Of course, some of that mood is part of seeing the Register through its regular seven-day gestation when the texts, photos, design and fine-tuning come together yet again, and the weekly miracle rolls onto and off the press.
But on Oct. 6, our full-colour magazine conceived literally nine months ago will at last see the light of day as Lives Lived for Life. It will be the fulfillment of oscillating between dreaming, questioning, hope, anxiety and unflagging dedication shown by Register staff to bring this baby home.
The magazine as pipe dream project started last January at our 2024 kick-off planning meeting when ideas that amounted to (virtual) scribbled Post-It notes were stacked on the (virtual) table to be winnowed down to workable. The winner, which in the guided democracy of the Register was decided by how many heads nodded in agreement, was to publish something about “pro-life” as a general theme. We agreed to stay away from an ideological or political approach and go whole-heartedly for personal stories. We would skip dishing out warmed-over arguments, avoid coming off as a Movement Manifesto, and instead look at the actual lives lived by those for whom Catholic understanding of life from conception to natural death has become a way of life. In other words, lives lived for life.
A development then occurred that has the name, rank, serial number, fingerprints and complete biometrics of the Holy Spirit all over it. In talking up our budding bundle of joy, we caught the ear of Deacon Mike Walsh at Daily TV Mass and then Alex Du at Salt + Light. The lights went on for them that we were intent on offering illumination not antagonism, hope not hectoring. They brought their gifts and resources to the endeavour so we three Catholic media outlets could collaborate in the life of the Faith. Starting Oct. 6, Daily TV Mass will feature a week of prayers for life with the presiding priests preaching the Catholic truth about life. On Oct. 16, Salt + Light will show an edition of its Behold program featuring four of those the Register interviewed for the magazine.
Such collaboration across Canadian Catholic outlets, centred in a spirit of sharing and strengthening, is a profound step toward the journalistic/media vision of elevating the voice of Holy Mother Church in the public square. It’s also a highly practical means to give presence, thanks and honour to those who have lived their lives for life.
To be clear, the 14 people presented in the 12 stories of Lives Lived for Life are only a representative subset of other thousands who do exactly that day after day across Canada. They represent a refutation of pro-life caricature: the scowling, “hate” breathing, bigoted, quasi-violent fanatic. For example, as Quinton Amundson writes, Toronto native Jim Hughes turned over his life to life in 1972 when he asked his wife “surely they can’t mean killing children?” and she advised him that, yes, “they” could. At 81, Hughes is the venerable genial warrior of the formal pro-life movement, having devoted 52 years as president of Campaign Life Coalition.
At the other end of the age spectrum is Amanda Achtman, a 33-year-old originally from Calgary who now travels Canada and the globe under her calling card of Dying to Meet You. She works to raise consciousness about the nightmare of euthanasia and assisted suicide. Achtman says she was called to a pro-life commitment in high school out of “an early sensitivity to the voiceless and a desire to humanize humanity.”
Then there’s Montreal’s Paula Celani. Her deeply personal experience of death and dying, including the losses of her husband and her father, led her to provide constant accompaniment to those with terminal illnesses. Celani eschews institutions and bureaucracy, counting instead on the support of friends. She doesn’t march. She walks alongside the dying to their natural death.
As the old Sinatra song says, “that’s life; that’s what all the people say.” It’s our hope that the people of God, people of Catholic faith, in Canada will find something of themselves in such stories — a mirror, perhaps, or even a call to live life for life more fully.