LifeSite's beginnings and fighting the occult： Q&A with John-Henry Westen
Summary
In this final episode of 2021, LifeSite's Sustaining Donor Coordinator, Danielle Zuccaro, talks with John Henry Weston about the pro-life movement, vaccines, and the tragic diagnosis of his daughter, Mary Catherine.
Transcript
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Welcome to this week's episode of the Sustainer segment. My name is Danielle Zuccaro and I'm the
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Sustaining Donor Coordinator with LifeSite News. We welcome you to our final episode of 2021. We
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hope you've enjoyed our Sustainer segments up until this point and we look forward to
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recommencing our Sustainer segments in the new year. So enjoy this week's episode. I'll remind
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you before we begin that we are currently in the middle of our Christmas fundraising campaign.
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So if you feel called to make a donation to LifeSite, please head on over to lifesitenews.com
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and you'll find our donate button in the top right hand corner of the page. If you'd like to become a
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monthly donor, one of our sustaining donors, you will get the awesome opportunity of submitting
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questions each week to John Henry for answering on this show, as well as many other perks, including
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behind the scenes, info from our journalists on the ground, and exclusive breaking news updates from
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time to time. So head on over to LifeSite News and become a monthly donor if you feel called to.
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We'll begin as we always do with the sign of the cross. In the name of the Father, and of the Son,
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and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Welcome John Henry. Thank you again for being here on our Sustainer
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Segment. Thank you, Danielle. Good to be here as always. Well, we have a variety of questions this
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week ranging from the pro-life issue all the way to the vaccines once again. But first off,
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this comes through my inbox every week for the Sustainer Segment is, can you give us an update on
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your daughter, Mary Catherine, and how her prognosis is? I regret to say it's not all positive news
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where I'd love it to be. So Mary Catherine has been dealing with this issue for quite some time now.
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She had a, basically a break from any seizures for a couple weeks there. Then she went back,
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had some more, then went off again and on again. So that's what we've been dealing with back and
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forth. She did have a bit of a trial. We, of course, had to pull her out of college,
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um, hoped that she could go back in January and we knew that that wasn't to be. So she went to work
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for a little bit, um, and she took a night shift and, uh, she collapsed a couple of times actually
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and had to go to hospital. And so I spent the night in the hospital with her. Um, and it was just
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informed us that it's associated with tiredness somehow too. It doesn't, um, that, that seems to
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bring on seizures. So, uh, any prayers that you could continue to say for Mary Catherine and for our
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family are most appreciated. Her spiritual life has stayed strong. Um, you know, with her working
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now, she's not able to come to daily mass with me all the time, but, uh, she's very committed to that
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and, uh, it's beautiful to see. And in the end, that's really what it's all about. And so if it had
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to be, you know, if you had to decide between a physical health for your child and spiritual health
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for your child, there's, there's no decision to be made. Spiritual health is what it's all about.
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And, uh, that's what we're alive for anyway. Well, we'll continue to be praying for her. And I know
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many, many of our donors tell me all the time that they're still praying. So we'll keep up those
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prayers. Our next question is from Liz in Conway, UK, and she writes, I discovered LifeSite during
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the lockdown in 2020. I was just blown away by your truthful, passionate reporting. It is so good
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to see truthful Christian men and women with a passion for the truth. Looking at the starter of
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the John Henry Weston show, he has been reporting on the church and Christian issues for years.
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I would like to ask what led him to choose this career and how did it lead to LifeSite news?
