the program.

00:00:56.760 Hello.

00:00:57.240 Thank you so much for having me, John Henry.

00:00:58.900 I'm very excited about this.

00:01:00.140 Tell us a little bit about yourself.

00:01:01.600 I mean, before this started, I gave you a little bit of an intro, but tell us a little

00:01:06.040 about yourself, and we're going to get into what you're doing in just a sec.

00:01:09.940 I am a born and raised Catholic.

00:01:11.780 I live in Columbus, Ohio.

00:01:13.200 I've been here all my life, and in high school, I started a pro-life group at my high school

00:01:19.520 after going on the March for Life in Washington, D.C., and that kind of really started my process

00:01:25.020 of getting personally involved in pro-life work.

00:01:27.200 I had done a lot with my family in the past.

00:01:29.400 I'm one of five siblings, and I grew up seeing my older siblings do a lot in the pro-life movement,

00:01:33.800 as well as my mother and father.

00:01:35.680 And in high school, I really started to make it my own.

00:01:37.640 And I went to Ohio Dominican University in Columbus, Ohio, and got a bachelor's in theology there.

00:01:44.660 And summer after, my freshman year, my wife, Anna, and myself got married and got pregnant

00:01:51.180 with our first four months later.

00:01:53.620 So throughout college, I was involved in pro-life work.

00:01:56.400 And immediately after I graduated, I started full-time with a pro-life ministry, a national

00:02:01.500 group based in Columbus, Ohio, called Created Equal.

00:02:03.840 They focus mainly on public activism and education in the pro-life movement.

00:02:07.920 So I've been with them for five years now.

00:02:11.140 But like you said, several years ago in 2018, my wife, Anna, and myself, along with our second

00:02:17.900 little boy, Leo, he's one of three now, we were able to go to the pilgrimage in Rome that

00:02:24.080 LifeSite News and Voice of the Family hosted the Rome Youth Conference in 2018.

00:02:28.560 And it was a really moving experience where I had a great desire to not only work alongside

00:02:35.960 with other Christians in the pro-life movement, but to really saturate my pro-life efforts with

00:02:40.660 the fullness of the Catholic faith and work within a Catholic apostolate.

00:02:45.000 And that was kind of the vision that started Catholics for Life.

00:02:48.740 And you are not only open to life, you came to Rome with the little baby, which is just

00:02:55.780 awesome for us.

00:02:56.720 But there's no shyness about being open to life and just making that baby totally part

00:03:05.120 of you, whatever you're doing.

00:03:05.960 Now, you're involved with Created Equal.

00:03:08.760 Now, Created Equal is a very, I guess you could say, in-your-face kind of pro-life work.

00:03:18.060 I know Mark very well and see him every year at the March for Life, well, he used to before

00:03:23.720 COVID.

00:03:24.740 And just, you know, they present the reality of abortion like few others do.

00:03:30.760 Tell us a little bit about what they do.

00:03:32.100 Created Equal focuses a lot on training and activism.

00:03:34.740 So we're trying to train the next generation of pro-life leaders.

00:03:38.600 We go to high schools and college campuses, present for churches and youth groups, giving

00:03:45.540 presentations so that young people can be equipped to make a defense for the pre-born.

00:03:50.040 But then we don't just don't stop with the apologetics.

00:03:52.400 We then focus on our street outreaches.

00:03:55.760 So Created Equal goes to, leads hundreds of outreaches every year, going to college campuses

00:04:00.900 and urban areas and high schools, overpasses, abortion facilities all over the nation.

00:04:05.700 And we bring with us images not only of pre-born babies, but also abortion victims.

00:04:10.460 So real images of little boys and girls who've been killed by abortion.

00:04:14.380 We use these images and these pictures to start conversations, asking people just in public

00:04:19.780 areas what they think about abortion and striving to change hearts and minds on abortion,

00:04:25.160 to rescue pre-born babies, and to bring the gospel and healing to post-abortive men and

00:04:29.900 women. 0.81

00:04:30.140 So I've been with them five years now as a director of external affairs, and I still

00:04:34.140 am with Created Equal part-time, but just this January is when I also started Catholics

00:04:39.440 for Life.

