The John-Henry Westen Show - LifeSite's Gen Z leader energizes young pro-life base!

00:00:00.000 I know it's really sad to like see families around just because I went to like a Catholic

00:00:03.580 high school and the Catholic college. I know people who there's a member in their family that

00:00:08.000 fell out of the faith and fell into hard times, maybe has an alcohol addiction, drug addiction.

00:00:15.160 Hello, LifeSite family. Now, you know that we have social media accounts, we have an Instagram

00:00:19.820 account, we have YouTube shorts, we have all these things. And you might have seen these short videos

00:00:25.400 with a very attractive young woman and wondered, who is that? Well, that is LifeSite's own

00:00:32.960 Christina Rossini. And you're going to get to meet her right here. This is the John Henry

00:00:37.460 Weston Show. Stay tuned.

00:00:55.400 Christina, welcome to the program.

00:01:07.220 Hi, John Henry. How's it going?

00:01:09.140 Awesome. Awesome. Let's begin as we always do with the sign of the cross.

00:01:12.720 In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

00:01:17.640 So, Christina, I think there's probably people who are wondering, who is this young lady?

00:01:24.200 Why is she promoting LifeSite stories all the time? And they're into like TikTok and Instagram now. 0.96

00:01:32.800 Tell us about yourself. Let people know who you are.

00:01:35.180 Hi, everybody. My name is Christina. I have been working with LifeSite full time since August. But

00:01:40.100 before that, I was actually an intern here. So, it's kind of a new thing for me. But I've always had

00:01:46.460 a love of social media. So, that's where I work mostly. And I took it upon myself to get more

00:01:52.140 involved in just what was happening, the news. And I will check our, you know, the last 10 days

00:01:56.980 articles every single day, just going through just to see if there's anything good going on,

00:02:01.320 just because I love keeping up with stuff. Like at one point, we found a need, just LifeSite found

00:02:06.100 a need to kind of showcase more of a personal, like a storytelling almost, of these articles.

00:02:11.040 articles. And I decided, hey, it'd be fun if we did some sort of like just short video

00:02:15.560 platform, like TikTok or something, just to make it easier for these articles to digest

00:02:19.920 with some people. So, that's kind of where I came into the whole mix. And they were like,

00:02:24.080 Christina, you seem good for this. Like, let's try you out. I'm like, okay, cool. Sounds good.

00:02:27.440 And so, that's what I've been doing. A lot of people would look at you and say,

00:02:31.860 hey, what in the world is she doing that for? This is a kind of an alienating thing. It's hardcore

00:02:38.040 pro-life, pro-family, pro-faith. What are you doing in there? You're a young person. You should

00:02:44.000 be out enjoying yourself. Aren't you concerned about people who are going to look down upon you

00:02:49.080 because of this, what you're doing and think, oh, what an extremist.

00:02:51.880 So, from a very long time ago when I was in college, so I guess not too long ago,

00:02:55.280 but maybe three years ago, I was met with a big controversial whole thing with,

00:02:59.960 I was part of Turning Point at the time. And so, I'm very used to the controversy. I am used to

00:03:04.640 people disliking me for my views and my vocalness of those views. And so, I don't know. It's kind of

00:03:12.120 my, it's like my comfort spot. Like, I'm just used to kind of being, like, kind of hit against,

00:03:17.600 like, people lashing out just because of what I'm saying. I feel like this is kind of a hill that's

00:03:22.040 worthy of dying on, like, and staking my reputation on, just because, like, pro-family

00:03:27.140 and pro-life values resonate with me and my family so much that it just means the world that I'm able

00:03:33.240 to speak on it and work with an organization such as LifeSite that is so openly pro-family and pro-life.

00:03:38.520 You speak of your family. What's your family life been like?

00:03:41.460 I am one of six. I am the second oldest. I have an older sister and then a brother-sister,

00:03:47.040 brother-sister. And it's always been a fun time. My parents are both devoted Catholics. They

00:03:52.520 try to pray the rosary daily. They caught us prayers when we were really little. I think that

00:03:57.140 one of my first, like, sentences was being able to say the whole Hail Mary. So, if that gives you an

00:04:03.020 idea. But yeah, so my family life has always been so good. They have always inspired, my parents have

00:04:08.240 always inspired us to strive for holiness. And then my grandparents as well on both my mom's and

00:04:12.720 my dad's side. So, it's definitely a fun family dynamic. We're all really close. We were all

00:04:16.860 homeschooled until, like, high school, like, until ninth grade. And so, we grew up very close. We've

00:04:21.700 always been each other's best friends. And I would say that is the best dynamic, I think,

00:04:25.740 like, for a family that I could think of.

00:04:27.640 In today's day and age, there's normally periods of great rebellion, sometimes even leaving the

00:04:32.100 church. And your experience has been fairly smooth comparatively.

00:04:37.020 Yeah, I would say so with all my siblings. We're all still very Catholic. We went to Benedictine

00:04:42.640 College, which is a really great Catholic school in Kansas. It's in the Midwest. There's really

00:04:46.500 not a lot to do. So, maybe that's the whole, like, that can stay, it can keep you Catholic just 0.80

00:04:50.680 because there's not a lot to do other than, like, just pray and everything, which is good. It's good.

00:04:56.500 But yeah, so we all went to Catholic schooling. And we just learned religion up from the time that

00:05:02.540 we were in kindergarten, even before just, like, learning how to pray and all that. But I know it's

00:05:07.980 really sad to, like, see families around because I went to, like, just because I went to, like, a Catholic

00:05:12.060 high school and the Catholic college. I know people who, like, there's a member in their family

00:05:16.440 that fell out of the faith and just fell into hard times, maybe has an alcohol addiction, drug

00:05:21.860 addiction, stuff like that. And I am just so blessed to have a family that hasn't had problems

00:05:27.480 like that, crossing fingers, sorry, the superstition. Like, I'm just very happy that I've never had

00:05:32.380 to deal with that. But it must be all the prayers that are just coming from, like, my parents

00:05:36.020 and grandparents, aunts, uncles, you name it, everybody around.