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Thank you, Liz, for the question. That's a very strange, uh, little thing. Um, so yes,
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LifeSite has been going now for nearly 25 years. In fact, uh, next year will be our 25th anniversary
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year. And, uh, it is, um, it's really a work of the Lord. The way it started was really odd
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for me. I was in psychology. I had a massive conversion, uh, before that I was really living
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on the other side of this question, mostly as a hedonist. Um, and, uh, that's for a different
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story. But in terms of working for LifeSite news, it was very interesting because I was,
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I had finished an MA in psychology at university of Toronto. And, uh, I had a big fat scholarship for a
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PhD and, uh, had just gotten married, didn't feel called to go on to the PhD for a very important
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reason. Psychology, you're able to do a lot for people, but especially in a secular place like
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Canada, uh, you're unable to attach the profession to really being able to share with people the
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ultimate healing. Um, I could have, yes, provided advice to people on how to better their lives,
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get emotions under control, deal with abnormal psychology, especially to children, et cetera,
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et cetera, and do a really great service that way. However, I knew I wouldn't be able to give them the
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fullness of the truth. I knew that I could say, here's something you could do. There's something
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much better you could do, but I can't give that to you. I couldn't do that because I had converted not
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so long before that to the full life in Christ through, you know, true devotion to Mary. And it
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was so impactful for my life. And I knew it meant everything in a way. And so I, I couldn't go on
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with just being able to offer people half measures. And so that was my not wanting to go on with
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psychology. It was a very big decision, uh, you know, newly married and, and, and with a hugely
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lucrative career ahead of me and prestigious and whatnot, but to give it up anyway, that was, that
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was one thing. But then I, uh, was telling my wife at the time, uh, who by the way at the time was,
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it was evangelical and not a Catholic that St. Joseph would find me a job and, uh, that I probably
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didn't go down well, but nonetheless, um, I was at a daily mass. Um, and in my pew, there was a lady,
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a young lady with a head covering on. And, uh, of course it was well after Holy communion. Cause
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at the time without kids, you could say a longer Thanksgiving, but anyway, the priest was going to
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lock up the church. He is asked if we were together. We said, no. And he sort of said,
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introduced us and then left. And we were sort of left there. And so I tried to make some small talk.
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Very first thing she said to me, uh, was, uh, we shouldn't talk here. We're in front of the
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blessed sacrament. And then she left the church. So I turned around to the blessed sacrament and
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made my genuflection. And I told her Lord, Oh, she's one of yours. Eh? And, uh, so I walked out
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of the church and she was waiting for me on the steps of the church. And her very first question,
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I kid you not was, do you have a job? And I thought that was really odd. And, but I knew somehow
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that whatever she would tell me is what God wanted for me. So I said, no. And she said, good,
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I have a job for you. And, uh, she said, the interim newspaper needs people to sell the paper.
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Now the interim is a, is a pro-life newspaper in Canada and, uh, for people to sell the papers.
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I was so convinced that this was from our Lord that nothing occurred to me other than this is
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what you're supposed to do. So I, uh, we were staying at my in-laws place. And so I sort of ran
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back to my wife and told her, I told you St. Joseph would get me something. And, um, I told her what it
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was, uh, she was not enthusiastic at all. In fact, she said something like, so you mean to tell me
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you're going to give up seven years post-secondary so that you can become a paper boy? Um, and, um,
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anyway, a couple of weeks later, I drove down to Toronto where, uh, we were, um, to interview,
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when I was to interview with, uh, with the head of the distribution for the paper,
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met her and so on. And then I was asked to see if I wanted to meet Jim Hughes. Jim Hughes is the head
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of Campaign Life Coalition, the biggest pro-life group in Canada, the most famous. And, uh, you
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know, I'd seen it on TV and so on. So I said, sure, sure. I'll go and meet Jim. And, uh, I walked
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over to, to where he was. The very first thing he said to me was, uh, not at all polite. Um, he said,
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um, what the heck is this? He didn't say heck. He said the other word with the two hockey sticks at
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the end. And he threw on the table in front of him, uh, my resume. And so, uh, I said, oh, it's,
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it's my CV and you know, it was full of good things. It was, uh, I was a researcher at the
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university of York university first, then university of Toronto, even a short stint in, um, overseas as
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well. And, um, he was very, uh, nonplussed. He, uh, in fact was very gruff with me. He said,
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are you for real? Um, after a little while I learned, uh, this is later on, I learned he thought
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I was a spy for Planned Parenthood. And, um, with, with some good reason, my whole resume was full
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of academic pursuits, research, and so on had nothing to do with selling the paper or anything
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like that was all in psychology. And, uh, so it didn't make any sense. Anyway, I didn't understand
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at the time, but what I did understand is that he would know my dad. My dad was a supporter of
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campaign life coalition. He was a very, very faithful Catholic. Um, and so I told him, look,
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you don't know me, but you know, my dad, his name is Henry Weston. And yes, I know he's a white guy
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with blue eyes, but that's because I'm mixed. My mom's from India. My dad's from, uh, Dutch German
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and, uh, his name is Henry Weston. I'm John Henry Weston. And, uh, Jim totally changed at that point
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from gruff and mean and very, very suspicious to, ah, okay. And he told me basically you can work for us.