00:04:40.360 And with Catholics for Life, are you similarly involved in kind of street outreach on the

00:04:45.040 ground type of work?

00:04:46.360 Yeah, and that's really what the vision that started it was.

00:04:49.980 I loved the activism that Created Equal was doing.

00:04:53.180 I think it's so important.

00:04:54.280 I've seen so much fruit come from it.

00:04:56.260 Hundreds of minds change each year, many babies saved.

00:04:59.140 And I think it's really important that we are engaging the culture, because if we can

00:05:03.320 change public opinion on abortion, then the laws will follow, and then lives will be saved,

00:05:08.660 and pre-born children will be protected, as the rest of humans are in America.

00:05:14.460 So I knew how important that was, and I saw the great fruit that came from this public activism.

00:05:20.420 But like I said, I really wanted to saturate it with the Catholic faith.

00:05:23.200 I wanted to incorporate sharing the fullness of the faith in outreaches, evangelizing the Catholic

00:05:28.420 faith, the salvation of souls during all of our outreaches we're doing on the street,

00:05:32.120 on college campuses.

00:05:33.100 I wanted to incorporate the team participating in the sacraments, the mass, and reconciliation

00:05:38.900 before outreaches and things like this.

00:05:40.940 I wanted to bring in especially the grace of the Eucharist and of Our Lady's intercession,

00:05:45.760 some of the most powerful avenues of grace that God has given us through His church,

00:05:49.800 and things without which I do not believe we will end abortion.

00:05:52.760 So Catholics for Life has still a very focused on public activism, while also incorporating

00:06:00.960 the fullness of the Catholic faith.

00:06:03.100 So what we're doing right now, what we have planned right now, is we are doing regular

00:06:07.460 sidewalk counseling outside of Planned Parenthood people praying and people counseling the mothers

00:06:11.740 and fathers going in.

00:06:13.420 We are also half-started, and once it gets nicer out, we'll start doing more public street

00:06:18.000 outreaches that are not only a pro-life outreach, but also really street evangelization to pass

00:06:24.500 on and share the gospel and communicate the Catholic faith to passerbys.

00:06:28.140 And then we're also looking into organizing Eucharistic processions to abortion facilities.

00:06:33.500 This has been done in other areas and has really been almost miraculous in closing down facilities,

00:06:38.620 as well as different trainings and things we can do to maybe set up chapters or clubs at

00:06:43.820 different high schools and churches and youth groups around the area to get more people

00:06:46.760 involved.

00:06:47.300 So those are some of the big projects we're doing.

00:06:48.880 But yes, a very, very focused on education outreach and very centered on this public activism.

00:06:55.500 Now, one of the aspects that is, I guess, challenging here for a lot of people is, you know, let's

00:07:02.980 say I'm a young person at a high school.

00:07:05.040 I've thought about doing this too.

00:07:07.000 I'd like to speak to my friends.

00:07:08.280 I'm just way too shy.

00:07:09.360 How could I ever do that?

00:07:12.100 And you're on the street and you're supposed to, what, start talking?

00:07:15.920 So how do you get over that, you know, that initial, gee, you know, here's a soapbox.

00:07:22.500 I'm doing this.

00:07:22.980 I'm not doing it for me.

00:07:23.660 I'm supposed to be doing it for Jesus.

00:07:24.880 I want to, but I'm too scared.

00:07:26.220 What do you do?

00:07:26.780 Really?

00:07:27.120 The only answer I have is you just have to do it.

00:07:29.840 You have to ask for God to give you the grace, the courage to do it.

00:07:33.880 Um, because I think when we go out in the streets, whether it's to do evangelization, um, strictly

00:07:40.380 about the gospel, or whether it's to do, or still evangelization, sharing the pro-life

00:07:44.000 message, um, sharing the gospel of life, um, it is, it is hard to do, right?

00:07:49.480 And it is nerve wracking and it can be scary at first.

00:07:53.020 But the only way you're really going to get comfortable with it, you're going to get used

00:07:56.020 to it as if you do it.

00:07:57.260 That's not to say that you shouldn't attend a training beforehand.

00:08:00.240 So with Catholics for life, I've already done four different trainings this year. 0.97

00:08:03.580 Um, I'm doing a training for two different youth groups for about 80 different young

00:08:07.140 people, um, next month as well with two of the Catholic churches here in Columbus, Ohio.

