The John-Henry Westen Show - Gen Z college student takes Christian faith more seriously after COVID pandemic lockdowns

00:00:00.000 Young people in the Church today seem fewer and far between.

00:00:04.540 Sometimes when you go to a Mass, you notice there's a ton of older people,

00:00:09.340 and you wonder, where are all the young people?

00:00:12.540 Sometimes if you go to a traditional Mass, you'll find those young people.

00:00:15.760 But we have one with us today.

00:00:18.200 Her name is Stella Moore, and she's with LifeSite News.

00:00:21.220 We're going to get to know her on this episode of The John Henry Weston Show.

00:00:24.620 Stay tuned.

00:00:30.000 Stella, welcome to the program.

00:00:45.180 Thank you. Thank you for having me.

00:00:46.720 Let's begin, as we always do, with the sign of the cross.

00:00:49.660 In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

00:00:54.940 Stella, first of all, tell everybody what you do for LifeSite News.

00:00:57.980 I work on the marketing team.

00:01:00.000 I do social media.

00:01:01.240 I'm part-time, so I work doing social media in the evenings and on Saturdays.

00:01:06.280 And then I also have taken on Ladies of LifeSite podcast, 0.96

00:01:09.740 and I'm the new host for that show.

00:01:11.180 So be sure to tune in.

00:01:12.640 Awesome.

00:01:12.900 Now, what else is it that you do helping out with another amazing organization?

00:01:18.120 Yeah, so that's actually how I found LifeSite News.

00:01:20.360 I also volunteer with the Coalition for Canceled Priests.

00:01:23.620 If you guys aren't familiar with the coalition,

00:01:25.440 we are a group of people that are supporting our good and holy priests that have been sidelined.

00:01:31.760 So I got involved with the coalition last summer, less than a year ago,

00:01:36.380 and now I help out doing their social media.

00:01:39.400 So be sure to follow them as well.

00:01:41.120 And everybody knows Father James Altman, who needs no introduction,

00:01:45.700 and he is helping out with the coalition in a major way,

00:01:48.940 being one of the leading Canceled Priests, if you will.

00:01:51.820 Let's learn a little bit about who is Stella Moore.

00:01:54.480 I'm a junior at Loyola University here in Chicago, Illinois.

00:01:59.200 I'll be graduating this week, actually, which is super exciting.

00:02:02.820 I was born and raised Catholic.

00:02:04.520 I've always been Catholic.

00:02:05.840 But just recently, I would say in the last few years,

00:02:08.820 through many of the hardships that all of us have faced with COVID and the mandates

00:02:14.000 and the attack on Holy Mother Church, which is very prevalent in Chicago,

00:02:18.800 I've started to spend a lot of my time focusing on my faith and defending my faith.

00:02:23.920 That's how I got involved with the Coalition for Canceled Priests.

00:02:26.600 And ultimately, that's how I ended up getting involved with LifeSite.

00:02:30.780 So now I work at LifeSite part-time, and I help out with the Coalition,

00:02:34.020 and I'm a student.

00:02:34.840 So lots going on.

00:02:36.500 So Stella, being a practicing Christian and Catholic at a university,

00:02:42.620 yes, it's supposed to be a Jesuit university, but it's mostly secular anyways.

00:02:48.540 How has that gone for you?

00:02:49.820 Because that can be a real challenge.

00:02:50.920 I have a crazy COVID story about the vaccine mandate,

00:02:55.680 about a year ago.

00:02:57.380 It was in May of 2021.

00:03:00.040 Loyola sent an email, and they were requiring all student, faculty, and staff to have the

00:03:06.180 vaccine in order to go to school starting in the fall semester.

00:03:10.820 So August of 2021.

00:03:13.680 And I knew right away there was no way I was going to be taking the jab.

00:03:16.900 I mean, that was a given.

00:03:18.120 So I freaked out immediately.

00:03:20.140 And like any 20-year-old female does, I called my mom right away. 0.54

00:03:23.900 And she was the one who told me that I needed to submit an exemption ASAP.

00:03:28.980 So that's just what I did.

00:03:30.320 I sat down that evening, and I wrote a lengthy exemption.

00:03:33.160 It was probably like five pages.

00:03:35.180 I did a little research.

00:03:35.900 I wrote this great exemption.