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You cannot sell the paper for us. And, uh, he got me doing research. The research led eventually to
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daily reports, uh, that Jim as head of campaign life, yes, but also part of international right
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to life, I guess would send sometimes to, uh, other leaders in the movement. So we had this daily email.
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Um, it was variously called CLC daily news alerts and whatever else, but it was interesting because
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I started halfway through that to interviewing people. Cause I said, Hey, look, we're just doing
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news clips right now, snippets of what's going on in the world. And, uh, I noticed that, uh,
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another organization that had just started called Catholic world news. Um, and Phil Lawler, I knew
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him at the time. This is back in 1995, uh, had started and they were doing this same sort of thing
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for the Catholic world. And they were interviewing people. I said, Hey, I can call the leaders of the
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pro-life movement and get comment on all this stuff that's going on. So we put out, you know,
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three to five stories a day, every day, uh, just little clips by email and nothing. Uh, when the
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computers were so slow, it was impossible. Um, and then in 1997, Jim asked his right-hand man,
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Steve Jelcevac to, uh, make a website. In fact, he said, you need to make an internet. Um, and, uh,
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so Steve, uh, hired out, um, someone we still both know, Tony Chasta to build the first site for
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life site. And, uh, that was built. And then someone made the suggestion to put John Henry's
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news thing on the website. Uh, that was done. And then what campaign life noticed was that people
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were coming to the website, mostly only for the news on the front of it. And, uh, that was,
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Oh, that was kind of frustrating for them because they wanted them to see their content and so on.
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So eventually we split them into two different websites. Uh, and so campaign life coalition had its
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own website and life site, its own website. We were carried that way for years until we sort of
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outgrew campaign life. And they very happily, uh, we parted ways, not in any formal way, uh, excuse me,
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not in any, um, antagonistic way, but, uh, we were sort of birthed out of campaign life. So that's the
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history there. And thanks for the question, Liz. All right. Our next question comes to us from Tom in
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Fort Wayne, Indiana. Tom writes, I believe that if Roe v. Wade is overturned, even modified somewhat
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Planned Parenthood would, will gradually disappear. The story goes that Planned Parenthood was vital,
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quote unquote vital because there weren't enough pregnant women, pregnant mother care centers
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available in the early seventies. How much weight does the existence of alternative care centers for
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pregnant mothers carry with the court's decision? And what kind of presentation has been made to
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the courts about this subject? Do you have access to this information about existing alternative
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care centers for pregnant mothers located in the United States? Planned Parenthood really exists
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today, uh, as a government entity. It's most of the money comes into Planned Parenthood from the
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government. Even the abortions that are paid for are often paid through Medicare and so on.
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So without the grants from government, uh, you know, Planned Parenthood really would cease to exist.
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They don't have a donor base the way the pro-life movement does, because there's not
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there's not really the people that are going to be funding it other than those who are into
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population control like Bill Gates and company. Now, uh, with regard to, uh, the Supreme Court
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decision, hopefully we'll see that, um, certain States will, I mean, if, if Roe v. Wade got overturned,
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it would basically turn abortion back to the States for arbitration. And then the States, some of the
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States have already said, uh, they're going to make it a sanctuary, their States, a sanctuary for life
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so that abortion will be the killing of unborn children will be forbidden in those States. And
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that would just be full protection for those children, uh, in, in law, which would be just
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awesome. And that's what we're all looking for. Um, but certain States, California for one have said
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that they would, uh, become an abortion sanctuary the other way or a ridiculous term for that. But
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nonetheless, that's what they've said so that people could come there and still, uh, kill their
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babies and, and they would invite others to do so. So this would, it would move things to the state
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level. And with regard to pregnancy resource centers, there are many of those, uh, that are
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open to people that, that, uh, are trying to help people, especially help people decide for life.