00:08:12.540 And you can go to a training like this.

00:08:14.400 So you can see a presentation.

00:08:15.800 You can even, um, watch people role play in front of you and get the opportunity to kind

00:08:19.720 of talk to people around you.

00:08:22.040 Uh, we usually set people up so they role play.

00:08:24.140 So one person acts as a pro-abortion advocate and the other person then defends the pro-life

00:08:30.500 view and you go back and forth and practice.

00:08:32.400 So there, there's trainings like this to learn how to use science and reason to defend the

00:08:35.960 unborn, how to settle counsel, minister to post-abortive men and women, how to use conversations

00:08:40.960 about abortion as a, as a springboard to go strictly into the gospel.

00:08:45.800 And share that with individuals.

00:08:47.420 So there's these training, these opportunities to do this, that can help equip you to begin

00:08:51.380 with, but then to actually go out and do it, you just have to make a commitment, find other

00:08:55.240 people who are experienced, who've been out there before, go out there with them.

00:08:59.100 So you can kind of shadow them to begin with, but then you really just need to start having

00:09:02.840 the conversations yourself and really just entrust yourself to God's grace, ask for, uh, fortitude

00:09:08.340 from the Holy spirit, ask for that gift and let him guide you, um, in your evangelization

00:09:12.840 evangelization and your activism.

00:09:15.020 So Gabriel, let me just ask you one last question.

00:09:17.640 How did you get the inspiration to start Catholics for life? 0.99

00:09:20.060 Well, John Henry, you mentioned how my wife, Anna and I attended the Rome youth conference

00:09:24.480 in 2018 with life site news.

00:09:26.700 And that actually started kind of the story behind Catholics for life.

00:09:30.140 So it was there on that, on that pilgrimage in Rome that I really felt a desire, a call to

00:09:35.740 work in a pro-life Catholic ministry, to be part of a Catholic apostolate and have my pro-life

00:09:40.940 activism be centered within that.

00:09:43.400 And I didn't really know what that looked like, but it was something that I kept praying

00:09:46.760 about over the next year.

00:09:48.120 And on October 23rd, 2019.

00:09:51.680 So this was exactly the one year anniversary, uh, when my wife and I were leaving Rome from

00:09:57.040 the pilgrimage, I was actually reading a life site news article about guardian angels.

00:10:02.060 And I just said a general prayer to my guardian angel, just to help guide me and inspire me,

00:10:06.620 um, to follow God's will and intercede for the grace that I need to do that.

00:10:10.500 And I just felt this overwhelming urge, the sensation that it was time to pursue, uh, Catholic 0.96

00:10:17.040 pro-life activism.

00:10:18.440 And I didn't know exactly what that looked like.

00:10:20.140 I just kind of said, I couldn't explain the urge, the desire that I had for it.

00:10:23.780 It was very supernatural.

00:10:24.780 And I said, okay, Lord, you know, I'll reach out to some different Catholic groups, um,

00:10:28.720 maybe some Catholic ministries locally, and I'll see what happened.

00:10:31.620 Um, but then just a few seconds later, I got a text on my phone from my cousin, uh, a photo

00:10:37.540 of father, Stephen Imbrato saying mass in his trailer outside of an abortion facility.

00:10:44.000 So father, Stephen Imbrato is, he used to work with priests for life.

00:10:48.060 And now he started his own ministry, life ministries, us.

00:10:50.700 And one of his initiatives is on the road for life.

00:10:53.600 And he travels across the country going outside of abortion facilities, um, doing minor exorcisms,

00:10:58.840 um, bringing the Eucharist outside of abortion facilities, giving talks in churches and things

00:11:03.060 like this.

00:11:03.480 And he was in Dayton, Ohio at that very moment that I said this prayer.

00:11:07.540 I went to my garden angel and felt really inspired to get involved in pro-life activism.

00:11:10.640 And my cousin was there sending me a picture of him.

00:11:12.640 So I was able to contact, uh, father, Stephen Imbrato and meet with him the next day.

00:11:18.020 And he made it possible for me to start Catholics for life as an initiative of his nonprofit life

00:11:23.700 ministries us.