00:03:38.020 And within a few days of receiving that email, I submitted this religious exemption to the

00:03:42.480 school.

00:03:43.260 And I was like, well, there's no way they're going to say no to me.

00:03:46.220 I wrote a great exemption, right?

00:03:47.680 Well, I waited, and I waited.

00:03:50.060 And weeks were going by, and weeks were going by.

00:03:52.260 And meanwhile, I'm emailing the school every few weeks.

00:03:55.760 And I'm like, do you have an update for me?

00:03:57.260 I mean, I'm going to need to be exempted.

00:03:59.440 And I wasn't hearing anything.

00:04:01.460 So one day, randomly, they denied me.

00:04:05.240 They sent an email back, and they were like, sorry, we can't help you.

00:04:08.380 And I had no clue what to do.

00:04:09.860 I mean, so many people had faced that issue.

00:04:11.780 Students, nurses, people working in the corporate world, they were asking for an exemption, and

00:04:17.160 they were just getting denied.

00:04:18.640 So I had heard about a group called Liberty Council.

00:04:22.340 If you guys are unfamiliar with them, they are a nonprofit, and they provide legal support

00:04:26.380 for, they defend freedom and family, and they're against all of these mandates.

00:04:33.100 So I reached out to them.

00:04:34.560 And within a few days, they had responded to me, and they were like, well, definitely

00:04:38.700 help you out.

00:04:39.480 We're on it.

00:04:40.380 So I got in contact with an attorney there, and he told me, I'm taking over your case.

00:04:45.060 You will have no contact with Loyola.

00:04:47.640 I will handle all of it.

00:04:49.300 So I sent him all the emails that I had back and forth with Loyola, and he was taking care

00:04:54.060 of it.

00:04:54.520 Well, it was the middle of the summer, and I was waiting to hear if he had figured it

00:05:00.300 out, right?

00:05:01.520 And I hadn't heard anything back, so I didn't know what was going on.

00:05:05.980 And you know how legal stuff is.

00:05:07.420 It takes a very long time.

00:05:08.820 So I started looking at other colleges and universities.

00:05:11.420 I was already on track to graduate a year early because I just couldn't really stand the

00:05:16.340 liberal education that I'm getting.

00:05:18.220 And I was like, I'm going to have to transfer, and it's going to put me behind, but I got to

00:05:22.580 do what I got to do if it means I don't have to get the vaccine.

00:05:25.760 So I'm looking at other universities, and I'm waiting to hear back.

00:05:28.840 And the attorney was updating me here and there.

00:05:31.140 You know, I've been in contact.

00:05:32.500 We're trying to work it out.

00:05:34.080 But there wasn't really any big update.

00:05:36.040 And at this point, we're a month away from school starting.

00:05:38.780 I don't know what I'm going to do.

00:05:42.060 And so one day, randomly, of course, the school is very random, they sent me an email, and they

00:05:47.680 said, very simple.

00:05:49.420 Well, it must have been one sentence, they said, you've been exempted.

00:05:53.140 Oh, it's that easy.

00:05:54.220 It could have been that easy from the beginning, right?

00:05:56.220 And so I reached out to the attorney, and I was like, I've been exempted.

00:05:59.280 And I sent him a text of this, and I screenshotted the email.

00:06:03.180 And he was like, you have no clue how many people are behind you praying for you.

00:06:08.820 He was like, without saying your name, I have had, Liberty Council had had so many Loyola

00:06:14.160 students reach out to them saying, I need help.

00:06:16.460 I need help, and since I was the first one to ask for help from them, then I was the

00:06:21.820 trial run almost.

00:06:23.500 So when I got the exemption, they thought for sure all of the other students were going

00:06:27.780 to get an exemption.

00:06:29.060 Well, that wasn't the case.

00:06:30.300 They gave me the exemption, and about 40 other Loyola students that were looking for help

00:06:34.720 from Liberty Council had been denied still.

00:06:38.060 So Liberty Council went ahead, and they were like, well, we're going to sue you.

00:06:41.640 And they gave them about 24 hours to make a decision, or otherwise they were going to

00:06:46.780 sue them the next morning.

00:06:47.900 And eventually Loyola came back, and they gave in, and they were like, well, I guess they're

00:06:51.860 all exempt, because it was always about the money.

00:06:54.600 But yeah, it was insane.