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And life site has a good resource page, which, um, Daniela will get you to put in the links at the
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bottom of this video, uh, so that people can find where to go to on our site to get to all the
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different pregnancy resource centers. Now, our final question is a very good one from
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Anne in Tennessee. And she says, how do you handle spiritual warfare? I have a family member on my
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husband's side of the family, his mother and sister who are into the occult. I wanted to know how you deal
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with it. You all are on the front lines, any advice I will take it. I already use exercised,
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holy water and salt, the St. Benedict medal, the rosary and frequent confession.
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That's an awesome start to unpack that. The, the St. Benedict medal, very, very powerful in terms of
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protection, uh, holy water. And, and I would, I would suggest instead of just normal blessed water,
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which is what you'll find in most of the churches right now, you find a priest who will do exorcism
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water, which is basically holy water in the old style before the, uh, 1960s, uh, in church,
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they, they changed the right of, of making of holy water, if you will. Uh, one of the comments at the
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time from Gabriel Amorth, who was the head, um, exorcist in Rome, he said, are you trying to kill
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us? Uh, because the sort of blessed water compared to the holy water, uh, does little in terms of
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fighting the demons and they kind of laugh at it. So it's an important thing, important distinction to
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make, uh, definitely frequent confession because that gives the, the demons, the, uh, the repels
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them from the normal foothold that they might have. Um, but we do something, uh, and you're right,
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being on the front lines of the, of the pro-life movement and, and what we're doing specifically at
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LifeSite does make us prone targets, if you will, uh, for spiritual attack. And we've had that. We've had
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crazy stuff going on over the years at LifeSite, uh, where we've had, uh, you know, things,
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computers in disparate places all go down at the same time. Uh, just totally unexplainable, um,
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spiritual attack. And, uh, we've actually encouraged staff to bless their computers with,
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with the holy water should things go wrong. And sometimes that in fact does the trick. So,
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um, one of the things that was recommended to us and, and I do at home very regularly, in fact,
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every night, um, is the Auxilium Christianorum prayers. Um, they are put out for laity and, um,
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Auxilium Christianorum is a Latin name, but they're beautiful prayers, uh, that involve exorcism. They,
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they are layman's version of exorcism prayers and they pray through the intercession or help of,
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a bunch of priests that are part of this society, which include, by the way, Bishop Athanasius
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Schneider. Um, and it's really put out by the famous U.S. exorcist, Chad Ripperger. And, uh,
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these prayers are suggested. There's even an app for it. Um, and you have a regular set of prayers,
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which mostly set around the, the litany of the precious blood of Jesus and also involve a daily
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prayer. And, uh, it's, uh, it's very Marian focused as well. So I recommend that for you.
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And, uh, thank you so much for the question. Thank you so much, John Henry. That brings us to
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the end of this week's questions, but we will be sure to recommence in 2022. And again, to our
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audience, you can head over to LifeSite News. We are in the middle of our Christmas fundraising
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campaign, which ends on Christmas Eve. So be sure to make a donation. If you feel called to
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in the top right-hand corner of LifeSiteNews.com. And if you'd like to become a sustaining donor,
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you can be privy to our Sustained Life monthly giving program, which includes various perks,
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including the ability to submit questions for this sustainer segment.
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And just before we leave, um, I just wanted to say thank you, uh, especially at this time of year,
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as we finish the rest of Advent, as we enter the holy season of Christmas, thank you from the bottom
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of our hearts for enabling us to do what we do to serve you with the truth on life, faith, family,
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and freedom. It means so much to us, to our families. Um, and also I wanted to wish you
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a happy and holy Christmas. Um, really we are all a family at LifeSite and, uh, you can tell that
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in our staff meetings big time and, uh, you're really part of what we do. You give us what we need
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to do what we do. And, uh, I know you spread that truth to others and I pray it's of great benefit
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to you, your spiritual lives, and, uh, in all those you interact with. May God bless you and a happy and