00:11:24.320 So we function as the affiliate of that initiative of life ministries us, but it was, it's very

00:11:30.820 cool, very providential how Catholics for life has come about.

00:11:34.180 It's definitely due to God's grace.

00:11:36.440 Um, and it seemed miraculous at times, but it was very linked to, to life site news, um,

00:11:43.080 and that pilgrimage to Rome, even in the very beginning and things that you shared there

00:11:47.160 on the pilgrimage, John Henry, like, um, your devotion to our lady, especially to, um,

00:11:52.380 St. Louis de Montfort and his book, a true devotion, we're now concert, we're actually

00:11:55.660 in the process of consecrating Catholics for life to our lady.

00:11:59.200 I'm using St. Louis de Montfort's, uh, manual and as well as consecrating Catholics for life 1.00

00:12:04.660 to St. Joseph.

00:12:05.220 So things like this, from this pilgrimage are still, um, bearing fruit in, in my life's

00:12:09.580 Catholics for life might not be here. 1.00

00:12:11.240 If it wasn't for that pilgrimage that my wife, Anna and I, and our little boy went on.

00:12:15.260 So, so thank you for that.

00:12:16.680 And, um, please continue to keep me in your prayers because throughout this process, I've

00:12:22.140 become more and more convicted of how great a sinner I am and how much I need God's grace.

00:12:26.680 And I'm just praying for the grace to be open to make Catholics for life as, as small or as 1.00

00:12:31.200 big as God desires.

00:12:32.380 So if you all could pray for me, I'd be very grateful for that.

00:12:36.620 Where can people reach you?

00:12:38.180 How do they get to find out about Catholics for life? 0.98

00:12:40.360 So we have a website, uh, catholicsforlife.us and they can go there.

00:12:45.880 Um, there's a, uh, contact form they can fill out to get ahold of me.

00:12:49.260 There's also a contact form, uh, if they would like to host me for a presentation, like I

00:12:53.860 guess, so those different trainings we can do on pro-life apologetics, on sort of counseling,

00:12:57.940 ministering to post-subortive men and women, um, just a general pro-life presentation, how

00:13:02.220 to use conversations about abortion to share the gospel so they can contact me.

00:13:06.680 And, and I really encourage people to do this.

00:13:08.600 Definitely if they're, if they're close to central Ohio, that would be great.

00:13:12.240 Even if they're from another state, um, or, or far away from me, I would still love to

00:13:17.420 do a training maybe, um, over zoom or something like that, if it would be possible.

00:13:22.180 Um, or if I could travel there to go there and do a training, do outreaches with them,

00:13:26.460 or just even to help give them the, the instruction and the resources they might need to start

00:13:31.020 sidewalk counseling in their own community to start leading public activism, uh, outside

00:13:35.840 their state house or at a college campus or just different ways they can get involved

00:13:40.000 in the pro-life movement.

00:13:40.900 I'd love to talk to them about this where if anybody has any advice or guidance for me,

00:13:45.900 um, I've only been doing this for a couple months now, but I'm trying to reach out to

00:13:49.500 as many different groups, pro-life groups, Catholic groups that I can to get advice on what

00:13:54.620 outreaches we should be doing, what specific devotions are our participants, our volunteers

00:13:59.220 should be partaking in.

00:14:01.180 So if any of you, um, are interested in what I'm doing, or think you might have ideas for

00:14:04.720 me, or you'd like just to talk to me, please go to our website, catholicsforlife.us, and

00:14:09.560 you can fill out the contact form there, fill out the form to host us for a presentation.

00:14:14.040 Um, and yeah, you can also reach us at contactcatholicsforlifeatgmail.com.

00:14:18.960 That's our email, contactcatholicsforlifeatgmail.com.

00:14:22.600 Gabriel, thank you so much for being with us on this episode of the John Henry Weston Show.

00:14:25.760 May God bless you.

00:14:26.540 Thank you so much.

00:14:27.640 God bless you as well.

00:14:28.280 And God bless all of you.

00:14:29.620 And we'll see you next time.

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The John-Henry Westen Show - March 23, 2021

Brand new Catholic-focused pro-life group launched in Ohio

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