00:06:57.120 Although I must say, your ordeal has probably steeled you for a future battle, because that's

00:07:04.800 an insane thing to go through.

00:07:07.360 But our Lord does usually use these hard circumstances to steal you for life.

00:07:13.460 There's always good and the bad.

00:07:15.020 I mean, they probably are very upset that they did that to me, because look at me now.

00:07:18.820 I'm on the John Henry Weston Show talking about how horrible the school has treated me.

00:07:23.320 So I think it was their loss.

00:07:25.440 Well, absolutely.

00:07:26.100 This has been something for a lot of different schools.

00:07:29.400 One of the things that you are also involved in with the Coalition for Canceled Priests,

00:07:34.440 you're fighting for the faith in a very traditional sense.

00:07:38.340 What got you interested in that?

00:07:40.700 How did that even come about?

00:07:41.900 Honestly, I think it came about with all the COVID stuff and everything that happened with

00:07:45.980 the school.

00:07:46.880 It was so hard on me, and I was so lost.

00:07:50.920 I felt like that it was the perfect time to turn to God more than ever.

00:07:54.640 And so that's ultimately what I did.

00:07:56.480 It was when I didn't know what to do.

00:07:57.940 I went to church.

00:07:59.060 I went to adoration.

00:08:00.000 I prayed the rosary.

00:08:01.420 It was all I really had when there was nothing else.

00:08:05.140 I didn't know where I was going to be going to school, if I was going to be exempted.

00:08:08.560 And so I kind of got involved with the Coalition for Canceled Priests last summer, which was

00:08:12.980 when all of this stuff was happening with the school.

00:08:16.120 And it was a sign from God.

00:08:18.460 It was a bad time trying to get an exemption, but it was ultimately God bringing me closer to

00:08:23.400 Him.

00:08:24.000 What brought you to your kind of deep faith?

00:08:26.400 Where did this all come from?

00:08:27.380 Because this is not your regular kind of, yeah, I go to church on Sundays.

00:08:32.460 How'd you get to where you're at?

00:08:33.940 If I'm being honest, I used to be that way.

00:08:36.180 I go to church on Sundays, and that's about it.

00:08:38.080 You know, made my mom happy.

00:08:40.760 But it did come.

00:08:42.580 I talk about my mom a lot, obviously, but it came from my mom.

00:08:45.280 She's always had a very deep faith.

00:08:48.800 And when I was little, actually, my parents got divorced, and it was really, really hard

00:08:54.200 on my mom.

00:08:55.320 I mean, as a Catholic, that's a word you never want to say is divorce, obviously.

00:08:59.480 But I was in elementary school, and I remember my family was going through it.

00:09:04.120 And my mom always turned to church and taking us to church and just trusting in the Lord.

00:09:10.960 And so from a young age, I was really exposed to what that was like.

00:09:14.740 And even though I kind of went through high school and I wasn't very deep in my faith,

00:09:18.840 I always knew how important it was.

00:09:21.180 So when the going got tough for me, just like it was tough for my mom, I knew it's what I

00:09:25.920 had to do.

00:09:26.800 That does not happen all the time.

00:09:28.640 When people are confronted with hard things, sometimes they rebel.

00:09:32.240 But you had that amazing example of fidelity.

00:09:36.260 What's your message to young people?

00:09:38.200 There's a lot of young people who feel conflicted about living a life of faith.

00:09:43.060 Will I have to give up everything that I am or want, everything fun, to live like I know

00:09:49.800 I should?

00:09:50.620 It's very sad for me to see a lot of young people, especially since I go to a Jesuit 1.00

00:09:54.360 university, where a lot of people at the school are, well, they call themselves Catholics,

00:09:59.520 but they don't support what the Catholic church actually teaches.

00:10:04.360 And so that's really why I want to do this type of stuff is because I've realized how

00:10:09.220 important it is for people my age.

00:10:10.820 I mean, I'm 20 years old and I want every other 20 year old to have a strong relationship

00:10:16.620 with God.

00:10:17.820 And so if I can do that, that's amazing.

00:10:20.440 I see a lot of people that turn away from the faith.

00:10:22.560 They come to college and they kind of go crazy or they get a job and they just lose

00:10:29.160 God in their life.

00:10:29.960 They don't practice any of the holy sacraments.

00:10:32.680 They're not going to mass.