00:05:40.940 Just a quick note before we return. If you would like to stay up to date on LifeSite's

00:05:45.180 coverage of the latest life, family, and culture news, subscribe to one of our many newsletters

00:05:49.800 by going to lifesitenews.com slash subscribe. And if you'd like to help us bring our truth-telling

00:05:55.820 coverage to millions around the world, please consider making a one-time or monthly donation

00:06:00.400 at give.lifesitenews.com. And now, back to the video.

00:06:06.020 This is a model. I'm sure many people would like to want to stop here and dissect what

00:06:10.860 your parents did, because this is a dream for so many parents. But you guys are very

00:06:18.380 Catholic, but LifeSite is very controversial, even for Catholics, because we've been, maybe

00:06:26.520 10 years ago, it was much more normal. But now, with Pope Francis, things are very controversial,

00:06:32.280 and it's kind of, you know, some Catholics look at us and say,

00:06:36.780 oh, gee, they're like anti-Catholic or something. What does your family make of your work for LifeSite,

00:06:41.740 and what's your take on it? I mean, you know, trying to strive to be a faithful Catholic,

00:06:46.500 and there you are with this organization that some view even as anti-Catholic.

00:06:50.240 My mother, specifically, she has always been very involved in politics. She worked on a couple

00:06:54.440 campaigns, like 10 years ago, just throughout the years. And so, just by that nature, she's always

00:06:59.720 wanting to be involved, knowing the news. She's a skeptic, so she likes to take every single side

00:07:03.820 and, like, dissect it like that. But I know that when Pope Francis came into the papacy,

00:07:09.940 she immediately kind of saw a little red flag go up with a couple of the things that he did in the

00:07:14.220 early parts of his papacy. And so, she's always kind of been on the ball in that way. And I think,

00:07:20.620 like, one of the biggest reasons that I feel so free to be part of an organization that views

00:07:25.300 what he's doing in this type of way is because I have my family behind me because my mom, she's kind

00:07:31.020 of, she tells us everything. She's always relaying news articles and just, like, Catholic things going

00:07:37.300 on, too. She's keeping us in the loop all the time. It's awesome. So, I think that the way that I was

00:07:42.640 just right away able to understand that these things that he's doing are not in accord with the

00:07:49.160 Catholic Church, they're wrong. It's definitely helped me ease into, like, taking a role in a company 1.00

00:07:54.940 such as LifeSite that also see something wrong. It's just, it's very, I identify with it. Like,

00:07:59.900 it's just really, it's really cool. I reflect it, definitely.

00:08:03.520 What is your experience with social media? Because, I mean, it's a hard area. I mean,

00:08:08.840 it's actually an area that's replete with all sorts of things that might lead people astray.

00:08:13.000 Flipping through videos and stuff can get you into real trouble. What's your advice for young people

00:08:17.900 on how to navigate these waters in which you swim in just about every day?

00:08:21.400 TikTok is one of the things that I love to be on. It's just really nice to be able to see,

00:08:26.320 like, the culture around the world just in these little videos. But there are definitely some that

00:08:29.980 are not appropriate for, like, younger kids. For me, I don't know why, but I never really had a

00:08:34.700 problem with them. I would just swipe past them or, you know, report them if they're wrong. But I would

00:08:39.420 say that it would be healthy if people had a screen time limit put on for, like, TikTok or Instagram

00:08:45.260 just so you can kind of stop yourself. Be like, okay, no more. Time to do something else. Time to do something

00:08:49.960 constructive and productive with my brain, you know? But, I mean, it is cool because, like, on social

00:08:54.520 media, there's so much to learn and to see. It's almost addicting. Like, it's definitely kind of

00:08:59.160 an addiction, especially if you're, like, posting things. You almost get addicted to the sensation

00:09:03.980 and the dopamine of, like, all the likes and the comments that you're getting. And that's also very

00:09:08.960 dangerous because it's super easy to just fall into that and just become addicted to the process.

00:09:13.260 So, I would say definitely, like, a screen time limit would be good, but also just be prudent

00:09:18.180 with how much time you're spending, who you're following. I would definitely say that.

00:09:22.520 What message would you like to leave your fans with? Because there's a little fan base developing

00:09:27.000 there of people who like to see you are following your posts on Instagram, TikTok, and so on. What

00:09:33.240 are your words for them?

00:09:34.220 My words would be, well, thank you for following me and liking my videos. I definitely appreciate it.

00:09:39.820 I try to keep them a little short, try to keep them informative, while also having a little

00:09:43.820 sense of humor in there, too. So, thank you so much for everything. And if you like and continue

00:09:49.080 to share them with people, that would be great. It'll help Lifesite's name grow.

00:09:52.920 Thank you so much, Christina. God bless you, and thanks for joining us.

00:09:55.880 Thank you.

00:09:56.500 And God bless all of you. We'll see you next time.

00:10:00.860 Hi, everyone. This is John Henry Weston. We hope you enjoyed this video. And to see more like this,

00:10:06.060 be sure to hit the subscribe button below to get all the latest content from Lifesite News.

00:10:11.500 So, check out our links in the description to read more, sign up for our newsletter, and connect

00:10:16.380 with us on social media so that you can stay up to date with all of the latest life, family,

00:10:21.800 and culture news. Thanks for watching, and may God bless you.

00:10:25.380 We'll see you next time.

The John-Henry Westen Show - November 17, 2022

LifeSite's Gen Z leader energizes young pro-life base!

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