00:10:34.160 They're not even praying day to day.

00:10:36.900 And I think it's really important that we find God.

00:10:39.360 Everyone does.

00:10:40.400 How would you suggest parents or friends go about helping people in their early 20s, late

00:10:46.560 teens type of thing to come to a deeper faith, to introduce them to faith?

00:10:50.760 On the recent Ladies of Lifesite episode, I interviewed another young Catholic.

00:10:55.360 Her name is Amber Rose and she's 23 and she had a cool, interesting story about coming

00:11:01.180 back to the faith.

00:11:02.220 And we talked to, I've talked a lot about this with her personally.

00:11:05.300 Um, I, I think the biggest thing is that you definitely have to take slow steps.

00:11:09.620 I mean, when I see my friends who have turned, not necessarily turned away from God, but just

00:11:14.860 have like lost all sense of faith in their life, I really just encourage them to go to

00:11:20.460 mass on Sundays, even if that's all you do during the week versus doing nothing.

00:11:24.800 It's better than nothing.

00:11:25.840 And slowly, but surely you do gain the whole sense of God back into your life.

00:11:30.840 And it's, it's important for sure, but you have to take baby steps.

00:11:35.440 You are in a situation in the world today.

00:11:38.000 I mean, I, I don't believe you could send people to your campus mass or could you, is,

00:11:41.660 is there a good campus mass at Loyola?

00:11:43.600 Yeah, there is mass.

00:11:45.020 I wouldn't say it's not great.

00:11:47.320 Right.

00:11:48.000 How, as a young person, can you be discerning about which church to go to?

00:11:53.040 It's hard.

00:11:53.700 I mean, I know in Chicago, we have St. John Cantus and they do Latin mass.

00:11:57.160 That's where I like to go.

00:11:58.300 I mean, I, I don't have a car, but if I have to Uber to get to a good mass, I will do that.

00:12:02.740 It's really, really important that you go to mass, that you pray, that you practice what

00:12:09.320 you were taught to practice.

00:12:10.840 And I encourage other people to do that.

00:12:13.220 I always tell people, if you want to come to mass with me, just tell me, I have no issue

00:12:16.960 with it.

00:12:17.260 I would be happy to go with anyone.

00:12:18.960 It's so important.

00:12:19.720 Now, being a Catholic is somewhat difficult in our world today, particularly around the issues

00:12:25.880 that are always called the hard issues.

00:12:28.300 So the pro-life issue, the family issue, how do you, as a young person, explain that to

00:12:35.540 your own peers who would take you up on something like that, even at the Jesuit Loyola University?

00:12:42.640 It's hard, actually.

00:12:43.500 I was just out with some of my friends last week and the Roe v. Wade leak came out and I

00:12:50.340 was with a lot of pro-choice people.

00:12:53.840 Well, actually, all of them, I think.

00:12:55.440 And I was the oddball out.

00:12:56.860 And somebody had brought it up.

00:12:58.500 And I won't sit there quiet.

00:13:00.040 It's just not who I am.

00:13:01.160 I won't let them just talk about it.

00:13:02.720 And I'm going to be like, twiddle my thumbs and act like they're not saying something horrible.

00:13:07.320 And for me, I realized that one of the most important things you can do for people by age

00:13:12.080 is patience.

00:13:13.540 I mean, I'll have a conversation with anyone.

00:13:15.700 And if they want to disagree with me, that's totally fine.

00:13:17.980 But at least listen to the other side of the argument.

00:13:20.860 I mean, I have a lot of friends who are pro-choice and they love abortion.

00:13:26.040 They're so mad about what's happening right now.

00:13:28.400 And it's sad.

00:13:30.460 It's really, really sad.

00:13:31.740 And these are people who call themselves Catholics.

00:13:34.400 And so that's where it's important that people like myself and other people my age are

00:13:37.700 able to sit down and have a conversation with them.

00:13:40.060 And that's what I did last week.

00:13:41.700 And I think it was really beneficial for the other side.

00:13:44.840 And share with us, if you could, just a couple of things that you said that you thought might

00:13:49.040 have struck home.

00:13:49.960 I mean, I think it's just really important to reiterate what the Bible teaches us and

00:13:54.540 what the Catholic Church teaches us.

00:13:56.100 And that's what I say.

00:13:57.440 I'm like, if you guys want to be Catholic, just follow society, this woke culture that

00:14:02.820 we're in.

00:14:03.900 And that's where I think that it's important that we don't follow the woke culture, but

00:14:07.460 we follow what the Church teaches us.

00:14:09.200 And so I always tell them, do some research.

00:14:13.360 Look at LifeSite News.

00:14:14.300 Look at the Bible.

00:14:15.340 Go to church and just learn about what's going on versus just taking the side of social media

00:14:20.240 or what the peers are saying or what the school is telling us is right.

00:14:24.260 And so definitely just educating other people.

00:14:27.800 You have to speak sometimes in the face of what the professors are saying at this so-called

00:14:33.420 Catholic school.

00:14:34.680 Does that create problems?

00:14:36.440 It creates a lot of problems.

00:14:37.920 I mean, even just a semester, I'll be honest, some of my professors give me bad grades because

00:14:44.740 they know that I'm a conservative Catholic.

00:14:46.720 I had a professor this semester who was very liberal.

00:14:50.420 And anytime anything happened, she was very upset.

00:14:53.540 She would come into class and she would be swearing.

00:14:56.180 And it was really horrible because there was a crucifix hanging on the wall and this professor

00:15:00.360 comes in mad about it.

00:15:01.380 Every day she was mad about something, swearing, swearing, swearing.

00:15:04.500 But I remember that the first day of class, it's a marketing class, but somehow she wove COVID

00:15:10.060 in there every time that she could.

00:15:11.500 And so the first day of class, she said to the class, and it was on Zoom the first two weeks,

00:15:15.900 do you guys think that it's fair that the school required the COVID vaccine?

00:15:21.580 And nobody's saying anything.

00:15:23.540 Nobody's unmuting.

00:15:24.320 And she's like, come on, I want this to be an open discussion class this whole semester.

00:15:28.240 Let's have an open discussion.

00:15:29.660 Nobody's saying anything.

00:15:30.620 So eventually I unmute and I'm like, all I said was no, it's not fair.

00:15:35.600 And that put everyone up into a riot.

00:15:39.300 There was a lot of people that were trying to attack me in class over a Zoom call.

00:15:43.960 And the professor didn't say anything.

00:15:46.360 In fact, she started attacking me herself. 0.99

00:15:49.340 And since that day, well, one, I have kept very quiet in that class for the sake of passing.

00:15:53.980 But she also refuses to give me an A on everything.

00:15:56.960 So I got through it.

00:15:58.280 But there's times when all of the professors at Loyola, I've had very few professors who

00:16:03.080 are Catholic or just agree with my views.

00:16:05.520 They're usually the opposite.

00:16:08.260 And so a lot of times I really do have to stand up for myself.

00:16:11.480 And even if it means risking getting a good grade or being liked by the professor or being

00:16:17.800 able to email them and ask a question, I have to risk it just to stand up for my faith

00:16:22.580 and for what I believe in.

00:16:23.860 If you had a final message for everybody, what would it be?

00:16:26.040 Don't be scared.

00:16:27.560 Don't be scared.

00:16:28.440 I think a lot of people are scared and they're scared to, like I was saying, they're scared

00:16:32.620 to not follow the woke culture that we live in.

00:16:35.840 They think that what everyone else thinks and what they see on social media and what their

00:16:40.020 friends are saying is what's right.

00:16:41.420 And I want everyone to know that that's not the case.

00:16:44.000 You can agree to disagree.

00:16:46.160 I see that with a lot of my friends.

00:16:48.140 I'm the exact opposite of them.

00:16:49.800 But we have to agree to disagree.

00:16:51.300 And if we can educate each other and explain our sides, I think it's really important, especially

00:16:57.140 for young people my age.

00:16:58.680 We really have to work together and we have to help each other grow.

00:17:03.140 I really want to help other people grow in their faith and trust in our Lord.

00:17:07.920 Stella, we're so pleased to have you at LifeSite News.

00:17:10.100 And you can find Stella and her work at Ladies of LifeSite on their podcast.

00:17:14.800 Thank you so much for having me.

00:17:16.820 God bless you, Stella.

00:17:17.780 And God bless all of you.

00:17:19.480 We'll see you next time.

The John-Henry Westen Show - May 17, 2022

Gen Z college student takes Christian faith more seriously after COVID pandemic lockdowns

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